|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NORTHERN TRUST OPENFebruary 6, 2010Luke DonaldPACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA LAURA HILL: I know it's been a long day. Thanks for joining us. The key is you finished, so you're one of the guys who can sleep in a little, but you've definitely put yourself in position for this tournament. LUKE DONALD: Yeah, obviously a long day, up at 5:00 this morning and thought it was going to be another really long day, but the weather turned out pretty good and we had some favorable conditions and were able to get it in today. Glad that I'll be able to sleep in just a little bit more tomorrow. Solid day today. I felt like I had a lot more control tee to green today and was very tidy when I missed greens. So all in all, it was a very neat and tidy round today. Q. When you look at where Steve is right now, is there -- is it even possible to think about winning the tournament, or is it going to be a really good battle for second place tomorrow? LUKE DONALD: What is Steve at? Q. 14. LUKE DONALD: Five shots. Well, you never know. Obviously Steve is an accomplished player and he's been playing extremely well the last few years and seems very much in control of his game. I'm sure he'll play a solid round. I would have thought I'd need to shoot something very low tomorrow to have any chance, but again, I'll be trying to play the course more than anything, just go about my business and hopefully post a low number and see if it's good enough. But obviously if Steve plays nicely, it's sort of in his hands. Q. How much of a disadvantage is it to not have finished today, for the guys who have to come back tomorrow morning? LUKE DONALD: It's a little bit of a nuisance. I wouldn't say it's a huge disadvantage. It's going to be slightly mentally and physically more tiring, but it's not a huge deal. Q. And what did you think of the course today? LUKE DONALD: It was a little sloppy, but considering all the rain we had, it was actually in pretty good shape. The greens are obviously a little softer but they were putting nicely. Again, the conditions really because of the soft greens and no rain could make a few birdies out there. Q. What holes were sloppy? Where was the water noticeable, any particular place? LUKE DONALD: Just kind of walking from the tees to your second shots. Some of those low areas, leaving some footprints in the mud. But to be honest, considering that, the fairways are pretty good and the greens are holding up nicely, too. Q. You're going to play in the last group with Steve. Is that any kind of advantage in terms of being able to maybe put some extra pressure on him if he sees you putting together a couple of birdies? Do you view it that way at all? LUKE DONALD: I'm sure if I can get off to a good start and string a few and maybe close the gap early, he might start thinking about it. But again, I'll try and just play my own game, not really try and watch him, just play the course and try and make some birdies. Hopefully I can get off to a fast start and put a little pressure on him. Q. Assuming we don't get much more rain or any more rain, is a low score out there to get where you feel like you could make up that kind of differential? LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I'm told there will be decent weather tomorrow, no rain, and the greens are soft. Any time the greens are soft, people will fire at flags, and it's a matter of making those putts. If you're hitting the ball nicely tee to green, there's definitely opportunities out there. There's a few tough holes out there. This is not an easy golf course. But it does lend itself to some birdies. Q. You had surgery a little over a year ago. How do you feel? Are you all the way back? Are you where you want to be with your game at this point? LUKE DONALD: Last year was kind of a rebuilding year, obviously just trying to find out where my game was after taking six months off. I didn't have too many issues with the wrist, just had that one event at the Accenture Match Play where I had a little bit of a flare-up with the soft tissue. But other than that, the wrist has been good, and hopefully that's all behind me. I've been working hard in the off-season and working hard on my fitness and working hard on my golf game. It's still a work in progress, especially the golf swing, but it feels like it's coming along. Hopefully it will be a good year for me. Q. How do you like the lift, clean and place? How does that change the way you play? LUKE DONALD: The ball was picking up some mud, so it's probably necessary with the amount of rain we had. It just makes it, again, obviously -- there's no variables. If you get to hit a clean golf ball, you can go ahead and hit it at the pin and know it's not going to swerve off-line because of the mud. So it just gives you a little bit more confidence. The fairways here the ball sits up anyway, so it's not about improving your lie so much, it's just about having a clean golf ball. Q. Do you have a number in mind for tomorrow? LUKE DONALD: Not really, just make as many birdies as I can. Q. Do you have to do any treatment on your wrist anymore or does it ever hurt? LUKE DONALD: I'm still lacking some mobility in my supination, so I have a physio, Kam Bhabra, that travels about 20 weeks of the year, and we just keep an eye on it. Last year it was more about constantly icing it, soft tissue work. This year it's just a little bit of maintenance work really just to make sure I'm on top of it. But just trying to get a little bit more flexibility the same as my right wrist. Other than that, it's not so much work. LAURA HILL: Thank you, good luck tomorrow. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|