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TARGET WORLD CHALLENGEDecember 13, 2006Luke DonaldTHOUSAND OAKS, CALIFORNIA: Pre-Round DAVE SENKO: Luke, thanks for joining us. As we've done with a couple of the other players we've had in, just maybe take a look back at your 2006 season and look ahead to next, the upcoming season, 2007. LUKE DONALD: Yeah, well, I felt 2006 was a very positive year for me, certainly helped by my win last year, got me off to a good start, gave me some confidence going into this year. And any time you win, it's always a good feeling, gives you even more confidence and propelled me to the Top 10 in the World Rankings with my win at the Honda. It's been very consistent. I had a lot of Top 10s this year, felt like I could have won more events. I even gave myself a chance to win at the PGA Championship this year. You know, there's still room for improvement, and looking forward to '07, slightly different PGA TOUR schedule with the FedEx Cup, looking forward to having -- seeing how that pans out with the new points system, but looking forward to trying to win more events and compete in majors. Q. Last week didn't go quite the way you and David Howell would have hoped despite a good first round. What's your form and your mental confidence going into this week? LUKE DONALD: My form hasn't been as good as I would have liked it to be. I've been struggling a little bit with my ball-striking from tee to green, which is usually a strong aspect. But I've been working with my coach and I feel like it's getting back to where it should be, and hopefully it's only a matter of hitting a few good shots to really get my confidence going. But obviously when you hit some loose shots and a few wayward ones, it does affect your confidence a little bit, and again, I think I need a run of some good shots, good strikes, to get the confidence back and the mental side up a little bit. Q. (Inaudible.) LUKE DONALD: Yeah, it was strange weather last week, a mixture of sunshine and heavy showers and quite a lot of wind. So when you're not quite on your game and there's a lot of wind out there, it's very tough to find it because it takes you out of your rhythm quite a lot. It wasn't ideal for practicing and spending a lot of time on the range because it's just not very beneficial when it's that windy. The weather has obviously been beautiful the last two days. I've heard there could be some weather coming on the weekend, but hopefully it stays away. Q. Obviously the British neighbors cover you as a home country guy, and yet you play the U.S. Tour and of course you went to school here. Do you sort of look at yourself as a man of two worlds? LUKE DONALD: In a way, yes. I've lived here now for nine, going on ten years. I've made my home here for the last nine or ten years. I feel comfortable playing over here. I enjoy playing on the PGA TOUR, but I also love going back to the European Tour and supporting that Tour and going home and seeing my family. I still consider myself British through and through, but I think the American people have definitely accepted me as almost one of their own in a way, they see me so much, which is very nice. Q. I was talking to Geoff Ogilvy, and of course there are 25 Australians or something like that. But in effect it's become a World Tour. Do you find that the American public accepts basically everybody is on Tour and they really don't care the nationality except maybe Tiger Woods? LUKE DONALD: Well, Tiger has a huge following obviously. You know, I'm sure with any nation they're always going to be slightly more impartial towards their own people. You know, they've been very welcoming to me at every event, and I think when it comes down to it, they just want to see good golf. If you hit good shots, they're going to appreciate it. Q. Adam Scott was in here earlier, and he talked about how the expectations for younger players have gone up because of Tiger. Do you feel that more is expected of you, either here or in England? LUKE DONALD: Because of Tiger? Q. Yeah. LUKE DONALD: I expect a lot out of myself. I think obviously Tiger raises the bar. You know, he's set it very high, and it's going to take a lot of great play and a lot of hard work to get where he is right now. You know, I've got to a point in my career where I really feel like I should be competing and winning tournaments regularly, having chances, competing in majors, having good chances to win, and that's where I feel like I am right now. I think anytime you don't set yourself high goals, you're not going to succeed very well. I think I've got to a point where I can set them as high as I really want, and I'd rather be a little bit disappointed rather than being satisfied with something like just finishing Top 10 every week. Q. How difficult is it to stay patient when you're trying to win a major? LUKE DONALD: Again, Tiger is only a couple years older than me, and he's won, what, 11 majors, I think? I've got a lot of catching up to do. Obviously winning 11 majors would be unbelievable for me. I've got to get my first win first. The point I was trying to make is Tiger, as good as he is, he's way ahead of the game, and he's only a couple years older than me. But it is very tough to be patient, especially in majors. I think it's a double-edged sword. You want it so much that you try a little bit harder. Sometimes that doesn't work. You've got to let it happen. You have to be patient. Q. How big a step was the PGA at Medinah? Of course you played very well, and I'm sure you're disappointed a little bit that you didn't win, but they always say you have to sort of step up the ladder. That was your first big move in a major. I just wondered where that pushed you. LUKE DONALD: It gave me a good insight to what it's like to be competing and having a chance to win. The more I can get myself into those kind of situations the better I'll cope with it down the road. I thought I played quite nicely Saturday, just nothing happened. I had no momentum, I couldn't get something going. Tiger on the other hand was making the putts. He's been there so many times before, it comes second nature to him. He felt comfortable. Obviously I've got a little ways to go before I feel comfortable. That was a good step for me to get towards that comfort zone, and the more I can get in those situations I think it will become easier. Q. Talking about Medinah, a lot was made of the fact that you wore red on the last day, as did Tiger, but I seem to recall you wear red a great deal in the final round of tournaments? LUKE DONALD: I have worn red before. I don't always wear red. I've worn a lot of white trousers on the last day. I won at Honda wearing white trousers, I've won in Sweden, and maybe it's just a good luck charm. At the beginning of the week I decided -- especially in majors when you don't want to be thinking about stuff like what am I going to wear, I decided at the beginning of the week it was going to be red. Obviously Saturday night I knew I was playing with Tiger. I think if I changed my outfit it was almost like giving in to him already on the first hole. It was nothing against Tiger. I wasn't trying to make a statement or anything, it was just what I decided to do. I thought if I changed it, I'd have already lost; I was giving in to him already. No, I just decided to go with it. Q. I don't know if it surprised you or not, but the only player to outscore Tiger Woods on average, anybody who's played more than five rounds with him is Padraig Harrington. Does that surprise you at all? What do you think of Padraig's chances of getting over the line in one of these major championships anytime soon? LUKE DONALD: I think Padraig is very single-minded. I think he has a lot of confidence that he can be as good as he wants and be as good as he can be. He has played against Tiger a few times on Sunday and come out on top. I don't know what characteristics that takes, but you have to be very strong-willed and not watch Tiger and just do your own thing. It's a credit to Padraig's game that he's been able to do that. Yeah, I think he has all the talent in the world and he's come very close to winning majors. I think it's only a matter of time. I hope at least one European breaks through and finally gets past the drought we've been experiencing. Q. If one European does manage to win one soon? LUKE DONALD: I hope so. Winning majors has a lot to do with having a strong mental side, and I think you get one guy who wins it, it kind of opens up the mental side for everyone else. They think, well, Padraig just won, I can win now. I'm hoping that one will win and it will open the floodgates. Q. (Inaudible.) LUKE DONALD: I'm not sure about the other guys, but growing up, I watched Faldo a lot. He was in his prime when I was kind of just starting my game. I started playing golf around '86, '87 is when I started, and he was pretty good at that time and for the next almost decade. He was an inspiration to me, how dedicated, how single-minded he was and how determined he was to be successful. Q. (Inaudible.) LUKE DONALD: Seve, again, yeah, he was one of the first guys, too, that I remember watching a lot, and I've often said that those are the two guys that stand out for me when I was growing up. Seve for different reasons obviously. He was very flamboyant, came out with miraculous shots, had a great short game. The television coverage loved to follow him because of that, so I watched him a lot. I guess both were equally -- I don't think I've ever tried to emulate any golfer, but watching them and seeing their success has made me want to practice harder. Q. (Inaudible.) LUKE DONALD: I guess Seve's game would be a little bit more interesting. It would maybe cause a little more heartache and worrying, and Faldo's would be a little bit easier to take. I don't know, it's always nice to have those miraculous shots in your bag, but it's nice to have a steady game that Faldo had throughout his career. I guess steady, he was able to maybe have a little bit more of a longer career because of that, so I'll probably go with Faldo. Q. I think you've won over $9 million on the PGA TOUR in a very short space of time, four or five years. Is there a temptation to get at all complacent with the rewards that are available here? Is that something that bothers you or something that you work on? LUKE DONALD: No, there was definitely a period, I'm not sure if it was last year or the beginning of this year, where I was racking up Top 10s and I felt good about my game. But when I really sat down and thought about it, it wasn't really that satisfying to be Top 10. I think when you get the taste of winning, that's what you really want to do. Ultimately I'm playing out here to win. I've been very lucky to get into the game at this point when, thanks to Tiger, the purses are huge. You can get into the mindset that, oh, finishing Top 10, I'm making my hundred grand or whatever it is every week, and just carry on going. To be honest, you feel a lot more satisfied as a player when you win. That's the kind of golf I'm trying to set for myself, nice high goals. End of FastScripts… |
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