	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 HONDA CLASSIC

February 28, 2008

Luke Donald

PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA

JOE CHEMYCZ: We welcome Luke Donald in, Luke with a bogey-free 6-under par 64 today. Obviously a little chilly to start with, but a good day for you and maybe just talk about the advantages of being at home a little bit and playing here and sleeping in your own bed.
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, it was a very good round today for me. I really played pretty consistently throughout the day. I already did a lot of good things around the greens and when I had my chances I took them. I didn't drive it particularly well. I need to improve that. I probably hit only half the fairways, which is not quite good enough. Apart from that, everything was very good.
Yeah, as you said, it's nice to have a tournament close to home. You always feel a bit more relaxed and at ease, I suppose, and that sometimes can translate to good golf. Obviously I've won not at this venue before, but just down the road at Mirasol before. Sometimes staying at home can be an advantage.

Q. In any off time while you're here, do you ever come and just play this course to familiarize yourself for this event?
LUKE DONALD: I didn't. I played Sunday. Unfortunately I was knocked out second round of the Match Play, so I had some time. But I did come Sunday just because there was no one around here and just played a few holes Tuesday and then the Pro-Am on Wednesday.

Q. Of those fairways you missed, how many times were you not able to go at the green? And just talk about the conditions, are they more difficult than last year or are they a little easier this year than last year?
LUKE DONALD: Just on the second part, I think it's a little easier this year. I think the rough is a little bit thinner than it was last year. It's still thickish in places, but also the course is playing a bit softer than it was last year, as well. So you can be aggressive at some pins. The ball is really holding on the greens.
I think the TOUR was sensible in putting a few tees up today, just thinking about what kind of weather we were going to have and with the cold conditions. They set the course up very fairly today, which I think was a good thing.
But the drives I hit in the rough, they weren't terribly -- I was able to get on the green I think most times. I caught some good lies. No chip-outs. A couple times I hit fringe, so it might skew off my stats a bit.

Q. What was your best hole of the day, and why?
LUKE DONALD: Probably 15. You know, it's a daunting shot that par 3, and the wind was whipping off the left. So anything that got hung up in the wind was going to get pushed into the water, and just hit a nice, controlled 5-iron and managed to judge it pretty well. I was aiming to get it left of the pin maybe ten feet and the wind carried it to two feet and made it an easy birdie. But that was a tough hole.

Q. In terms of your form, how did you feel coming into this competition? What sort of expectations did you have?
LUKE DONALD: My form has been good the last few weeks. This is only my third event on the PGA TOUR but came off a third-place finish in L.A. and really have been working hard in the off-season on my swing and trying to get a little bit more consistency in my swing and get in better positions.
I really do feel like I have a bit more control over the ball. Obviously coming into this week, I have high expectations. I obviously feel good enough to win out here, but trying to feel like I'm just going through the process of getting better every day and hopefully the results will follow.

Q. The fact that you are from here and it's awfully windy out there for guys who are not from here today, do you think that was an advantage?
LUKE DONALD: Not too much. The time I've spent down here in the winter, it really hasn't been that windy. It just seems to pick up around the tournament. You know, as soon as we get to March time, the wind seems to pick up.
This course is a little bit more exposed than the course I play at, the Bear's Club. I don't think the wind was so much of a factor today.

Q. Having won this tournament before, is that lost when the tournament moves to a new place? Or do you still feel some benefit from having won this before?
LUKE DONALD: It feels like a different tournament almost, because you are playing a different golf course. Yeah, there are different challenges and two very totally different golf courses.
It's nice to be known as a past champion, but I'm not sure playing a different course has that much advantage.

Q. What do you remember about your first round last year, and because you liked this course, did it surprise you that you had the rough start? Did it motivate you?
LUKE DONALD: Last year I was coming off a rough run of tournaments, and I remember I missed the cut at Pebble Beach, I missed the cut at L.A. I lost in the second round of the Match Play. I was really struggling mentally with my confidence. I went out and it's a tough golf course. It not an easy golf course, but to shoot 77, I wasn't obviously very happy this time last year.
But I was very proud of myself the way I came back on Friday and shot I think 69 or 67 maybe and made the cut and kind of turned my year a little bit around for the next few months and I was able to nearly go on and win at Byron Nelson.
Obviously a big difference between last year's first round and this year's.

Q. If someone said you were going to miss half a dozen fairways or whatever it was, combined with the chill and combined with the wind, would it be fair to say that 64 would have been a somewhat surprising result to you if you knew that beforehand?
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I think so. As I said, you can find spots in the rough that are not too bad. It's a little patchy and some places are thinner than others.
My driving wasn't terrible. I probably hit half the fairways and a couple of fringes and the others were just a little off. It not like I was hitting terrible drives, but just need to tighten it up a little bit and get it a little bit better.
I definitely did a lot around the greens. When I had my chances, I holed out well. Got up-and-down from a few bunkers. All and all, I was very tidy around the greens.

Q. Last year after the 77, Friday, Saturday, Sunday went pretty well for you. Was it simply a matter of just playing better, or did you figure something out about the place?
LUKE DONALD: I think golf can be just a tough game sometimes. You know, after that 77, I felt pretty down in the dumps about my game and my confidence. I had a long talk with Jim Fanning, who I was working with at the time. I was able to get past that and shoot a good round on Friday and just kind of right the ship a little bit.
You know, golf is just a tough game sometimes. It sometimes gets you down, and we've all been there before, but luckily right now I feel pretty confident about my game. I feel confident about where I'm heading, and I'm definitely going the right direction.

Q. Playing two or three strong rounds here last year, even though it was a year ago does that carry over? Is there a real tangible sense of momentum when you come back?
LUKE DONALD: I don't think so. I think it's more to do with the time around this time.
You know, what happened three or four weeks in the past, not really more than a year; I mean, you can definitely come to a course and have good feelings about it if you've played well before, and certain courses suit your eye a little bit better. But I don't think my play in the last three rounds was significant to this week.

Q. You're already more shots under par after one round than it took to get into the playoff last year. What do you think it's going to take to win this week if the weather doesn't really change a whole lot the next three days?
LUKE DONALD: Well, I believe it's going to get a little bit warmer, so the ball will fly a little bit further. I can't see the course firming up too much. I think it will still play reasonably soft.
But it all depends on the wind here. If you get a strong wind, constant wind, it's still not an easy golf course. Anything under par is a good score. Obviously with my start, I'd love to keep building on that, and somewhere, maybe 10-, 11-under could win this week.

Q. Do you think double digits?
LUKE DONALD: It could. It might not. You never know in the wind.
If you're striking it well with soft greens, then you can make some birdies.
JOE CHEMYCZ: Officially seven of 14 fairways, 13 of 18 greens, 25 putts. Take us through your birdies real quick, starting at 3 if you don't mind.
LUKE DONALD: 3, I hit driver and 3-wood into the green-side bunker and hit it out to two feet, made that.
4, I pulled my drive into the fairway bunker. Hit a wedge out to about ten feet and made that putt.
10, I hit driver, hybrid, my rescue 2-iron, just off the right edge of the green and chipped in from about 15 yards.
13, I hit a 3-wood just in the right fringe, wedged it, hit a pitching wedge to maybe eight feet and made that.
15, I hit a little 5-iron to two feet.
Then 18, hit drive, 3-iron, lay up and a little punch 9-iron to six feet and made that.

Q. The way the wind is blowing out of the north, does it make that little Bear Trap sequence of holes play different or easier?
LUKE DONALD: I don't think it makes it play easier. I think 15 today was a tough wind. Both the par 3s, the wind was kind of blowing the ball towards the water. I think on 17, that makes it a little bit easier. 15, that makes it a little bit harder. Anything you lose up in the wind is going to blow right.
17, the way the green is shaped, you kind of want the ball to feed in from the left, so it makes it a little easier.
16 played very tough today. It's almost into the wind slightly off the right.
18, it's not reachable right now.
The problem with those holes is that every hole is at a different angle, so you're dealing with different wind directions every time on every shot. So you can't really get into a routine. You need to play different shot for every hole.

Q. Would you call that shot on 15 maybe your best Shot of the Day?
LUKE DONALD: Probably, yeah.

Q. Did you say you hit driver, 3-wood on 3?
LUKE DONALD: It's a par 5, yeah. Driver, 3-wood into the fairway bunker.

Q. Can you walk us through No. 10 and talk about the challenges that that presented today and how you dealt with that?
LUKE DONALD: Well, in the past we've played 10 into the wind, which makes that a very, very long hole. It's a long hole anyway. Today it was mainly right-to-left. The wind was helping a little bit. Hit a good drive. But you know, still had 220 yards to the hole.
It's a very, very tough hole, and one hole I'll take four every time. I think with the wind slightly helping, it makes it a little bit easier to drive. You can carry that bunker on the right and hopefully get a kick off the downslope and get a little closer, but still a very, very tough hole.
JOE CHEMYCZ: Luke, thank you. Good luck.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297