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NORTHERN TRUST OPEN

February 12, 2008

Luke Donald

PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA

DOUG MILNE: Luke Donald, thanks for joining us here at the Northern Trust Open. We appreciate you stopping by for a few minutes. Just take us through some of your off-season activity. You finished out 2007 very well with three Top 15 finishes on the Tour last year, just off-season.
LUKE DONALD: Well, I had a relatively busy off-season. I went to Japan and played the Dunlop Phoenix. I went over to South Africa and played in the Nedbank Challenge over there and finished up at Tiger's event. Again, as you said, I started to play a little bit more consistently and hit the ball better those few events.
Took a few weeks off after that. I think I had four weeks off before going over to the Middle East for the first time and playing in Abu Dhabi and Qatar, but played consistently over there, nothing great, but a lot of positives out of that one.
Then had another couple weeks off and here I am now. So I've been practicing hard, working hard on my game and feel like I'm moving in the right direction.
DOUG MILNE: This course here has treated you well, you had Top 15s two of the last three years here. What is it about Riviera that you think suits your game so well?
LUKE DONALD: Well, actually I don't think I've performed that well here as a rule. I think I've only made three out of six cuts, and haven't finished as high up as I should do on a very classic golf course that should suit my game.
You know, I have started to play a little bit better the last few years, as you said, and starting to get to grips with this course. I think it's a course you need to hole some putts on obviously and manage your game around here very well. Still, it's a beautiful place to come. I enjoy the golf course. I think it's one of the better courses we play all year, and it looks like we're going to have some good weather this week, which is nice.

Q. After the Mid East, did you come back to Florida, did you go to Chicago -- can't play golf in Chicago, I know, and when did you show up here?
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I went straight back to Florida. Since Christmas I've been in Jupiter, which is where I live in the winter. Temperatures have been perfect there, 80 degrees every day. As you said, quite a bit different to Chicago.
So been able to get in a lot of good work, a lot of good practice. I got here Monday afternoon.

Q. And one other thing, I know obviously golf now has become this world game, and you and many of the European and South African players really travel a lot. From the Far East to South Africa to Tiger's tournament, does that wear you down? Do you feel the after effects or do you go out there and play any time?
LUKE DONALD: Well, I feel -- I just turned 30 this December, so I still feel fit and young, and if I'm going to do the traveling, I might as well do it right now when hopefully coming into the prime of my golf and my fitness.
You know, right now, there's so many good events, it's hard to turn down a lot of them.
It's nice to travel, you know, to experience different places, and there are some very good events at the end of the year, and there's good events nearly every week now. A lot of the top players are struggling to limit events and forget events that they don't want to play in, because there's so many good ones.

Q. Two things, one about the Ryder Cup, Ryder Cup year, and people, obviously the players are thinking about it. Is it tough or easy to miss last week?
LUKE DONALD: It's a place I've actually played well at, Pebble Beach. Watching a little bit of it on TV in glorious weather, you know, you'd love to be there. But there are certain disadvantages. It's a slow tournament, long, six-hour rounds on greens that are a little bumpier than we are used to. And if you get off to a rough start, and I didn't play very well last year, missing the cut; it just kind of leaves a bit of a bitter taste in your mouth.
But it's an event I'm sure I will go to again. It's a beautiful place, as I said. It's an event I feel like some of the top players skip, and if I go there, I have a good chance to win because of that. You know, it's a hard decision to miss it.
What was the other question?

Q. About the Ryder Cup, a few months away, but I'm sure particularly with non-American players, it's very, very big, and you've been there.
LUKE DONALD: I'm sure it's big for the American players, too. I'm sure they are going to try very, very hard to win it back this year.
It's obviously a huge deal for us, as well, the Europeans, and a huge deal for myself. I've had two very, very memorable Ryder Cups and one of my best experiences on the golf course have been on the Ryder Cups. Lucky to be on two winning teams and I hope I'll be on the team again this year.
That was part of the reason why I went to the Middle East. One, because I heard a lot of good things about it, and two, because I want to play just a few more events in Europe just to rack up some points.

Q. I was going to ask you how many more events will you play on The European Tour this year having already got two under your belt?
LUKE DONALD: Not too many more than I did last year, maybe just a couple. But I'll be back -- next time I'll be back is probably Wentworth. I plan on playing Munich, as well, and I think the French Open, as well, which is one I've never played. And obviously the Open Championship, and we'll see what happens from then on.

Q. How do you think that will impact on your PGA TOUR schedule, because obviously you're starting this year very differently.
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I've started a little bit differently this year. Obviously not winning last year, I wasn't exempt from Mercedes, and so I thought I would give the Middle East a try, just to start my year there instead of going to Hawaii. I'll probably play one or two more in Europe and one or two more less in the U.S., but it will be pretty similar. It won't be a big difference.

Q. How do you normally determine which tournaments to play and which tournaments to skip? What factors into that decision?
LUKE DONALD: For me, the big factors are where they fall on the schedule and what kind of golf courses they are, and if I feel like I'm going to be successful on them.
I generally like to play two or three in a row, have a week or two off, and go that way. You know, it doesn't always work that way, but it's a little bit to do with courses you've played at and played well before, and where they fall in the schedule.

Q. A lot of casual fans, casual golf fans, they are interested in the tournament depending on whether Tiger is there or not. As players, do you guys really -- how do you approach that? Obviously it matters if he's there or not, but do you change your approach? Just what's your philosophy about that?
LUKE DONALD: Well, the way he's been playing, you probably feel like you have a little bit of a better chance to win if he's not in the field, just to be honest. Every time he's playing, he's finishing first or second since the middle of the summer. So he's obviously a dominant player in the game right now, and deserves to be the best player in the world and have that title.
I don't think I approach an event any different whether he's in the field or not. I'm going out there trying to play my own game. It doesn't really matter what he's doing. I can't control that, and all I can control is the way I'm playing and hopefully make a few birdies and have a chance to win.
I would say in general, though, I'm playing a lot of events that he's playing in. And whether that's why I've only won two tournaments on the PGA TOUR, I'm not sure. (Laughter) But I think if you look at my schedule and his schedule, I think we play a lot of similar events.

Q. You talked about consistency in your game and everything, is there any particular thing that you've worked on in the off-season to try to be more consistent?
LUKE DONALD: My coach and I really went through our statistics at the end of the year, and studied my swing, actually, quite a lot, past swings from years before and the last six months. It felt like my swing was getting a little bit laid off, a little bit shut off at the top and it was causing me to come into the ball with my hands too high and I was getting a lot more inconsistent strikes, a lot more inconsistent shots.
So the last, really, four weeks or so, I've really worked hard on changing that and getting my swing into better positions where I feel I can hit the ball more consistently, you know, and improve those statistics and think about every week going through the process of getting better. And doesn't necessarily result in better results all the time, but I think if I keep getting better, then soon enough my results will improve and I'll give myself more chances to win.

Q. You mentioned earlier that Riviera is one of the courses, classic courses, you feel that should suit your game. On the PGA TOUR, which would be the top two or three where you really feel comfortable?
LUKE DONALD: That's a tough one. There are obviously courses you come to and you feel like, "I'm going to play well here." I have actually played quite well at Augusta. I've had a third place and a Top-10 there in three years. Torrey Pines I've always played decent at. Trying to think of some others -- I play well at the Byron Nelson. I think I've had 12 consecutive rounds in the 60s or something like that.
There are certain courses you just go there and they don't seem as hard to me as they are to other players for some particular reason.
You know, Tiger, obviously, loves the Buick. He seems to be able to hole putts where other people can't at Torrey Pines. There are certain courses that definitely suit others better than others.

Q. The first two courses you mentioned, Augusta and Torrey are both courses where Tiger feels very comfortable --
LUKE DONALD: And our games aren't exactly that similar.

Q. Looking forward to the Open, obviously.
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I actually have not played Torrey Pines in the last couple years. It just hasn't worked out with my schedule. I had a couple runners-up places in a row back in I think '04 and maybe '05. It's a place I've had some success. I'm sure it will be a little bit different golf course come June, but it's a nice golf course.

Q. You mentioned two of the major venues this year; what about the other two, Birkdale and Oakland Hills, how do they set up for your game and what are your experiences?
LUKE DONALD: No experience at Birkdale. I've actually never played it.
My plan is probably to skip Loch Lomond this year. Although I do not really want to, I've played well there; that's another golf course I've played very well at. I feel like if I'm going to improve my chances at the Open Championship, improve my record, I probably need to spend a little bit more time on links golf leading up to the Open.
So I'm sure I'll get there -- I'll definitely be n there in May for the R&A day. That will be my first look at Birkdale. Oakland Hills, my only experience there is the Ryder Cup. I've heard they have changed the course a little bit, but obviously a very strong, kind of typical major-style golf course and a good test. You know, I enjoyed my time there. We were a winning Ryder Cup Team, so it was a memorable place.

Q. The comments by Ian Poulter recently about Tiger Woods and the No. 2 position in the world; did you see those, and were you one of the guys texting him giving him a hard time about it?
LUKE DONALD: I'm sure he got enough hard times from other people, so we'll leave it at that. (Chuckling).
DOUG MILNE: Luke, thanks for coming in and best of luck this week.

End of FastScripts

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