|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
SONY OPEN IN HAWAIIJanuary 14, 2015Luke DonaldHONOLULU, HAWAII DOUG MILNE: Luke Donald, thanks for joining us here for a few minutes at the 2015 Sony Open in Hawai'i. We were talking outside, your first time back since 2010. You have had success here. I think you were runner‑up here in 2007 maybe. Just some thoughts on the course and being back. LUKE DONALD: Yeah, this is a course I've always enjoyed playing. I think it's one of the better ones for the guys that like to position their golf ball. It's not a course you have to overpower. It's very much a strategy golf course. I think it's great architecturally designed golf course, and you know, it's presented in great shape this week, as all the courses are for us. But yeah, last few years I've been doing the Middle East thing, and it's a tough decision whether to go there and try and knock off some events as a European Tour member, as well, again, with the new wrap‑around not being too far behind. This year I think overall looking at my results, I played a little bit better on the West Coast than I have in the Middle East, so that was another determining factor for coming back here to an event that I have had some success in the past. Q. Can you talk a little bit about the state of your game, where you're at coach‑wise and settled in and how things are coming? LUKE DONALD: Yeah, obviously working full‑time now with Pat Goss again and we've been working pretty diligently and hard on my swing and all parts of my game, really. I think obviously the latter part of last year was disappointing for me the way I played, lack of consistency. The decision was to go back with Pat and try and figure out if I could get back to some of the ways that I saw in 2011, '10, '11, '12. I looked at a bunch of old videos and what I did there compared to the swing I had at the end of working with Chuck, and just trying to work towards getting back to some of those positions. Some of what I did with Chuck will stay in my swing that was very good, but we've been working hard, yeah. Since Nedbank I took a couple days off, but other than that, I really haven't put the clubs away over the holiday period. Working hard, and wanting a desire to get back to the places that I know I can get to. Q. Talk about lack of consistency, I'm guessing that's due to mostly swing and adjustments and different kinds of thoughts going through your head? LUKE DONALD: Well, it would‑‑ yeah. I think having gone with Chuck, there was some early success where I think when you have something new and something to get your teeth around, I felt like I had some good results, narrowly lost out to Kuchar at Hilton Head, had a good chance at Wentworth again this year and the PGA over in Europe, but I don't know, the things I was trying to do with Chuck, I couldn't do it in the end. There were certain things he wanted me to do that my body and my golfing DNA wouldn't allow me to do. I think I spent so much time and effort trying to implement what he wanted me to do that I got a little bit away from some of my strengths. I was concentrating on improving my weaknesses and forgetting a little bit about my strengths, and that's always been from the whole starting backwards. For me, consistency is being able to scramble for par when I need to and grind out a round when I'm not at my best, shooting 70 to 74, 75, which I was doing a little bit towards the end of last year. I think because I was spending so much effort on the full swing, I wasn't working as hard on the short game. Q. Can you talk a little bit about what went into the decision to work with Chuck in the first place? What were some of the things you were trying to change? LUKE DONALD: Well, I felt like the goal has always been to win majors, and I just wanted to try something that I thought would give me a better opportunity to do that, to be a little bit more consistent tee to green. I think majors, as opposed to regular TOUR events, tee‑to‑green play is a little bit more important than short game, staying in the fairways, hitting greens, keeping the pressure off. Short game is very difficult in a lot of the setups at major championships. And I wanted to, as I said, concentrate on what I thought was a little bit of a weakness in me in driving it, driving it straighter, driving it a little bit further. It didn't really work out that way, but it was that I felt like I needed to try, and I have no regrets doing it, but it didn't work, so back to what has worked in the past. Q. Last thing kind of building on that, working with Pat, you got to No.1. Is it hard to change something when you've already gotten to that point? Does that make sense? Is it hard to avoid complacency I guess is a better question? LUKE DONALD: I don't think I've ever been complacent. I've always worked very hard. I've always felt like I haven't had as much talent as some of the guys out here. I've had to really work hard at it, and I spent a lot of time on the range and trying to figure out how I can be a better player all the time. Yeah, I mean, a lot of people ask me when you get to No.1, why change. I just think as golfers we always feel like we can improve. You look at‑‑ maybe I got a little bit too focused on my weaknesses, as I said, rather than just concentrating on what I was really good at, and again, I don't have any regrets trying it. It just didn't work out. Q. How hungry are you coming into the new year as far as talking about good things you're seeing and places you want to get to? Has part of that been a good thing? Has it kind of stirred a fire inside? LUKE DONALD: I think so. There were some disappointments last season, not getting picked for the Ryder Cup team, and obviously the frustration out on the golf course for the past four or five months. You know, that's‑‑ can get you down a little bit, but it's also very much a motivating factor, that I don't want to experience that again. I want to get back to what I know I can do. So there's a lot of fire there. I worked very hard on the game, and I certainly feel like there's a good chance for me to do what I did a few years ago. I think there's no reason why I can't get back into being as consistent as I was and competing and working my way up towards the rankings. Q. I'm assuming you watched most of the Ryder Cup. I'm curious what that was like for you? LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I was on vacation with the family. I kind of wanted to get away from it as much as possible. Q. Where did you go? LUKE DONALD: We were out in Bahamas, Albany. Actually had dinner with Justin Rose the night before he left for the Ryder Cup, which was fine. It wasn't awkward. But it is what it is. You don't play well enough and you can't expect to get picked. I wasn't playing very well, and it was a tough choice that McGinley had. They won the Ryder Cup pretty convincingly, so you can't complain about not being picked. I watched an hour every morning. I got up and I was with the kids. But I got home Saturday night, so I watched most of Sunday at home. No, they played great. They did what they needed to do. But I certainly wanted to be there. DOUG MILNE: Luke, we appreciate your time as always. Best of luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|