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AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO-AMFebruary 9, 2010Luke DonaldPEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA MARK STEVENS: Luke Donald thanks for joining us for a few minutes here at the AT&T National Pro-Am. Great week last week, runner-up finish at Northern Trust. That being said, your comments on your confidence level as you enter the week here. LUKE DONALD: Yeah, obviously I'm going to take a lot of confidence from the week last week and I've got to hopefully bring that confidence to this week but not let it change my expectation with regards to the results. Just go about my business and do what I know I need to do to keep getting better, and hopefully I can have another good week. Q. Are you going to use this week in any way to reacquaint yourself before the U.S. Open this summer? What does this week mean for you? LUKE DONALD: Yeah, that was obviously my thinking when I came here, besides to play here this week, was just to see the course again, seeing as the U.S. Open is here, I think usually I try to come out the week before a major and play a little bit, but I think with my wife expecting a baby end of March, I probably won't be able to do that so much. So this was a good time to come out and see the course, and I think it will play a little bit different obviously in June, but still, it's nice to get familiar, hopefully have a good week, and leave here with some good feelings. Q. How much can you learn this week, given how different the weather is? LUKE DONALD: I'm not sure I'll learn too much. Obviously it's more about just familiarizing myself again with the course. I think certain shots will play similar. But overall, the course will be firmer with more rough and the greens will be firmer and faster. So around the greens will be very different, but you still, you know, hitting shots into par 3s and second shots into par 4s, those kind of things are not too dissimilar. So you can definitely learn from that. Q. Do you remember the first time you came to Pebble Beach, your impressions the first time? LUKE DONALD: I don't remember when I first played here -- probably AT&T, or a played a Callaway event here once. That may have been my first time. But obviously I watched Tiger win here in, what, 2000 was it? That was probably one of the first times I got to see the course on TV and see the unbelievable vistas and the views you get from television, and obviously he did pretty well there that week. But those were kind of my first memories. Q. Do you ever look and think, what a great view? LUKE DONALD: Absolutely. There's a lot of downtime between golf shots, and if you can't enjoy the view, you're probably thinking about your golf too much. You have to tune off sometimes between shots and nothing better than looking out to the ocean and seeing the great views. Q. What about the changes? LUKE DONALD: Again, I haven't played it this it week yet, so I haven't really seen it, but I'm sure like most U.S. Opens, they would like to tighten the course up and probably make it longer. I don't know if they added some tees. Q. Just a couple back? LUKE DONALD: Well, U.S. Open is always notoriously tough, tough setups, and where par is a good score, and I think that's good. You know what you expect and it should be that way. I don't think every tournament should be that way, but U.S. Opens probably should be. Q. The rough, they are cutting it back with the possibility of the ball running off the fairway in the water. LUKE DONALD: I think that's great. You know, that's what the ocean is there for, I think, to catch off-line shots, and if you have thick rough, one bounce and it just stops and takes away an extra shot. So why not let kind of the lay of the land determine what happens to your golf ball. Don't let long rough grab the ball. I'm sure there will be long rough on the other side, though. Q. What would you do on 9, with the tee stretched out? LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I mean, as much as 9 and 10 are probably the most scenic holes on the golf course, they are probably not architecturally the best holes in Pebble Beach. A lot of the fairways slope away from you. Perhaps 9 might be better because you won't be able to get down the hill. If you're still on top of the hill it's a flatter shot with the lie from up there. But obviously it's a tough hole anyway, but adding a bit more length will make it more difficult, but if the fairways are firm, then I don't think that will be a problem. Q. Looking at the course, are you more anxious -- LUKE DONALD: I have not been to Monterey. Q. Is it more important to you to look at this course or the new course in the rotation, Monterey Peninsula Country Club, are you anymore anxious to get your eyes on it? LUKE DONALD: I've not been to Monterey yet. I will play it tomorrow morning. That will be my first look at that golf course. I've heard great things about it. I was just talking to Adam Scott, having some lunch, and he thought it was one of the better courses we play all year. So looking forward to seeing that, just from a golf standpoint. But obviously I'll be paying a little bit more attention to Pebble, just because the U.S. Open is there. Q. What were you happiest about in your performance last week? What did you take out of there? LUKE DONALD: Just felt like I was getting better. I felt more confident knowing where the golf ball was going. A few weeks ago in Hawaii, I really struggled. I feel like I found some keys in my swing that are really relating to knowing where the golf ball is going, and you feel a lot more confident when you stand over it and feel comfortable that you're going to hit good shots and hit your targets. So definitely felt more comfortable, more confident, and felt like the things I was working on are the right things now. Q. How long has it been -- LUKE DONALD: I mean, golf's a fickle game. It can change week-to-week, day-to-day, front nine to back nine. But the last two years have been a bit of a struggle tee-to-green. If you look at my stats, they are not very good. But I feel like I've been working on the right things. I'm trying to think, I mean, I've had lots of good weeks last year, good finishes, but not quite the consistency that I needed to be to get back in the winner's circle. Q. To follow up on that, about a year and a half ago, after your wrist -- LUKE DONALD: Yeah, there were times last year where it was sore at points. I had to do a lot of icing, a lot of soft tissue work, and that was just par for having a surgery like I had. That's just the way it is. This year already it's been a lot better. Really no pain. I'm still working on getting full mobility in my wrist, but it's definitely -- I feel like, touch wood, everything is behind me now and I can just play golf without any feelings of discomfort in that wrist. Q. With Accenture coming up next week, did you consider just skipping this week after Riviera and going to Accenture like a couple other players have? LUKE DONALD: Not really. I don't usually change my schedule unless I'm feeling really tired or worn out. But I made sure that I didn't press myself too hard over the last few days. Yesterday I had a sponsor day for RBC but today I just hit balls for a couple of hours. I'm going to go putt for a little bit, but I didn't play any holes. And tomorrow I'll just play a quick 18 and hit a few balls. So make sure I'm fresh for Thursday, and then should be still fine for next week. Q. With the crowds spread out, for the pace of play, do you think that will make much difference? LUKE DONALD: I hope so. I'm obviously looking forward to seeing Monterey. Hopefully smaller numbers will make it a little bit quicker. Depends a little bit on some of the amateurs. We all know that the celebrities get carried away sometimes and take their time, which is part of this event, and you enter that, knowing that. But we'll see. We'll see how the rounds pan out. Obviously it's dependent on whether to -- the better the weather, maybe the quicker the rounds. I think the forecast has actually improved a little bit. I think maybe some rain on Friday but otherwise, looks okay. Q. Are you surprised that more of the top players are not here this week? LUKE DONALD: Again, I think Pebble will definitely not play too similar to how it's going to play in June. So maybe that's the reason why some are not playing here. For me, it was just I had not been here for a couple of years and I wanted to familiarize myself again with the golf course, but I'm not sure I can speak for other players. For me, it seemed like a good idea. Q. When you got to Spyglass -- when you play it again, is that a memory -- LUKE DONALD: When you have rounds like that, it doesn't seem that special. Things just click and everything just kind of works, and it feels like you're playing golf that you should be playing every week, you know, but just things happen in a way where everything goes right. Obviously once you've done it once, it gives you a little more confidence to do it again. But Spyglass is a tough course, and hopefully I can recreate some of those memories. Q. Given the tough decision with U.S. Open conditions, taking into account -- do you think that 15-shot margin will be repeated? LUKE DONALD: Probably not. Hard to tell. Obviously that was an amazing feat against a strong field. It was an amazing performance, and I think if you ask Tiger, it would probably be -- probably be his best, too. But who knows. But it was impressive, for sure. Q. (Inaudible.) LUKE DONALD: I was an amateur still. I don't think I did. Q. (Inaudible.) LUKE DONALD: I don't think so. I think I was mainly back in Europe during the summers. I do not believe I did. Q. Did you play the Opens -- LUKE DONALD: British Open I did, Open Championship. Been over here too long, sorry; The Open Championship. Yeah, I qualified, '99 was my first, I played at Carnoustie. I played in 2000, I qualified. And again, I think I went through qualifying in '02 and maybe '03, I wasn't exempt. So, yeah. I don't remember too much specific moments, but just watching -- catching it on TV. I know it's very rowdy on 15 on Sunday, and you know, a lot of the celebs jumping into the crowd and people holding them up, I don't know what that's called, mosh pitting, crowd surfing. I kind of remember that. That sticks in my mind. Q. Did you actually sit and watch golf? LUKE DONALD: Not really, only if I'm bored. I don't really like watching GOLF CHANNEL. Q. So is your brother caddying for Paul Casey? LUKE DONALD: He is. Q. When did you guys split? LUKE DONALD: I kind of decided in October, that we had eight years together; it was time to freshen things up and it was time for a change. It was a tough conversation to have with your brother, but things worked out great. Obviously he's been picked up by one of the Top-10 players in the world right now, and he has a good reputation as being a good caddie. So, yeah, he's been with Paul three or four events now, and they have done pretty well. Q. Who is your caddie now? LUKE DONALD: John McLaren, he's a British guy, caddied for -- well, he was on the U.S. Tour for a number of years, caddied for Scott Dunlap and Duffy Waldorf and for the last three years, he's been with Anders Hansen on The European Tour. MARK STEVENS: Luke, congratulations on last week and good luck this week. End of FastScripts |
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