U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 13, 2008

Luke Donald

RAND JERRIS: It's a pleasure to welcome Luke Donald to the media center interview room. Luke, with a round of even par 71 today, even par for the championship.

Luke, could you talk a little bit about the playing conditions out there this morning. How did the course play compared to yesterday afternoon?

LUKE DONALD: The course conditions were very nice. Obviously, the weather has been perfect all week, just a gentle breeze. Only difference really to yesterday afternoon were the greens. They were a little bit more manageable and smoother and they got a little bit chopped up in the afternoon yesterday, so that made it a little bit easier.

Some of the pins were a little bit more tucked today. And that made it a little bit more challenging to get to some of them. But overall the course played very similar.

RAND JERRIS: Two consistent even par rounds which are always good in a U.S. Open. What does that say about your game for you right now?

LUKE DONALD: I'm hitting a lot of good solid shots out there. I hit a few loose ones down the stretch today on the back nine, but overall I hit a lot of good solid shots, hitting decent amount of fairways and greens, and really, when I was getting in trouble I was able to kind of salvage par a few times and just keep the momentum going.

So that was important today.

RAND JERRIS: For the record, could I ask you to go through the birdies and bogeys on your card.

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I birdied Number 3. I hit 6-iron and made about a 15-foot putt there.

Birdied 7, hit driver and a 6-iron to about eight feet.

Bogeyed 11. Hit a 3-iron left of the green chipped on and 2- putted from 40 feet.

Bogeyed 12. A drive and a hybrid 2-iron left of the green and missed a 15-footer again.

13, I hit drive, 3-iron and sand iron to a foot.

16, I missed a 3-iron to the right and missed about 12-foot putt for par there.

Q. You were talking a little bit yesterday afternoon about a couple of good finishes here at Torrey and how your comfort zone was. Is it getting even better going into the weekend here at a Major Championship?

LUKE DONALD: I think as the week goes on, you do get more familiar with the golf course, how it's playing. I think the conditions have been very similar every day, even in practice. So you start to hit shots consistently the same every time.

The greens haven't gotten too much firmer or faster than they were in practice, so again every kind of situation is very similar to what we have been practicing and the last two rounds.

So you do start to kind of get in the groove, I suppose, and what shots are required at what times.

Q. But good feelings of Torrey, too?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I mean, every time you go out there and post a good round and hit some good shots, you feel more comfortable about being here. Obviously, I have good memories from 2004 and 2000, I believe, where I finished second twice, and that all helps. But tomorrow's about going out and taking each hole as it comes.

Q. You've had a couple good finishes lately. What's kind of started to click with your game?

LUKE DONALD: Just been a lot of hard work. I've been putting in a lot of work with my swing, with my coach, and it's starting to pay off. I think my club positions are getting better throughout the swing. And that's causing me to hit better shots and be a bit more consistent. I putted quite well and I had a good short game as well this year, which when I haven't been hitting it quite on line or missing a few greens, I've been able to rescue myself that way, too.

But last couple weeks, I've had a couple top-10s and feeding off that good confidence.

Q. In your opinion what makes a great U.S. Open course?

LUKE DONALD: For the U.S. Open, I've always believed it should be a good, hard challenge. And I think that the USGA are pretty good at finding tough courses and making them as tough as they can be.

This year, I love the set up of how it's been set up. It's been very fair. I think if you are a little bit off target, it's still giving you a chance to get to the green and make par that way.

If you're way off, then usually you're in some pretty bad rough and have no chance of getting there. So the course setup has been very good this year, and I think that that obviously helps make a great U.S. Open venue. But it's really just a matter of having a good solid golf course and setting it up in a hard but fairway.

Q. You had Americanized your game to play the U. S. TOUR. Given that, which of the Major setups now best matches your game and which of the Major setups least matches your game on a traditional basis?

LUKE DONALD: It's a tough question. I think that if you're playing well, then my game should suit any golf course. If you're playing well and feeling good about your game, then you can play any golf course. If one had to favor the other, I think that if I'm on my game, then a U.S. Open sets up better for me. Somewhere where you have to keep it in play, really have good control of your ball, play smart, not get too aggressive and too greedy, and make a lot of good solid pars. And that's usually a pretty good recipe for a U.S. Open.

Looking at my record, the British Open is the one I struggled at. And I'm not sure why, but maybe it's just to do with a lack of practice on links golf. But I guess you could say that was the least suited to my game, dependant on results, prior results.

Q. What are you expecting from the setup on the weekend? Are they going to make this course tougher as far as the pins go?

LUKE DONALD: I don't believe they will make it too much tougher with pins. I think that if they wanted to make it tougher, they will firm up the greens and make them a little bit faster. That will make it very tricky. If you're at all off the fairway or you're trying to wedge in from 100 yards to make par, that way it's going to be very tricky. There's still some good pins out there, no matter what. And they have had a good mix from some very tough pins and some pins that you could shoot at this weekend and this week, and I believe that will continue.

RAND JERRIS: Luke, thanks very much for your time. Congratulations on your fine play.

LUKE DONALD: Thank you.