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BOOZ ALLEN CLASSIC

June 11, 2005

Luke Donald

BETHESDA, MARYLAND

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Luke Donald, thank you for joining us. You put together your second consecutive 67 today and right now you're tied for the lead, a six way tie for the lead, at the Booz Allen Classic. Some opening comments, a good couple of days for you.

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I played very solid the last couple of days. I haven't really done a lot wrong. I think I've only had a couple bogeys the whole tournament. I'm keeping it in play. I'm putting it in the right spots and making a few putts here and there. Obviously made my score on the front nine, 4 under on the front nine, a little bit cautious on the back nine, but glad to birdie 18 for a nice 67.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Talk about your strategy heading into tomorrow. Assuming there's going to be a lot of players a shot or two within the lead, how do you approach tomorrow with so many players having a chance to win?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, it's obviously very bunched up and a lot of good players up there, too. It's just a great field this week and a lot of the great players have come to the top.

I think it's just more about being patient, sticking to the game plan, not really looking at leaderboards and just trying to play my own game. And, you know, I thought maybe the lead would go to 12 or 13 today, but obviously, it hasn't done that so far. You know, I'm in with a good shot tomorrow.

Q. Obviously you're one of the more patient guys out here and a very mellow guy, but do you have to goose it up a little bit tomorrow when there's that many guys, 15 guys within one shot?

LUKE DONALD: What do you mean, "goose it up"?

Q. Go at a few more pins than you ordinarily might or play a little more aggressively.

LUKE DONALD: Well, I think you can be somewhat more aggressive on this course because the greens are so receptive. They are almost too receptive. A lot of times you have a 100 yard shot, which is a sand wedge, and I have to hit a little pitching wedge because it's spinning too much.

You know, the soft greens make you able to shoot at the pins a little bit more, and sure I'm sure they will be very tucked tomorrow. But if you can make a good score, and you can be 2 , 3 , 4 under through the first nine holes, then you kind of check yourself, where you are in position, and then I'll decide how aggressive I need to be on the back nine.

Q. How much more difficult is the back side playing? That seems to be the pattern; you score early.

LUKE DONALD: Well, you've obviously got 10 that's a par 4 now and that's a very tough hole. And the closing two holes are pretty tough, as well. You can still make birdies on them because the greens are that soft. They play a little bit longer. You've obviously got some shorter holes on the front nine where you're hitting wedges and sand wedges into them. So I'd say the back nine is playing a shot harder.

Q. With the heat and humidity, how does it affect course conditions and how are you adjusting to those?

LUKE DONALD: Well, it's tiring. You know, I did feel like the nearer the round comes to the end, you start feeling a little tired, a little bit more weak, a little bit more drained, and that's because of the weather. So I have to be careful to keep drinking a lot and eating enough to stay on top of that.

It hasn't really affected the golf course. I think today I felt like the ball was flying a little bit further. I'm not sure why that was. I mean, the temperature has been pretty similar the last couple of days. I don't know, maybe it's the air pressure slightly different or something, but the ball seems to be flying a little bit further today. But the course is still pretty soft, so you can shoot at pins.

Q. What's the witching hour for the seed head; is there a particular time when you know that they start getting a little more bumpy in the day?

LUKE DONALD: Well, again, that probably adds to why the back nine is a lot harder. The poa annua grows up a little bit more and the greens do get a little bit bumpy, but it's not something you notice too much.

Q. You say you obviously don't want to concentrate too much on the leaderboard, but when you have situations where a birdie sends you from eighth place to first place, how crazy is that when you see that, and is it tough to ignore something like that?

LUKE DONALD: You know, I try and keep to my keep to my you know, I'm going to try and not look at leaderboards until at least the last six holes or so. I think that's what I always do on Sunday.

But as you said, you know, a birdie or a bogey can make a difference of a number of places when it's that bunched, and that just makes me more try and really just concentrate harder. I think, you know, you don't want to give up out there, because you make a string of two or three birdies and suddenly you might be right back up with a chance. So just more about not giving up, I think, if you make any mistakes.

Q. When you walk on the range tomorrow, there's so many guys so close and so many big names, do you get a little juiced up knowing it's going to be one of those days that's wide open?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I'm going to be shooting at all the pins, hitting it 350. (Laughter). Juiced, goosed up; I'm going to juice and goose.

You know, this is a great warm-up for next week. I think I'm happy to be contending, having a chance to win, you know, the week before the U.S. Open, and it's great knowing my game is in good shape going into next week. I'll just go and try to do what I've been doing this whole year really, and that's playing very solidly.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: If we can go through your scorecard.

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, parred the first three holes.

Birdied 4, drive and a 9 iron and hold about a 20 foot putt.

Then a drive and a pitching wedge to about two feet.

Drive, 8 iron, sand wedge to about six feet.

Birdied 4, 5, 6 and I birdied 9, a driver and 4 iron and a pitching wedge to about a foot.

Bogeyed 13. Drive, 6 iron right of the green, didn't get up and down.

Then hit a smooth 6 iron on the last to about a foot. So haven't really been holing too many long putts today.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Luke, thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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