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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 6, 2010

Luke Donald

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

DOUG MILNE: Luke Donald, thanks for joining us for a few minutes after round 1 of THE PLAYERS Championship, 5-under 67 today, obviously things were working your way. Just a couple comments on the round and the course conditions.
LUKE DONALD: Well, I thought the course conditions were ideal for scoring. Obviously, hardly any wind, which is very unusual for this tournament. Greens are putting nicely, and the greens are holding, too, so I think it's kind of a recipe for some birdies.
I was able to take advantage and make six of them today, just one dropped shot on 15. So it was a good, solid start to the week.
DOUG MILNE: Talk about 18, not many birdies there today.
LUKE DONALD: 18, the wind switched a little bit all day. And I think when I got to 18, it was a little bit off the right, slightly helping, so it was a favorable wind for me, and I hit a nice drive down there, had 185 and hit 7-iron to about five, six feet and made the putt.
Again, with the greens being soft, you could fire at the flags a little bit more. Usually that's a very tough green to hold, and today you could hold it pretty well, and I was able to make birdie.

Q. You do well at Riviera, do well here. You seem to do well at shot makers' courses rather than bombers' courses. Does that kind of frustrate you?
LUKE DONALD: I guess I've just got to take advantage of those opportunities when I get them. Obviously I like this golf course. Playing with J.J. Henry, he hits it quite far, he only hit two drivers all day. It's one where I can hit a lot more drivers and not worry about some of the trouble up ahead.
Yeah, I would say it's a shot makers' course, and that's why I do like playing here.

Q. You talked a little bit out there about you were kind of leaking it to the right all day. Is that something that's bothered you over the last few weeks or just something that developed right here?
LUKE DONALD: Just developed here, really. You know, it wasn't significantly right or anything. I just wasn't quite -- the things I've been working on in my swing were better leg action, make it easier for me to turn the ball right to left. Today I wasn't doing that.
So just try and give my coach a call this afternoon and a little bit of work on the range, and hopefully I can figure it out. It wasn't terrible by any means, but I just felt like I was losing it just a touch to the right on a few shots.

Q. Just terrible enough to shoot 5-under?
LUKE DONALD: (Laughing.)

Q. Since the beginning of the year, a lot of the attention has been toward your other peers, Rory, Ian having won, Henrik who's the defending champion here. You have done extremely well except basically since Augusta. This business-like going ahead and just going forward as opposed to getting the attention, is that your MO, and is that how you go about things?
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I'm not really bothered with the lack of attention. I think winning tournaments will gain attention. You know, Ian Poulter, Rory McIlroy, they went out and won and won impressively. I haven't done that, so I don't think I deserve the attention.
I've had a very consistent year, but again, I haven't won. Definitely need to go out and win to gain that attention.

Q. But from the standpoint of not winning but being that close, that almost sounds like you're not happy with that. You've had four Top 10s.
LUKE DONALD: Oh, I mean, I'm pretty happy the way I've been playing. I'm disappointed I haven't broken through and won for four years. But it's not going to get me down. I'm going to keep continuing to do what I need to do to get better, and hopefully that will result in a win down the road, or this week perhaps. You just never know when it's your week.
You know, Rory struggled at Augusta, felt like he was playing awful, just made the cut at Quail Hollow and came back and won by four. So you just never know when it's your time, so you just keep your head down and keep plugging away.

Q. There has been some consistency, though.
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I think my game has always been reasonably consistent. I've never had too many down patches. It's just I don't know why I haven't managed to break through and win for a few years. You know, I play a strong schedule. Maybe today's game with the long hitters really benefiting on some of these courses.
Who knows what the reasons are, but I'll just keep plugging away until I do.

Q. A couple questions. Number one, as a piano player, do you favor Steinway, Yamaha, or Bosendorfer?
LUKE DONALD: I don't have either of those. But I finished my piano playing when I was about 12, so I'm not sure I'm really the guy to ask. Yamaha is a very commercial piano, so I would go with Steinway. They're a classic.

Q. As a young star on the TOUR, can you comment on what you think or what you and your peers think you should do to help the TOUR with respect to sponsorships and be committed to the people that are putting up the money that you all play for? What's your obligation? There's been a lot of talk over the years about players are not responsive to the sponsors and they don't show up for cocktail parties and so forth. I'm just wondering, as a young man who is on the assent on the PGA TOUR, what you think you and your fellow players should be doing to substantiate why people pay so much money for you to play for?
LUKE DONALD: Well, I think in golf we have a great opportunity to show our support and thanks to the sponsors. This is one sport out of many that amateurs get to play with us every week. We can be cordial to them. We can be friendly. I make it a regular -- on a regular basis I send letters to the sponsor and the head sponsor.
You know, I think it's so different in golf than in any other sport that you get to play with your professional and get to talk to him for a round of golf. For me what I can do is be cordial to those guys, show them a good time for 18 holes, show my thanks by writing a letter each week to the title sponsor, and just being nice to the fans, signing autographs when I can. You know, that's kind of my job. That's what I see.

Q. How difficult was it to adjust to not having Christian on the bag at the start of the year?
LUKE DONALD: I don't know if it was difficult. I think John McLaren is a worthy caddie. He's had a lot of experience. Chris and I had a great run. We had eight years together, and who knows, it may continue down the road some day.
But it was just time for a change. You know, I think the relationship between us was getting a little bit stale on the course, and that was affecting our relationship as brothers. It worked out the best for both of us.
But it wasn't a significant change, it was just different. And sometimes different is good. And I think it's been good for both of us.

Q. You mentioned that you were going to call your coach, and I'm just unfamiliar with who it is that you're working with for your coach.
LUKE DONALD: Pat Goss. He's the head coach at Northwestern University. He's been my coach since school.
DOUG MILNE: Is that G-o-s-s?
LUKE DONALD: G-o-s-s.

Q. For somebody as ambitious as you, how difficult is it to stop the not-winning thing from being a monkey on your back?
LUKE DONALD: I think the longer it goes, the harder it becomes. Every year I sit down at the end of the year and just figure out what I need to do to change that. You know, I'll continue to work, and I believe I'm good enough to be out here.
I'm contending quite a few times. You know, I've won -- I don't know, I finished second eight or nine times out on the TOUR, and you've just got to keep believing that you're good enough to win out here.
I think we're lucky in this game that you get to play for a number of years, and there's people you can look back at. Someone like a Harrington who had all those seconds and runner-up finishes, and suddenly he won three majors. You just keep your head down and keep believing.
But I think I'm good enough to win out here for sure. I think I've proved that I can be in contention consistently. I've just got to break through and get over that hurdle.

Q. The wrist is good? You're not having any --
LUKE DONALD: No issues at all, no. I think it's coming up to it'll be two years in August. They say it takes about a year, year and a half for it to settle down, and it really feels pretty good now.
DOUG MILNE: Lastly, we talked about 18. If you wouldn't mind just running us through your birdies and giving us some clubs and yardages.
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, 2 was a drive and a 3-wood to 20 feet and two putts for birdie.
Hit a 3-iron on No. 8 and made a 40-foot putt there for birdie.
9, I hit drive, lay-up with a 3-iron, pitching wedge to 25 feet and made that.
11, drive, 5-iron, lob wedge, made about a 15-footer there.
3-wood, pitching wedge on 12, made a 10-footer for birdie there.
18, again, drive, 7-iron to about five feet, made that.

Q. Where would this course stand among the courses on TOUR that give you the best chance to win?
LUKE DONALD: Um, maybe Top 5. I haven't really thought about it.
DOUG MILNE: Luke, congratulations, and thanks for your time.

End of FastScripts

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