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EDS BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIP

April 29, 2007

Luke Donald

IRVING, TEXAS

STEWART MOORE: We'd like to welcome Luke Donald to the interview room here at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. Luke finishing runner up today, earns 2,700 points in the FedExCup, moving into 7th on the year-long FedExCup points list. If you could maybe take us through some of the highlights, lowlights of the day as well as your emotions coming so close on 18.
LUKE DONALD: Well, I got off to a great start, three birdies in the first six holes. I was feeling really good about my game, and I was rolling the ball very well, making some putts, a good putt on 3 and a good putt on 5 for par and a good putt for birdie on 6.
So everything was good, and then just got a little quick in my swing the next three holes and hit a few left shots. That's my bad shot, and I'm trying to get rid of that.
It cost me on 9, pulled it left and didn't really get a very good lie, big clump of grass behind the ball, and from there it went left again, and I hit a poor chip and suddenly made a 6. So it was a pretty poor 6, not many good shots in there.
That was the difference, really. I played quite well after that and finished nicely with two birdies in the last six, but it wasn't quite good enough.
STEWART MOORE: What did you see with that putt on 18?
LUKE DONALD: Well, obviously I saw Scott's and his broke a little bit to the left, and I thought I hit a pretty good putt, it was just one of the few putts that actually didn't roll very well for me. Whether it was the putt or the green I'm not sure, but it just kind of dived left at the hole and just missed it.

Q. Faldo said that he thought that was kind of a tricky putt when both of y'all missed it.
LUKE DONALD: Well, it was -- there's that little ridge just to the right of the hole there that kind of makes the putt -- it was almost up and over just a little bit. Where we putted from it was pretty flat. It was a right-to-left putt, I knew I had to make it, I just under-read the putt a little bit.

Q. Are you one of the guys that can look on the positives of a close call?
LUKE DONALD: I will look at the positive, but right now I'm very disappointed. I came here to win today. I've had a couple good chances this year. It's not much fun finishing second, to be honest. I much prefer the feeling of being the champion.
You know, I'm encouraged about my game for the next couple weeks, and hopefully that will continue.

Q. Did you get a sense during this final round what this meant to Scott Verplank, though, being from Dallas and having such a connection that he had with Mr. Nelson?
LUKE DONALD: Well, just only the parts that I read. I'm sure -- I think this was his 20th straight Byron Nelson or 21st, so he obviously likes this event and has a great deal of respect for Mr. Nelson. You could see when he won, it was a special moment for him.
You know, hats off to him. He played very good. He was just stumbling a little down the stretch and I felt like I had a chance to catch him. But great drive on 18 and a great second shot. It was a very solid par. Made me have to make birdie.

Q. When you said you weren't sure whether it was the roll of your putt or the green there on 18, when you say you weren't sure if it was the green, are you talking about the quality of the green itself or just the way it was rolling?
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, just the quality. It just seemed to wiggle around a little bit. It didn't seem to roll as well as some of my other putts. That might have been the way I stroked it, but it looked like -- I'm not making excuses, I missed the putt. But it didn't seem to roll as pure as it could have.

Q. After you got that first birdie coming in, you had two in the last six holes, were you thinking, okay, now, did that give you a little bit of boost there coming in?
LUKE DONALD: Well, I know coming down the stretch there's a lot of pressure on whoever is leading, and when Scott made a 2 on 13, I really had to make a good putt there to follow him just to stay three back.
But the last few holes are tricky. 15 is a tough hole. 16 is a possible eagle chance where anything can happen. And then the last two holes the water does come into play where you can have swings. So I wanted to stay patient, hit good shots and try and make some birdies and make Scott work for it.

Q. Talk about the greens this week and the complete redesign for this next year. Is this a tournament that stays on your list at this point?
LUKE DONALD: I'll have to look at the schedule. I haven't missed this tournament yet, so it's one I do enjoy. It will depend a little bit where it falls in the schedule, but as long as it's in a good place, I don't see why I wouldn't come back. I've been very successful here. I've been very consistent. I don't think I've shot in the 70s in the last three tournaments here. It's been good to me. Not quite good enough, but pretty good.

Q. Do you get the impression that the other golfers feel the same way about coming back?
LUKE DONALD: Yeah. I mean, it's going to be a little bit of a different place. As I said, I think most pros form their schedule depending on where tournaments fall, what tournaments they are around. As I said, some of the big players might have missed this week just because a lot of players like to play Wachovia and everyone plays THE PLAYERS Championship. I don't mind playing three in a row, so that's why I'm here.
STEWART MOORE: Luke, thanks for your time.

End of FastScripts

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