	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 13, 2007

Luke Donald

HONOLULU, HAWAII

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Luke Donald, thanks for joining us here after the third round of the Sony Open in Hawaii. 12-under par through three rounds, another round in the 60s for you, one shot off the lead of Charles Howell III. With a solid round you might win the tournament, maybe some opening comments.
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I'm in great position for tomorrow. Obviously a bit of a slow start. Last couple of days I really haven't got off to probably the start I would have liked to, but I've definitely finished well. You know, 3-under par for the last ten holes was satisfactory.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: You mentioned a minute ago, you like this golf course, you have to think your way around the golf course because it is tight and not necessarily long, maybe some comments about the golf course.
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, it's one of my -- I enjoy playing here. It's one of my favourites. I think you have to shape the ball a little bit. You have to think quite a lot around this course. It's not a course you just pick up driver, and especially as the weeks progress, it's got firmer and faster. So a few clubs have been changing, even though the wind has stayed very constant.

Q. You're seven rounds into the season now, how do you feel like your game is evolving just in the early part of the season?
LUKE DONALD: I think I'm ready for a break already. It's getting better. Again, I wasn't really -- I wasn't very happy with the way I played both in Barbados and early rounds at the Target World Challenge. Again, my swing wasn't feeling very good. My game was showing bad results because of it.
No, I played nicely last week and I feel like I'm improving every week. I feel like my swing is back on track.

Q. Are you aware that Charles has one win and eight runner-up finishes on TOUR?
LUKE DONALD: I know he's one once. He won Michelob. I don't know about second place.

Q. Playing in the last group, does that give you some confidence that he may be a little nervous because he'll be so anxious to close the deal after so many near misses?
LUKE DONALD: Well, I've only one twice myself so it's not like I have an abundance of wins. You know, Charlie is a great player and I'm sure he'll play great tomorrow.
I'm not going to go out there and watch him play. I'm going to go play my own game and hopefully that's good enough.

Q. Well, would you rather be in that last group?
LUKE DONALD: Oh, I love being in the last group. I think that's the position I want to be, every tournament. Have a chance to win come Sunday.

Q. Did you guys spend a lot of time at all or was that mostly just through the RBS deal when Charlie was there?
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, we did a couple things together when Charlie was with RBS. We played quite a lot of college golf together. We were both freshmen at the same time. I think Charles left when he was a junior, so we played three years together.

Q. So he didn't win the title in '99 then, I take it?
LUKE DONALD: No, I managed to sneak that one.

Q. On GOLF CHANNEL now, they have these different kind of numbers and stats and there's like a 15 percent variable between your opportunity to win versus Charles. He's a little higher than you, I'm assuming because of the one stroke. How important is one stroke on this golf course versus maybe some other course?
LUKE DONALD: Well, you always like to have a lead. You know, one stroke isn't much around here. One stroke isn't much anywhere. That can change very quickly.
You know I'm going to have to go out and play solid golf. I believe the wind is going to be very similar. It's not going to be any easier and the course is getting firmer and faster. It's a little tricky out there. But you play solid golf, you can make quite a few birdies. That's what I'm going to have to do tomorrow.

Q. Paul started nicely and you started a bit dodgey, in his words, was there part of you that was just reminding yourself to stay patient, have a full weekend left type of thing?
LUKE DONALD: I wasn't too worried. I missed a short putt on the second hole, and then bogeyed 6, kind of caught a flyer out of the rough on the right.
Again, it was mainly poor drives that caused those bogeys, and I need to get it maybe in the fairway a little bit more. But I'm not too worried. I feel like I'm swinging nicely. I shot 1-under today without really holing much, if a couple of putts had gone in, 14 and 16, would I have been pretty happy with the round.
A couple more fairways and a couple more putts and I'm not too far away.

Q. Was that your first time playing with Goydos?
LUKE DONALD: First time.

Q. You've heard of his nickname, Sunshine, I'm sure. How was he out there?
LUKE DONALD: I haven't heard his nickname.

Q. Sunshine.
LUKE DONALD: Is that meant to be sarcastic because he has hid head down a lot?

Q. Extremely.
LUKE DONALD: His attitude was very good I thought. Didn't really get upset with himself. He seemed somewhat lighthearted actually out there. So maybe he didn't live up to his nickname today.
He played very solid the first, you know, 12 holes or so then just looked a little edgy on the greens coming in.

Q. Have you run into Faldo since you've been in Hawaii?
LUKE DONALD: Chatted to him briefly on the range in Maui. Haven't really seen much of him. Speak of the devil, there he is.

Q. How well do you know him?
LUKE DONALD: I've played a few rounds with Nick. I don't think when I was just coming on the scene, he was fading a way a little bit. I haven't played a whole lot of competitive golf with him. But I've gotten to know him a little bit better over the last couple of years, and hopefully looking forward to being under him as his -- as he's the captain.

Q. Have you picked his brain at all?
LUKE DONALD: Not so much, no. I guess I'm not one to pick anyone's brain. I've been lucky enough to be around people like Jack Nicklaus and some of the other greats like Faldo. Most of the advice they give is just to stay patient and play your own game.

Q. I could give that advice. (Laughter)
LUKE DONALD: I wouldn't listen to you, though.

Q. Exactly. Has he said anything to you about, I want you to be one of my linchpins or anything like that?
LUKE DONALD: He hasn't. I'd like to be one.

Q. How hard is that, like tomorrow, kind of playing your own game and staying out of your way at times?
LUKE DONALD: It can be tough. I do get sucked into looking at leaderboards occasionally, worrying about what other people are doing. Really can't control that, so I think it's important to really focus one shot at a time. You hear it all the time, but it's very easy to get sucked into whatever everyone else is doing.
I only think it really becomes a match-play scenario in the last six holes or so, if it comes to, if it's just a couple of you out there and having a chance to win.

Q. Do you remember seeing a leaderboard today for the first time with the 16-year-old on there?
LUKE DONALD: I was walking on to the range and he was coming through on 9 and I heard a couple more cheers, I knew he got to 4- or 5-under for the day and made a couple bogeys. I thought, well, I'd better start playing some golf otherwise he's going to beat me.

Q. Are you surprised by that; that a kid would make the cut and it's a big deal and come out Saturday?
LUKE DONALD: Well, it's a big deal for him. Some people shy away from that.
I remember when I was young, 16, 15, feel kind of invincible at times. I'm sure he's just loving the attention. He's loving the crowds. This is very different. He plays his junior tournaments with nobody watching him, maybe just his parents, and this is quite a thrill for him.
It's a good sign that you can go out there in front of that pressure and perform. It's a good sign for maybe future years.

Q. Do you remember the first TOUR event that you played, did you get a sponsor's invite?
LUKE DONALD: At Callaway Gardens, I was an amateur and I think I had won Player of the Year, so they gave me an invite to that.

Q. You would have been a freshman or a sophomore in college?
LUKE DONALD: Probably beginning of my junior year. Made an eagle on my first hole, I holed a wedge from the rough.

Q. Straight downhill from there?
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, then I made a bogey on the next, par 5, missed the cut by a couple. (Laughter).

Q. You talked about at that age you feel invincible, when do you stop feeling invincible? Is it just the school of hard knocks, too many kicks in the guts in this game?
LUKE DONALD: There's so many good players out here. You're going to get beaten by them more often than you're going to beat them.
So it's never easy mentally. You know, that's why I worry a little bit for Michelle. He's at an age where she's taken in a lot of impressions and stuff, and all she's experienced right now is missing cuts and not dealing with a lot of success. So that can be hard on someone.
I don't know, when you're young, I guess you can brush it off pretty easily.

Q. Would you say she's got a lot in common with the U.S. Ryder Cup Team?
LUKE DONALD: I won't go there. (Laughter).

Q. Do you remember what you were talking about with Tadd, performing well under pressure; do you remember when that first time was for you when you were younger?
LUKE DONALD: Well, I remember when I was really young, 11, 12 years old, those 4- or 5-foot putts, they seem like the easiest thing in the world, you just knock them in.
I guess that's the ability of not really caring, not really thinking, and if you can have that mentality on the golf course now, then you're going to do well, smile at putts that you miss and go to the next hole.
I don't really remember exactly when I was like that, but you definitely feel -- as I said, you kind of feel like nothing can go wrong.

Q. Have you seen the new Bond movie?
LUKE DONALD: I have.

Q. What's your impression of the new English Bond?
LUKE DONALD: What's this have to do with? (Laughter) I thought it was good.
JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Okay, Luke, thanks.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297