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NORTHERN TRUST OPENFebruary 7, 2010Luke DonaldPACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA DOUG MILNE: Luke Donald, thanks for joining us for a few minutes. Long week obviously with the weather, but it turned out beautiful today, and you almost got the job done, 5-under 66 today, hung in there until the end. Just a few comments on how you're feeling as you're moving on to Pebble. LUKE DONALD: Yeah, obviously I felt like I played nicely today. I mean, hit a lot of quality shots, felt very much in control and I hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, gave myself a lot of good looks at birdies. If I got really hot with the putter, I could have maybe caught Steve. He played nicely coming down the stretch, and I think he was a deserved winner. But at least I gave him a little run for his money. Q. You had one chance after another, especially on the front nine. It seemed like 6 and 7 were two big chances. I mean, it seemed like all the momentum was on your side, then as soon as he got his first birdie, that all changed. LUKE DONALD: Yeah, for sure. Obviously he missed a short one on 4, and with me getting three birdies pretty quickly and narrowly missing one on 4 and then hitting good shots on 6 and 7, if those two putts go, it could have been a little bit of a different story. But these greens are tricky. They were probably in the best shape I've seen for many years, but they're still tricky. They're slopey, and I felt like I hit a good putt on 6, it just didn't break, and then 7, it just seemed to bobble a little bit on me. But yeah, I mean, as I said, if I had gotten hot with the putter and made those chances, I had a good chances on 6, 7; 8 was an outside chance; and then obviously missed a short one on 16. But I could have got close. Q. What did you hit on 13, by the way? LUKE DONALD: That was a 3-iron. I had 211 to the hole. Q. Is it hard not to try and be too aggressive, to try and make up that many strokes when you're six off the lead? LUKE DONALD: Again, I'm not sure if I changed my game plan, maybe the last few holes if I was three behind. I tried to be a bit more aggressive. I got a little bit too aggressive on 14 and hit a poor shot there. But to be honest, I'm just trying to hit good targets and hit good shots. When you're in control of the golf ball you can be a bit more aggressive. Looking at my game in Hawai'i, which was not very good at all tee to green, I felt good about my game this week, just the fact that I felt like I knew where I was going pretty much. That's a big step for me and just shows me that I'm working on the right things. Q. We've covered enough ground on what happened. I'm just curious looking ahead how you handle your schedule during a Ryder Cup year. Do you look at your best chance going through the World Ranking points? LUKE DONALD: I think so. I'm always going to play a few more events here. This is where I've made my home. It's where I feel comfortable playing. I think if I played -- I've got to play five is my minimum over there. If I play eight, I don't know how much better chance it gives me on that Money List. For me if I play solid, that way I can get on through the World Rankings. Right now I'm planning on playing 12, maybe 13 events in Europe total. Q. Including the majors? LUKE DONALD: The majors, yeah. Q. And the World Golf Championships? LUKE DONALD: Right. Q. What did you make of the way Steve Stricker played today with a big lead and then seeing him come down -- LUKE DONALD: Yeah, obviously he looked a little nervous at the beginning. I think it's easier to chase rather than to be chased. He felt a little bit of pressure. I think no matter how big your lead is, you're still going to have to play a good round. As I said, he looked just a little bit on edge, and then made great birdies at 8 and 9, and that kind of settled him down. Then made some good putts when he needed to. He holed a nice one on 11 and a great par putt on 15. He's always been a strong putter, and it came through for him again today. Q. He's going to move to No. 2 in the World Rankings. Obviously with Tiger out technically he's the No. 1 player in the world playing these days. Do other professionals, do you consider him -- he's on an amazing run, but where does he rank? LUKE DONALD: Well, if you look at his consistency and how much he's won, then I think it's deserved. It's a great testament to his will. I can't remember what he got to in the World Rankings, 300 or 400 or something. To come back from that, it's a tough game mentally when you're not playing well, and to break that and come back and be where he is right now, that's great going. He's obviously found it, and he's worked hard, and he has a lot of belief in himself now. I think Steve is the nicest guy in the world, too, so it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Q. Did you do anything different in the off-season to get stronger? You look like you might have put on some muscle and so forth. Did you work harder physically? LUKE DONALD: I did. It was kind of a bit of a process, but I wanted to put on some muscle, put on a little bit of weight. I think the end of last year I was maybe 160, weighing about 160. I put on about 12 pounds just through lifting. It was more about getting stronger so I could then do some speed work and create a little bit more speed in my swing because I think as -- as long as some of the guys are getting here, I don't want to be left totally behind. I know I don't hit it very far and I know I don't overpower golf courses, but I can certainly on work on hitting it a little bit further, creating a bit more speed. To do those speed exercises, you need a base of strength, and that was why I did it. Q. Are you playing Pebble this week? LUKE DONALD: I am. Q. Talk about your feelings playing that course, and you've got to have some very positive feelings going in, huh? LUKE DONALD: Yeah, obviously no one likes to finish second, but it's always -- personally it's a confidence boost. It means that I'm going in the right direction, and I feel good about my game going into next week. It would be nice to see the course a few months before the U.S. Open. I don't think it'll play very similar. From what I've heard it's been raining for the last two weeks up there, so it's going to be wet and not running very much. But it will be nice to -- I haven't been there for a couple years. It will be nice to just go get a feel for it again. Q. What exactly are you looking forward to next week? LUKE DONALD: What am I looking forward to? Well, by the sounds of it, not the weather. It doesn't look too great. But Pebble is obviously a special place, and looking forward to seeing this new course in the rotation, too. Hopefully the rounds are a little bit quicker with the shorter fields. But Pebble is always a beautiful place to play golf. DOUG MILNE: Luke, if you wouldn't mind just running us through your birdies and give us some clubs and yardages as best you can. LUKE DONALD: 1 was a drive, 4-iron and two putts from 30 feet. 3, I hit drive, 8-iron, made about a 10-foot putt there. 5, I hit drive, 7-iron to about five feet. 11, drive, hybrid, lob wedge and then holed the bunker shot. Bogey at 12. Do you want the bogeys? I pulled my drive, got kind of lucky there actually. I was up against the fence. Hit hybrid just right of the green, chipped to 20 feet and missed. 13, hit drive and a 3-iron to about four feet. And then 17, drive, hybrid and lob wedge to two feet. DOUG MILNE: Luke, congratulations on a great week, and best of luck at Pebble Beach. End of FastScripts |
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