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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT

June 4, 2009

Luke Donald

DUBLIN, OHIO

MARK STEVENS: I'd like to welcome Luke Donald to the media center. Luke actually in 1999 was the Nicklaus Award winner and gained exemption into this tournament through a sponsor's exemption that year. And turned in a fine round today. Luke, if just kind of start off talking about your round and the 20 putts today, and we'll take some questions.
LUKE DONALD: Yeah. I guess all good rounds start with a bogey. It was just kind of a normal everyday round until I got to the 8th and made a nice putt from the fringe from about 15 feet there. That kind of sparked off a run of six birdies.
Just really got on a hot streak. What was I, 8 under through ten holes -- no, nine holes. 8 under through nine holes. That doesn't happen very often, but when you get on that roll, it feels pretty good. So just kept going and made some birdies.

Q. Some of the guys were talking about the adjustment from Colonial, the rather slow greens to the fast greens here. Obviously, you handled that well. Do you agree with that? Is that an interesting adjustment week to week?
LUKE DONALD: It was. And the greens, yeah, I hadn't played Colonial since 2004. The course was in great shape, but greens were quite soft and reasonably slow for what we usually play on. These, on the other hand, are extremely quick, quickest we play all year.
They might not be as slope as Augusta, but on a flat putt, they're probably quicker than Augusta.
It was quite a bit of an adjustment. I didn't spend too much time on the greens. I was home in Chicago Monday, Tuesday, and came in early in the morning on Wednesday. Because of the rain, I didn't get to spend enough time. Maybe it was a good thing that I just adjusted before I went out today.

Q. 20 putts, were you hitting it close? Were you making long runs? Were there any makable ones that you didn't make today?
LUKE DONALD: Well, I could go through the length of putts, if you want. What I made.

Q. Yes.
LUKE DONALD: 2nd hole, I actually holed a wedge from 48 yards. So that helped.
8 was about 15 feet.
9 was maybe 10 feet.
10, I holed a 25-footer.
11 was probably 12 feet.
12 was 6 feet.
1 was about 8 feet.
15 was a foot.
16 was about 20 feet.
So it was a couple of decent-sized ones, but nothing major.

Q. Where do you think your biggest strength was today? Was it off the tee? Was it from the fairway, or was it from the greens?
LUKE DONALD: I would say putting. 20 putts today. I don't know how many greens I hit, you know. All year, I've been trying to focus on hitting more greens and hitting more fairways because I have been putting the ball well.
This course is reasonably generous off the tee, but you have to put your pro shots in good positions to give yourself uphill putts because downhill putts are extremely, extremely quick and you have to give them a lot of respect.
Did a good job of giving myself some makable putts today, which helped.

Q. Can you remember other rounds in your career where you've had so few putts?
LUKE DONALD: Well, at Hilton Head, I had one or two days where I was 23 or 24 putts. But 20 putts is the least I've had, I think, by a few.

Q. You mentioned outside talking to Rich Lerner about playing with your host this week in his last official event. How many times have you seen pictures of you guys, the three of you, and autographed those in the, what, three, four years since?
LUKE DONALD: I haven't autographed many pictures personally for fans. I have quite a few myself. That I've given away to various charities, various family and friends.
I just think it's such a cool experience that it's nice to share it. I've been very fortunate to spend a decent amount of time with Jack Nicklaus, a little bit through my relationship we have at RBS and a little bit through being a member of the Bears Club in Jupiter.
I see him quite a bit in the winter, and he's very generous. I gave him about 20 or so pictures to sign, and he signed them, with no problem.
I've been very fortunate to spend a little bit of time with Jack Nicklaus, and it's nice to play well at his tournament.

Q. The thrust of my point is it's going to make it a little more meaningful this week if you were able to stay in the mix down the stretch because it's his deal.
LUKE DONALD: It's meaningful anyway. I think this is a pretty big tournament. It's a special tournament. The players look forward to this event. We're treated extremely well. It's one of the better courses we play all year, and the best greens we play all year.
I think think this behind the Majors is up there as one of the best tournaments we play all year. It would mean a lot to play well here and have a chance to win. But it's extra special because I do know Jack a little bit better than some of the other guys.

Q. Were you able to enjoy that experience at the old course with Jack in his final round? Obviously, you've got your game to worry about, but I'm thinking it was probably a pretty amazing scene.
LUKE DONALD: Yeah. When I first saw the paring, there was a part of me that was extremely happy to be in the paring and part of me wondered if it would be a distraction.
To be honest, it wasn't too big of a distraction. I think I wouldn't ever give up that distraction for the chance to be in that paring. It's something very special, something I felt honored to be a part of.
You know, I actually played pretty well the first day, shot 68 at St. Andrews. Not so great the next day, shot 73. But pretty well considering the amount of people and the experience, clapped on every green and every fairway. The last couple of holes on Friday is something that I'll always remember.

Q. Luke, you said earlier the greens were quick despite the rain yesterday, but you did a good job giving yourself some makable putts. Compared to last year, as quick as they were with the wind and everything, did the rain -- even though they were running pretty well, did you have an easier time today holding the ball where you want to hit it?
LUKE DONALD: The greens are receptive, so you can fire, and even long irons are holding. I think the rain made it quite a bit softer.
You know, actually, you had to guard against spinning it too much with wedges. So you had to control that. The softness made it easier to get where you wanted the ball, place the ball where you wanted. The greens were still pretty quick.

Q. Did you save one of those 20 pictures for yourself? If so, where did you put it?
LUKE DONALD: I've got a few of them still. I just moved house last week, so I haven't found a place. It will be somewhere pretty prominent.

Q. You're making back to back birdies. At what point do you feel that it's a streak, or do you feel that? What is that sensation?
LUKE DONALD: You try not to get caught up in it too much. You try and just focus on every shot as it comes. Obviously, it's in the back of your mind that you're making a good run and you want to keep that going.
Really, it's about staying in the present.

Q. Along this streak here, where did you start feeling that?
LUKE DONALD: Probably 14, when I hit it left in the water.

Q. Luke, not like you guys are blood relatives or anything, but did Casey's win do anything for you at all? As one of the boys.
LUKE DONALD: It's nice to see him being so successful, and I think you gain a lot to seeing how, to start the year, he was quite down in the rankings. It's amazing what a good run of tournaments can do. You can shoot up pretty quickly to what he is now, third in the world.
So that gives me encouragement that I can do the same and follow in his footsteps.

Q. You've dramatically improved every year since you've been on tour in putting from 144th to 1st now. Has it been a gradual process? Was there a plan getting in place that you guys put there and you just followed it all the way through to where you are now?
LUKE DONALD: I had some weaknesses, I think, in my fundamentals when I first got out on tour from college. I had to work a bit on my stroke.
But it's just a process of keep working on it, try to get it better every time, every year. And I switched putters in the Honda last year. I went from a conventional kind of Ping-style putter to a mallet. I think that really helped with the pace of my stroke, really helped lining up putts a little bit better. Just seemed to swing very well, and I've putt very well with it since I began putting with that odyssey putter.
I think it's just down to, you know, you start putting well, and you start believing in yourself a little bit. Confidence on the greens breeds confidence. You keep making more putts. I think putting is very mental. Once you feel like you're a good putter, then it becomes easier.

Q. That was part of my question. So the idea that you had 20 putts is going to strike a lot of people who see it as one of the greatest putting rounds that they've seen in a while. If you had had a tip for people on putting, what would it be?
LUKE DONALD: Putting is all fundamental. It's such a small stroke, you can't make corrections like you can in a full swing because there's just no margin for error.
What I tell most amateurs, it's all in the setup. You have to have your eyes directly above the ball tracing straight lines to the hole. Your hands should be falling just below your shoulders, straight below your shoulders because the arc of a putting stroke is determined where your hands are. If your hands are outside the plane of your shoulders, you're going to have more of an arced putting stroke. If you get it too far in, it's going to make the putting stroke go out.
So you want it somewhere in the middle where your hands are hanging right beneath your shoulders.
And then the third thing, I think, is grip. Grip is a putting stroke is very different to hitting shots. When you're hitting golf shots, it's more in the fingers, and putting you want it more in the palms. So you keep that club face square to the target.
Pretty standard stuff that most people now, but people always get their fundamentals wrong.
MARK STEVENS: Luke, thank you for taking the time. Good luck the rest of the week.

End of FastScripts

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