home

jobs

	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 OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 13, 2005

Luke Donald

ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND

BRIAN CREIGHTON: Ladies and gentlemen, we have with us this morning Luke Donald. You've had some draws at The Open in the past, you seem to have come up with another one. How do you manage this?

LUKE DONALD: I guess lucky. But this is quite an honor to be paired with Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson and I'm thoroughly looking forward to it. It's obviously going to be an experience of a lifetime and I can't wait to get out there tomorrow.

Q. Might it be daunting is there any chance it might be a bit daunting rather than invigorating or inspiring?

LUKE DONALD: Hopefully I can turn it into inspiring rather than daunting. Obviously it's going to be a different kind of atmosphere out there. I think it was Ernie or someone told me that I might have to bring earplugs, because there's going to be a lot of applause, a lot of clapping, something different than what I've probably ever experienced. But hopefully I can use kind of the vibes from the crowd to motivate myself and play use their kind of energy to spur me on, hopefully.

Q. Do you have to be careful about not getting caught up in what's going on with Nicklaus and all the emotion that's going to be around him? How difficult will it be for you to concentrate on your own game?

LUKE DONALD: Well, obviously there is going to be a lot of crowd support out there for Nicklaus, a lot of applause and stuff, but I don't think just having gotten to know Jack the last couple of years through our relationship, he's going to be very professional out there. He's not going to be stopping and waving and doing that. He's going to be carrying on like it's any other round. Obviously a few waves here and there, but he's not going to slow up play or distract me at all in that way. I'll just be concentrating on my own game.

Q. Do you feel any pressure at all waving the flag for England?

LUKE DONALD: I don't really feel pressure. Obviously there's a little bit more expectation on players like myself. I've played well this year. I've played well in The Masters, finished strongly there. I finished strongly THE PLAYERS Championship. My form is pretty good coming into this week, and there's no reason, really, to feel pressure about that, just to feel good about my game.

You know, when you get into these situations you expect to have a bit more expectations on you. I think that just comes with the territory. You don't really think about it when you're on the golf course, you just get on with it.

Q. You spoke about this relationship you have with Jack Nicklaus. Through him is there anything you've taken from the way he approaches the game, the way he plays the game and adapted it to your game?

LUKE DONALD: I don't know if there's too many similarities. Obviously I've been very fortunate to get to know Jack on a little bit more of a personal level through our relationship with the team RBS. And if there's ever anything I wanted to know, if I wanted him to be a mentor or anything to me, then he was always there if I needed anything. I haven't really used that much, but Jack Nicklaus, he's always there if you want to have advice, but he's never going to give it out to you without you asking. He's always told me that guys of my level can pretty much figure it out ourselves.

We've gotten on well the last couple of years and I think that's only helped my career go along as it has.

Q. Could you explain your sort of extraordinary, or perhaps not so extraordinary record in this competition?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, my record isn't pretty good. Obviously it's not very good at all. But something I'm not thinking about this week. I think it's a little bit more of an irrelevant point now. I think I feel like I'm a different player now. I'm not coming here just to make the cut, I'm coming here to win this championship. My mentality is a lot different than past years. It's just something I'm not really thinking about, cuts.

Q. Why is your mentality different?

LUKE DONALD: Because the way I've been playing the last couple of years is quite different than the years before that. I feel like I'm a stronger player, I feel more confident. I feel like I can deal with these situations better, major championships. I've obviously since the end of 2003 I've worked with a sports performance coach, Jim Fannin, who's helped me on the mental side. I feel more confident, more able to deal with these kind of situations now.

Q. You were in a spotlight group last year, weren't you, with Ernie?

LUKE DONALD: Ernie and

Q. And the year before you were out with Tiger. And this time you're out in another spotlight. So you've had to work on the mental side. Has that served you in good stead this time?

LUKE DONALD: I hope so. I feel good about my game. There's no reason why I can't play well this week.

BRIAN CREIGHTON: Have you taking anything from those situations?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, you obviously learn. Two years ago my game didn't feel good when I played with Tiger. Last year I played decent, but 3 putted the last to miss the cut. I feel like I'm improving a lot in the last couple of years. I think two years ago I was a completely different player. I hadn't ever played with Tiger before. I'm used to playing with a lot bigger names now. I played with Tiger at the U.S. Open. I played very well the first two days there. I've gotten to know these players a lot more on a personal basis. And I think when they lose that aura of being someone they become just a friend of yours, rather than a world class player, then it's a little less daunting playing with them.

Q. You're preparing for your own game, but can you explain why over the past few years it seems like there are more than just a few guys that show they can win a major. Why would that be and what does that mean for you?

LUKE DONALD: Can you

Q. More than just the Big 5 are considered favorites in majors now, Michael Campbell wins, and Ben Curtis and Sean Micheel wins. How do you explain that, and what does that mean for you?

LUKE DONALD: It's good for me, obviously. The game isn't just dominated by the top five players in the world. Obviously when it comes to majors it works all facets of your game. You've had some surprise winners in The British Open before. I'm not really sure why that is. I just think the talent of players is growing. I think these top players have motivated other players to work harder at their games, to work on their physical fitness, to work on practicing harder, to work on the mental side, to work on everything.

Right now even though the rankings show the top 5 are kind of ahead of everyone else, there's a lot of great players out there. And there's no reason why any given great player can't win every week.

Q. How do you find yourselves adapting to the challenges of links golf?

LUKE DONALD: I feel like I'm going to play my own game this week. Unless the conditions get so severe, so windy, you don't really need to adapt your game too much. I think that's the best way to approach it. Maybe in the past I've tried to adapt my game too much, working on pitch and runs and long putts from off the green and that kind of stuff. I think if I can just play to my strengths then I'll be well suited around here. But as soon as you start adapting too much unless the wind gets really strong, I don't think you really need to adapt that much.

Q. At the Nissan Open earlier in the year, some of the local press seemed surprised when you said you liked to be in contention for a couple of majors this year. Do you feel you're starting to get the recognition that you deserve?

LUKE DONALD: I think my results are definitely opening a few guys' eyes. Obviously people have said that Augusta is a bomber's course. You have to hit it far, but I kind of proved them wrong there, finishing tied third. I played solidly in the U.S. Open. Obviously I had a great chance to win THE PLAYERS Championship, all big events. And those kind of results get you recognized more. And that's probably why I'm sitting here today.

Q. Can you talk about the learning curve of trying to master this course? I've heard a lot about players talking a lot about how difficult the course is to learn and understand. How is it for you?

LUKE DONALD: Well, luckily, this is the most familiar of all The Open courses for me. I've played this a number of times. I played it back in 2000, at the Palmer Cup, I played once here. I played the Dunhill Links last year. I finished third there. I feel more familiar to this course than any other Open courses. It's a course every time you play it you seem to be confronted with a shot that you haven't had before. It's just the nature of the course. The nature of how the conditions are here, they change day to day. That makes it fun to play, I think. It makes it different every time. It's a hard course to practice in the practice rounds, because there's so many different shots you could be given that you just can't practice them all. It's a tough course to really prepare in that way, and that's why just playing it and playing it, I think, is very beneficial. Someone who might have played it three or four times, three or four Opens or three or four times before, might have a little bit more advantage.

Q. At Loch Lomond we saw examples of you managing your game, at 14, for example, where some guys went to the green, and you went the conventional way. Is this going to demand more managing of your game here, and especially in terms of length?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, length I don't think is really a factor this week, because the course is playing so firm and fast. You could hit one drive and with the right bounce it rolls another 60, 70 yards, easily. And to be honest, I think the key to this championship is staying away from the bunkers. Those are the most penal aspect out here. There's obviously a little bit of rough in places and it's patchy. You can get good lies in the rough and you can get horrible lies, but most of the lies in the bunkers are horrible, 90 percent of them.

So obviously accuracy, trying to keep it in the fairway off the tee is going to be, I think, paramount this week.

Q. Have you spoken to Nick Faldo about what it takes to actually win a tournament like this?

LUKE DONALD: No, not on that basis, no.

Q. Does it make it any easier for you, the pressure is off of you, the fact that you've been devoted to the States, and not that much is expected of you?

LUKE DONALD: You think because I'm playing in the States that people don't expect me to win over here?

Q. Well, perhaps not as much, as if you were here every day over here. I mean, what, you're 12th, 13th in the world now?

LUKE DONALD: 15.

Q. You know, it's like sort of a Henman thing. And you can see the sort of pressure that got to him to deliver the whole time. Did you ever think about that?

LUKE DONALD: Not really. I don't think about pressure when you're out on the golf course, you just you play your own game.

Q. But do you think being sort of based over there helps you?

LUKE DONALD: As opposed to keeping the limelight away from me?

Q. Yes.

LUKE DONALD: I feel in the last couple of years the limelight has been more on me, especially this last year. I've not done press conferences didn't start doing press conferences until last year. There's definitely more limelight on me, and I think that's just it comes with the territory of playing well and moving up the World Rankings, but I don't think it distracts me from anything, anyway.

Q. I think you described Jim as a sports performance coach. Is that more on a mental side?

LUKE DONALD: It's mainly mental side. It's just pretty general stuff that you kind of forget when you're playing a lot. When I came out of college I was one of the best players in college. And I came to the PGA TOUR and just played okay but was getting beaten a lot, every week for a couple of years and wasn't really breaking through the way I imagined it. And that affects your confidence a little bit. And I think it changes your goals. It changes your outlook on how successful you can be.

Jim's really helped me realize that you have to you have to kind of set your goals a little bit higher than you really think. You have to kind of think abnormally if you want to have abnormal results. And he's just helped with a few things on the mental side.

We work on the little things we do on the golf course, on the practice range, how I warm up. I try to play a few holes. The very last thing I do, I play some holes on the range. It's just stuff you probably heard before, but it's stuff that's really helped my game. I feel like I have little keys for dealing with bogeys. I have little keys to deal with how I feel inside, all kinds of stuff.

Q. How often do you see him and how did the contact with him start?

LUKE DONALD: He's based in Chicago. He's worked with a few players on Tour. I think he works with Charles Howell. He's worked with some very famous sports people, like Alex Rodriguez in America. He started in tennis, I think, about 30 years ago. We started at the end of 2003.

Q. What form do the sessions take, just one on one?

LUKE DONALD: Mainly just phone conversations, mainly. But I see him out on Tour now and again.

Q. Do you actually really believe you need all this?

LUKE DONALD: I think to a point you do, yeah. I think you need reminding of those kind of basic elements that you forget about if you don't have someone telling you. And it's helped me, for sure.

Q. When you say keys to help you deal with bogeys, what sort of keys are you talking about? Like an automatic response?

LUKE DONALD: He has a few one of his things is called a five second rule, where the five seconds after every shot is where you have to keep telling yourself positives, rather than you see a lot of players hit a shot and they know it's off line, and you see their shoulders kind of slump. He thinks that five seconds after every shot is very important. No matter what kind of shot you hit, you have to be very positive, tell yourself you're a great player, you hit solid, kind of stuff like that.

Q. It's been suggested on and off the course you're bit of a control freak. Is that accurate?

LUKE DONALD: I don't think I'm a control freak. If I have things to do, I write them down. I kind of go through in an orderly fashion what I need to do and I get it done, just like my practice. I'm very efficient with my practicing. If I feel like I need to work on a certain thing then I'll work hard on it until I feel like it gets better.

Q. Do you make lists of things, sort of to do lists?

LUKE DONALD: If I have something to do.

Q. I think you made reference to your brother, and there's a space there, because you were getting too close and it might be more of a family thing than a golf thing.

LUKE DONALD: No

Q. What's actually happened there?

LUKE DONALD: When Chris first began caddying for me when I first got my Tour card, it was kind of a lonely situation. When you're first out on Tour, you don't know too many people. It was great having my brother around. We used to room together. He lived with me back in Chicago. We'd go out to dinner with each other. It got a little bit claustrophobic after a while. We spent too much time together.

If anyone has a brother or sister and they're around each other every day, every minute, they get on your nerves a little bit. But after a month or two we started making more friends and we were able to separate a little bit more. He rooms with other caddies now. We have a lot more space.

Q. Best for both of you?

LUKE DONALD: Works out perfectly, as well.

Q. When you play the holes on the range you say that's the last thing you do on the range is play some holes. Is that in terms of taking the club out or our visualizing the holes?

LUKE DONALD: Taking the club out, playing them physically.

BRIAN CREIGHTON: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297