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

WGC ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

February 23, 2005

Luke Donald

CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA

LUKE DONALD: I was in LA, just waiting around like most people. Luckily I was with my girlfriend, so she had some friends in LA, so we hung out with them a little bit. We went to shopping malls, that kind of stuff, hoping it would stop raining.

Q. Did you buy anything?

LUKE DONALD: Did I buy anything? I bought a couple of T shirts, nothing much. Diane got a pair of trainers, watched some movies. There's not much to do, really.

Q. Were you running out of things to do?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, a little bit.

Q. Is this your first time here?

LUKE DONALD: First time here, yeah. I heard it can get wet, but this is ridiculous.

Q. Did you get a chance to play yesterday?

LUKE DONALD: I played 18 yesterday, so at least I got in 18 holes, and that's the first time I've played really from Friday afternoon.

Q. Did you lose any balls?

LUKE DONALD: No, actually, no. The rough you could definitely lose balls in the rough, though. It's horrible out there. It's wet and it's probably six inches long. They haven't been able to cut it.

But, yeah, the fairways were very, very damp. You could have played yesterday, perhaps, if the conditions were right yesterday. The greens were very playable, but the fairways were very marginal.

Q. Is this the first time you've touched a club since Friday?

LUKE DONALD: I hit a few putts, when would it be, Sunday at Riviera. I'm hopefully going to go up to one of the testing centers, Titleist, maybe, and they have practice facilities, so I'll go practice there.

Q. (Inaudible.)

LUKE DONALD: It was Sergio and Tim Clark.

Q. Are you looking forward to the week? Obviously match play you played a lot as an amateur, and the Ryder Cup, but this is your first professional match play?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be hard trying to put this rain out of your mind and get all the distractions out and try and get mentally prepared to play, but I'm sure hopefully we'll play tomorrow, if it drains well enough.

Walking up here it didn't look very good, but I am looking forward to it. I like match play; it's nice to play these kind of events to get out of the monotonous rhythm of stroke play. It's nice to break things up a little bit. But I enjoy match play; it's a different kind of tactical game. I've had some success in the past, too, so we'll see what happens.

Q. (Inaudible.)

LUKE DONALD: Zach Johnson. Yeah, I've played with Zach a couple of times. He's obviously progressed a long way in the last couple of years coming from Nationwide. I actually played with him I think he Monday qualified for the BellSouth a few years ago and almost finished top 10, made a four putt on 18.

He seemed like a very good player then, I thought, had a good chance to make it on Tour, and obviously I was right. He's very consistent, works hard at his game and gets quite a lot out of his game. We have somewhat similar games. I wouldn't say he's a power hitter, he's more of a precision player, gets his way around the golf course, similar to the way I do. So it should be an interesting match.

Q. He describes himself, and if you hadn't said it was him, you could have been talking about yourself; all the things you said about him could be applied to you?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, definitely. We have similar games, I think. I think we rely on good iron play, both of us, pretty straight off the tee, doesn't make too many mistakes. Weeks we putt well, we do well, usually.

Q. Padraig Harrington said yesterday that he's changing his schedule to get more in tune with the majors. Do you have your schedule like that, and have you learned that as a younger player, to kind of gear up for that, for the early season?

LUKE DONALD: I pretty much knew I was going to be playing all the majors this year, so I tried to look at my results last year, where I'd done well, where I hadn't done well, and some of the reasons why that was, and one thing I figured out was most of my missed cuts, I had five or six missed cuts last year, were straight after a week off, the first week back. And so this year I'm going to play a week before the major; every major I'm going to play the week before. I just seem to play better the second or third week I'm out there.

That's one thing I've done to try and prepare for the majors.

Q. (Inaudible.)

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, good things and bad things. There was some extreme pressure out there, and most of the time I dealt with it pretty well. I probably hit one of the best shots of my golfing career, that 2 iron I hit the first day of the Ryder Cup into 18. So you get a lot of positives out of stuff like that. Obviously my first tee shot wasn't very good, but

Q. I recall a not very distinguished first tee shot at Sea Island, as well?

LUKE DONALD: Did it go a little right?

Q. Yes. But after that it all came together?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, maybe I just need to figure out that first tee shot. But I played quite well after that, both matches.

Q. Do you think anything prepared you for what it felt like when you stood on that first tee?

LUKE DONALD: No, but next time I play I think I'll be better prepared. It was just a first time thing. I think it's the hype that brings the nerves, everyone is talking about it, it's in the forefront of your mind. If you can try and treat it like a normal shot, then you'll do better.

Q. What's it like, is it frustrating having the rain?

LUKE DONALD: Yes, it's frustrating for all of us, especially this being the second week. Last week was a shame; I would have loved to have played a few more a couple more rounds. I thought I was in a good position. I kind of played the first two rounds in probably the worst of the conditions. I had to play most of my first two rounds in the rain. Who knows what may have happened if I'd gotten the other side of the draw, I could have walked away with a win.

But yeah, this is frustrating for everyone. I guess the golf course doesn't have to be in super good condition for match play. It's just one on one matches; you're both in kind of the same conditions. So they could probably get away with it this week. But last week it was a shame that we only played 36.

Q. You must generally continue to be happy with the way things are going since June of last year.

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, things have definitely been getting better and better. I am progressing. I'm moving up in the World Rankings. I feel a lot more confident in myself. I don't know if that was part of the Ryder Cup, from having won the Ryder Cup with the Europeans, I don't know. But I definitely approach as opposed to 2003, I'm approaching the events differently mentally, and I feel more confident in myself. I go out believing I can win every event, and I think that mindset has a reason for changing your golf, too.

Q. Was there a particular event where that happened?

LUKE DONALD: It's more gradual; I think it builds and builds the better you play. Winning obviously has a big effect, and maybe the two wins or the three wins in Europe last year were big factors in that.

Q. Why do you think there's so many more Europeans coming over here? Why do you think that is?

LUKE DONALD: I don't know. I used to be the lone Brit, but there's a lot of people out here now. But I suppose, you know, in a way the European Tour is very spread out. They have to do a lot more traveling than the U.S. Tour, and some of the top players maybe feel it's easier to play half a schedule here and half a schedule there, where during which time the tournaments are more close to each other. Obviously the money is great out here. I'm playing against the top players. Maybe they feel they can improve.

Q. Free laptops?

LUKE DONALD: Free laptops, yeah, free minutes on your phones.

Q. Do you get free laptops? What other stuff do you get?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, you get a laptop, you get a phone with minutes every month. There's a limousine service; you get so many rides to the airport and back.

Q. On the European Tour you get a bicycle.

LUKE DONALD: The European Tour is a different animal. It has its advantages, too. I think it's a very social Tour. We probably have more fun on the European Tour.

They definitely pamper you out here, and you don't expect that in Europe. I don't know why. They still look after you.

Q. Did you come over here for junior golf tournaments at all?

LUKE DONALD: No, just for college.

Q. From college on.

I don't expect the answer that I want, Faldo or Woosnam next Tuesday night for Ryder Cup?

LUKE DONALD: Well, I haven't been following it too closely, but from what I've heard Woosnam is favored. Are you asking me who I prefer?

Q. Yes, I'd like you to say one or another.

LUKE DONALD: Personally for me I know Faldo a little better than I have no real interaction with Woosnam, so on a personal level, perhaps Faldo would be a better choice for me. Obviously it's for the whole team, and who knows whether Faldo are or Woosnam are the best of the team. I don't know. This is a tricky one. I think there are advantages for both. Some people say Faldo has got into this into broadcasting now, a commentator, and maybe that would take away from his skills as being a Ryder Cup captain; too much juggling too many things. Woosnam, I think he's friends with a lot of guys out there. I don't know him, I don't know if some of the younger guys know him. But who knows.

Q. Do you think the characteristics of captaincy, which struck you about Bernhard Langer, I don't know what they are, but you would know things that impressed you about Langer, do you think Nick and Ian have those? Or talk about Nick, since you know him better. Do you think he has the same characteristics?

LUKE DONALD: I can't talk for Ian Woosnam, I don't know him. But I think Nick has very similar characteristics. He had a very similar career golf wise to Bernhard Langer, six time major winner as opposed to Bernhard, who won two over there. But he probably has an even better golfing resume than Langer, and I think he knows he dedicated his life to making that happen. And maybe some of those skills as to how he got so good could be a good reflection on being a Ryder Cup captain.

Q. After the Ryder Cup week, did you look back and think that the captain played a more important part in your success than perhaps you thought it might? Did he do things that you weren't expecting, and that was good?

LUKE DONALD: Golf wise Bernhard is never going to tell you how to play golf. Seve might. I think my personal success came down to me playing well that week. I think some of the decisions Bernhard made, who he paired us with were excellent, were a big factor. But personally my own playing ability, I think, was the factor in if I played well or not.

End of FastScripts.

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297