	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

THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 12, 2007

Luke Donald

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Luke, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center at THE PLAYERS Championship. Nice 65, 5-under for the tournament. Not real sure where that's going to be at the end of the day, but it's going to be pretty good.
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, obviously at 2-over, I wasn't in great shape, but I knew if I made a good round today that I could get myself back in position. Conditions were a little bit easier today, less wind, and a few more accessible pins I thought, especially on the par 5s.
Yeah, I mean, if you could hit a lot of fairways and greens, you were doing well, and that's kind of what I did today.

Q. You were saying on TV you've always felt this should be a good layout for you, but with the exception of 2005 it hasn't been. Any reason why that's panned out like that?
LUKE DONALD: I really think -- you know, this course demands quite a bit of accuracy. It did, anyway, before last year. I think this year you can give up a little bit of accuracy because of the rough. It's a little less penal than it has been. Usually if you were in the rough with that thick rye rough, you had to just hack it out, but you can find some lies now with this Bermuda rough and get it around the greens.
So it's a little more short-game orientated than in previous years. In previous years you had to pretty much hit fairways to be successful, or at least I did. If my game was slightly off and I wasn't hitting fairways, it was going to be tough for me.
I think only one time I was playing well, and that was '05.

Q. Would you like to take a guess at what the lead could be at the end of the day?
LUKE DONALD: Well, the leaders obviously looked like they started very well with a lot of birdies and a few eagles and even an albatross. You still have to hit good shots to make birdies, and I'm sure the leaders are feeling a little bit of pressure out there. It's a big event.
Hopefully I'll only be two or three back, but someone could get hot and get to double figures, no question about it.

Q. Obviously you're very confident in your game at the moment. Going into tomorrow, feeling particularly optimistic?
LUKE DONALD: Well, yeah. My first two rounds I really felt like I was hitting the ball well, which was just a little bit off. I was maybe just catching the edge of the first cut or the rough and just missing greens, and I was hitting the ball nicely but really wasn't getting a lot out of it.
Today was a lot better. I hit a lot more fairways, a lot more greens. It was kind of easy golf today, and obviously the key was finishing it off on the greens. I really did putt very well today and didn't leave too much out there.
No, it's encouraging for tomorrow.

Q. Are you surprised that Tiger appears to be out of it?
LUKE DONALD: I have no idea what he shot. What did he shoot?

Q. +5.
LUKE DONALD: +5? Well, it's that kind of course. You know, if you're slightly off, it's tough to score around here. You really do have to be in the fairway to be up to attack the pins, and if you're slightly off, it's very hard. It obviously looks like he struggled a little bit on the greens, and any time you can't make any putts, you're not going to gain any ground.
Tiger, I guess, is human after all.

Q. Have you seen the course more scorable than it was today?
LUKE DONALD: It was the most scorable today of any previous days; less wind, the greens seemed a little bit softer. They were holding the ball better than the beginning of the week. Obviously when you're playing well, the course does seem a little bit easier. But I think conditions made it easier, too.

Q. What about previous years, as well? Is this as vulnerable as you've seen it?
LUKE DONALD: I don't think this place is ever vulnerable. You know, if you play well, you can shoot a good score. If you don't, you're going to shoot a high score. It demands a lot of accuracy.
I think, as I said, with the rough being a bit more manageable than in previous years, you can get away with spraying it a little bit more, and you can save yourself with a good short game.
If you're on, then it's as scorable as it has been, yeah.

Q. You've had a couple close calls already this year. How anxious are you to kind of get on the board?
LUKE DONALD: That's why I'm here (laughter).

Q. How did you feel about looking back a couple weeks ago at the Nelson and how that ended for you?
LUKE DONALD: Well, obviously I was disappointed. I felt like I had a great chance to win. You know, I didn't turn up Sunday to finish second. Scott Verplank, hats off, he played very well and he played very well down the stretch and held it together very nicely, made a great bunker shot on 17 and a very solid par on 18 and didn't really give me much of a glimmer of hope.
You know, ultimately I was disappointed. I wanted to win. You know, I'm looking forward to tomorrow, and hopefully if the leaders aren't too far away, I'll have a good chance.

Q. You said that the course has changed a bit as far as having more chance of recovery after bad shots. Is it a coincidence that someone like Mickelson who has never done anything here is up there this year because he's ranking in the bottom quarter of the field for greens in regulation?
LUKE DONALD: If you look at previous winners, it was always the guys who hit fairways and the guys who hit greens that were very successful around here. I think Fred Funk and Stephen Ames probably led those categories when they won. The rough was very, very tough before this year. You know, it was very thick, and it's rye rough that just is hard to get a lot of distance out of it.
Here they've given you a chance. You know, sometimes that ball sits down a little bit, but sometimes you can get a pretty good lie. You can always seem to get it around the green, and when Phil can do that, he's very good around the greens. He can get up-and-down and take his chances when he has them. That's probably a big reason why he's been more successful this year than in previous years.

Q. You talk a lot about finishing off nines, finishing off rounds. What do you have to do to finish off this tournament tomorrow?
LUKE DONALD: Well, I've got to see how everyone is doing. Obviously if people go away, then I'm going to have to be a bit more aggressive tomorrow. Again, it's not a course you can be very aggressive on. You just have to play one shot at a time, try to get it in the fairway, and then from there you can attack the course a little bit more.
Again, it's easier to make birdies from the fairway. I need to drive the ball very well and make some putts.

Q. Can you compare the mindset going in maybe a couple strokes back as compared to having the lead? How is that different for you?
LUKE DONALD: Well, I'm not sure if it is too much different to be honest. You know, even if you're in the lead -- I'm really trying to just concentrate on my own golf, trying to play the shot that it demands, the specific shot that it demands, and go from there. Obviously there's slightly more pressure on you if you're leading. There's a bit more expectation. You're expected to do well.
If you're a couple shots back, you feel like you can make a run without kind of people noticing you a little bit. But other than the actual feeling of the pressure, I don't feel like the game plan should be any different.

Q. Do you think the course was a better overall test when it had the thicker rough, or do you like the fact that there seemed to be more options, more chances to recover?
LUKE DONALD: Hard to say. A lot of the golf courses we play are very, very thick rough, you know, where you hit it in, you don't have too much of a chance to get it to the green.
Sometimes it's nice to be given options, and this course is pretty hard, to say the least, without that thick rough. You know, I think despite there being distinctly less rough this year, 5-under after 36 holes was still pretty -- a high score, I suppose, compared to previous years. You know, it's still a tough golf course.
JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: You made birdie on 1?
LUKE DONALD: Driver, 8-iron, holed about a 20-, 25- foot putt.
Second, drive and a 4-iron, chipped it to eight feet, made the putt.
4, I hit a 2-iron in the left rough and a 9-iron to about five feet and made that.
6, 2-iron off the tee on 6 and a pitching wedge to about eight feet and made that.
7, drive, 6-iron and made about an eight-foot putt, again.
Bogey on 10, I hit a driver, pulled a 9-iron just left of the green, didn't get it on the green, putted it from the fringe and still holed an eight-foot putt for a bogey, so that was a good bogey.
Birdie on 11, drive and a rescue club just left edge of the green, chipped to about two feet.
Birdie on 14, drive and an 8-iron to about 12 feet and made that.
Birdie on 16, drive and a 5-iron, on the green and two putts.

Q. Did you think that one at 16 was in?
LUKE DONALD: It was struggling a little bit for pace, but it had a very good line and only needed a couple more rolls.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297