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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 20, 2006

Luke Donald

MEDINAH, ILLINOIS

Q. Obviously the day didn't turn out the way you had expected.

LUKE DONALD: No, obviously very disappointed to have shot 74, really, considering I played nicely today really. I hit a lot of fairways. Swung the ball pretty well. I just didn't hit it quite close enough on the greens, even though I hit a lot of greens today. I really just couldn't get those putts to drop. I had a run of three big lipouts on 4, 5 and 6; had those went in, it might have been a different story.

Q. Talk about the Tiger factor.

LUKE DONALD: Tiger played very solidly. Obviously me being 1 over through six and he was 4 under, that was the difference.

You know, he got off to a great start. Hit some great shots and holed a few long putts. That's why he's No. 1.

Q. What is the dynamic of playing beside him on a Sunday in a major? You may not know until you do it, if there is one.

LUKE DONALD: Well, it's obviously a lot of pressure. He's been there more than I have. But I felt like I played okay today. I really didn't feel like I played badly, and I'll learn from this and be a stronger player after.

Q. What did you learn?

LUKE DONALD: Well, I learned that probably today on a major course, if it was any other major, a U.S. Open or something a little bit harder, my golf might have been okay. But the course is playing has been playing reasonably easy for a major this last week and maybe I needed to be a bit more aggressive today.

You know, I just needed a few breaks, a few putts to go in and that might have been the difference to key me going.

Q. From your seat up close, what is it that Tiger has that allows him to close so well?

LUKE DONALD: He has great mental belief in himself. He's obviously got a good game. But he just he kind of wills it in the hole. Any time he gets into trouble, he has a great short game. He's able to hit great shots, like the bunker shot on 13 after a poor tee shot. You know, he could have made four or five bogeys out there, but he only made one in the end. He just kind of willed the ball into the hole.

Q. How do you compete with somebody like Tiger coming into a final of a major?

LUKE DONALD: He shot 68 and I had to shoot 67 to beat him.

He's solid and you've got to play your best to beat him.

Q. You had said that you were just going to focus on yourself and not think about the whole Tiger factor. Was there any point today where you did start watching him and seeing how handled stuff?

LUKE DONALD: Not really. It didn't really change my game plan. Obviously I knew playing with him coming to 13, I was six or seven shots back and I needed to try and make some birdies. Pin positions were quite tough and I probably wasn't aggressive enough. Played solidly down the stretch but didn't get much out of it.

Q. You touched on the fact that you couldn't get those putts to drop early on. How deflating was that, because you knew the margin of over or with Tiger was pretty small. What was going through your mind, when they lipout, lipout, lipout?

LUKE DONALD: It's a little deflating. But again, I tried to play one shot at a time, not get too upset. I felt like I was hitting good putts. It wasn't like I was hitting bad putts. The only bad putt I hit was on 10, I pulled that one, but other than that, hit a lot of solid putts. They just were not going in today.

Q. Your mindset after 6, he hits it out of the rough, you have to putt first, it lips out and he drains it, what, three inches behind you?

LUKE DONALD: He was very close and that would have been a huge boost to me, because I hit a poor drive there and a pretty good second shot to get on the green. If I had snuck in a birdie there, that might have got me going a little bit. He learned form my line and drained it.

He made a couple of long putts today, 6 and 8, and he had good speed all day, and that was he played well.

Q. It was very hard last year at Baltusrol, what do you expect inn the future, given what scores were this weekend, from the PGA of America.

LUKE DONALD: I don't think the PGA has been concerned with making the course too hard. They just set it up like it is. They don't try and change it too much depending on the conditions. That's fine. I think the players like a break sometimes and make a few birdies.

Some of the courses are harder than others. Last year was obviously a hard course, rough maybe a little bit thicker and the greens were a bit firmer with the heat.

Having soft greens this week definitely made it easier.

Q. What did you learn about yourself?

LUKE DONALD: You know, I learned I feel like I played pretty solidly considering this was my real first time in contention playing the last group on Sunday. Even though I shot 74, I felt like I played a lot better, and that's encouraging. I'm hopefully going to come back with encouragement and know that if I get in that position again, I'm not going to hit bad shots; I'm going to hit good, solid shots and hopefully a few more putts will drop.

End of FastScripts.

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