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HSBC WORLD MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

September 15, 2005

Luke Donald

SURREY, ENGLAND

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Luke, a rather ruthless way treat the man who gave you your Ryder Cup debut but a great result for you?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I feel like I played very consistent today. I didn't really do a lot wrong and my only bogey of the day I think was on 16 and that was a 3 putt. You know, obviously I made the birdies and conditions weren't that good, so a few birdies and a lot of pars was good enough.

MICHAEL GIBBONS: The start was very, very fast, 4 up after six.

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, obviously Bernhard got off to a bad start. And really, I played solidly. I think I was 1 under through six and 4 up. So he gave me a few holes early on and I built on that momentum and played very steady. Very happy with the way I played. I didn't really give anything away. And again, as I said, I tried to make him make birdies to beat me.

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Thanks for that.

Q. Is it a strange feeling beating someone who you admire so much?

LUKE DONALD: I don't like to lose and it's nice to win. I'm happy to be progressing to the second round.

Q. What is your first memory of watching Bernhard Langer?

LUKE DONALD: '85 Masters was a little bit before my time. I remember watching Jack briefly and that was '86. I can't remember watching that one, but I've probably seen many replays of it.

I guess it was just him playing in match play events, major tournaments, a lot of British Opens. I watched a lot of golf when I started playing golf when I was about eight years old, so since then.

Q. Were you worried about the game today -- you were the obvious favorite in terms of World Rankings?

LUKE DONALD: I thought it would be a tough match. I think we have very similar games. I wouldn't say I was worried about the game. I don't think it matters too much who you play this week. If you play well enough, you should win over 36 holes, whoever it is.

I felt like my game has been over the last few weeks, there's no reason if I don't play like that, he didn't get away from me, it should be close. Luckily, he got off to a bad start unfortunately and that really gave me the edge.

Q. Has he been an inspiration to you?

LUKE DONALD: Well, we have very similar games and I can learn a lot from Bernhard. He's very meticulous in his game. He gets the most out of it. He's very good at course management. He never forces shots and he plays within himself. I think some of those traits of his I've taken on myself and that's why we can sometimes talk, the same sentence. He's obviously someone I watched growing up and have a lot of respect and someone I definitely followed when I was a youngster.

Q. Any significance in the man in black outfit today -- it's not a tribute to Gary Player or anything?

LUKE DONALD: They said it wasn't going to be very, very nice today, so I dressed appropriately for the weather sunburn, yeah.

Q. What positives do you take from this season -- do you feel that you need to win to be fully satisfied?

LUKE DONALD: At the beginning of the year, Top 10 in the World Rankings was a goal of mine and winning was a goal of mine. And if I don't reach those, then in a way it will be unsatisfactory, yes. But there's a lot of positives out of this year, but if I don't reach those other two goals, then, you know, there's a lot to be done and ways to improve.

So I would not say I'd be hugely disappointed if I didn't win, but a little bit discouraged if I don't win or get to that Top 10.

Q. In Ryder Cup terms there are a lot of points here and you are going to play in less events than most others --is that on your mind?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I definitely have to try to make the most of my chances when I'm over here. I'll be back again at Valderrama, but other than that, that's all I'll be playing this year. But if you play well this week, then obviously it helps a lot; even if you get to the final and lose, that's big points and if you win, then you're halfway there almost. So it would be nice to at least get to the finals this week.

Q. What's your schedule for the rest of the year?

LUKE DONALD: I have this and then AMEX, Valderrama, TOUR Championship, World Cup, Million Dollar and perhaps the Target World Challenge if I get in.

Q. Were you putting left hand below right today?

LUKE DONALD: I was, about 25 feet in. Otherwise I was yeah, I felt like I putted well today. I didn't really miss anything. I was very solid from six feet in. Made a few long ones, and the putts I missed, I didn't feel like I hit any bad putts today which was the aim.

Q. Done that before?

LUKE DONALD: Never. I went to a new putter this week, it's a center shaft putter. I felt like I can aim better, see the line better. My bad strokes, I exit the blade left and I pull the putt. My blade right gets me going more down the line and I feel like I can make better putts, and it eliminates that kind of pull in my putting. It seemed to work these last couple of rounds.

Q. Why change?

LUKE DONALD: Well, I've been practicing left, below right for a few weeks, but it's the first time I used it in a tournament.

Q. Do you still get to pick your partner for the World Cup?

LUKE DONALD: I do, yeah. We'll know Monday.

Q. A difficult decision?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, there's some decent contenders. I thought about it the last few weeks. I'll make my decision Monday.

Q. Have you made your mind up?

LUKE DONALD: 90 percent.

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Thanks very much, Luke. Good luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts.

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