U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 25, 2000

Luke Donald

LUKE DONALD: Do I have to use this again? Let's see, today was an extremely tough match for me, both me and Bryce, really struggled with our games to start off with. And it wasn't really very crowd-pleasing golf. The front 9 I think we were both -- I was 2-over and he was 3-over and I was 1-up. But it got exciting at the end. Bryce made an extremely good putt at 14 to go 1-up. I just had to really dig deep. Made a huge putt on 15 and a really good 4, birdied 4 on 17, too.

LUKE DONALD: That's right.

LUKE DONALD: He made birdies on 12 and 14.

LUKE DONALD: It's hard to say. 12, Bryce hit an excellent shot and that pin is reasonably rewarding for a short iron. And he made a good birdie there. 14, he just made a good putt. Then once you find yourself 1-down, then, you know, you know par is not going to be good enough. So you just have to dig deep and really find my form again.

LUKE DONALD: Excuse me?

LUKE DONALD: My first match I got to 17, the last two matches I finished on 15. So on that occasion against Sean Knapp, I went for it and was just on the front edge, was just short. I didn't expect to hit it long there, I had 277 to the middle. I hit maybe 20 yards long.

LUKE DONALD: No hesitation really. Bryce was in the rough, so he wasn't in a great position. I think if I had got anywhere up there near the green, whether it was in the rough or in the bunker, I think I would have been in a better position than Bryce. So I just felt confident. That was the shot I wanted to hit straight from the start and I hit it.

LUKE DONALD: Not really. Larry is a great caddie, but I'm always going to make the final decision.

LUKE DONALD: I pictured the shot and that's how I wanted to hit it. He pretty much told me to hit it, too.

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I think both of us

almost -- I'm not sure if nervous is the right word, but we seemed a little tense. And it's hard to make birdies when you're tense and Bryce made a couple of early bogeys, which surprised me. Then I followed him later on. But, yeah, as you say, I'm not sure. Maybe we were being a bit too protective, trying to really keep it below the hole and maybe just overdoing it.

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I think so. But it's a big occasion. The crowds were a lot, lot bigger today than the rest of the week, and maybe that had something to do with it, just getting used to it.

LUKE DONALD: They were a very good crowd. They applauded good shots, and they weren't any way bad towards me. I mean Bryce being the American and me being the guy from overseas, I didn't feel that they were at all pro towards Bryce.

LUKE DONALD: First three matches, if I played the way I did first three matches and Bryce played the same way he did today, maybe we could have finished it out in 14 or something. But that didn't -- that wasn't the case, and both of us struggled. Hopefully I can -- I'm going to go to the range and try and smooth out some of those bad shots that I had. But tomorrow's a new day and I'm just glad to get this one over with.

LUKE DONALD: I played with him a couple times in college. He seems like a very methodical player, very consistent. Doesn't do a lot wrong. It's going to be another tough match.

LUKE DONALD: Right. I think our games are pretty similar. It's going to be another close one, I expect.

LUKE DONALD: Obviously I think I can win. I'm still here, aren't I? (Laughter.) Two more matches. Two more wins. Gary would say that, though, once he's beaten.

End of FastScripts….