AT&T BYRON NELSON

May 13, 2021

Luke Donald

TPC Craig Ranch

Quick Quotes

Q. Luke, 7-under 65. How pleased are you with today's round.

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, very pleased. It's been a bit of a tough road this year. Feel like I've been working hard on my game and seeing progress, so I wasn't totally surprised that I threw in a good round.

It was nice to play so consistently tee-to-green. It's a generous golf course. Gives you some width off the tee. Greens are holding. I was very pleased with my ball striking. Hit all 18 greens today. Made a few putts.

So 7 birdies is really good.

Q. Yeah, hitting all 18 greens isn't so bad either. When you see such a generous golf course as you called it, do you feel any pressure to play super offensively and really get after it?

LUKE DONALD: Certainly could get in a situation where you make a few pars early on and feel like you're chasing a little bit. Fortunately got off to a pretty nice start. I was 4-under through 7, so I was kind of cruising in a good position and just kept hitting fairways, greens, and giving myself good looks.

Could have been even a couple less today.

Q. And obviously there is a lot of golf left, 54 holes. How do you maintain that feeling of being calm and collected as you go into tomorrow's round after such an exciting round today?

LUKE DONALD: Well, you know, this year been kind of chasing after cuts a little bit, so it was nice to come out here, play a good round today, and feel like I'm chasing trophies rather than cuts. So round one. It's a great start; nothing more than that.

But takes a little bit of the pressure off tomorrow. I don't have to chase after trying to play on the weekend. So different feeling. Hopefully a more positive one will lead to more birdies.

Q. Best of luck.

LUKE DONALD: Thanks.