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THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY COCA-COLA

September 23, 2010

Luke Donald

ATLANTA, GEORGIA

JOHN BUSH: Luke Donald joins us now in the interview room with a 4-under par 66. Luke, great start to the tournament. If we can just get some opening comments.
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, obviously a solid start to this week. I was able to make six birdies out there, which was encouraging. I think the course is playing firm and fast and always makes for difficult scoring conditions. But I was able to make a few of my birdies with some long putts. I hit a decent amount of greens and took advantage of chances when I had them. So it was a great, solid start.

Q. I think they said you had like four putts over ten feet and that was before you played the last couple of holes. Sound right?
LUKE DONALD: I made a good par on 9 from about 20.
25 feet and a good one on 10, as well.
Also on 4 I made one. So I made four putts of over 20 feet for sure. You know, those kind of things help.

Q. A couple of players have already been in here that kind of indicated that the character of the course has changed in the last few years with the greens being redone. Can you kind of quantify that, if you agree with it?
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, they've pushed a few tees back. They've changed a couple of greens. You know, it's very similar to what they're doing to most courses these days, making them longer, trying to make them harder. I don't necessarily agree that pushing tees back is the way to make courses harder. I think obviously firm, fast greens is a great way to hold scoring back, and obviously you're always at the mercy of the weather. When it's firm and fast, scores are difficult.

Q. Any different being a captain's pick versus making the team on merit in terms of the expectations you would put on yourself or perceive from others to supposedly justify your inclusion? You know how that works.
LUKE DONALD: Personally I'm not going to feel any more pressure. I think we're just a 12-man team now. I mean, it doesn't matter how you get there. We've got to come together as a team and try our best to get 14 and a half points. It doesn't matter how we do that, whether it comes from me or some guy -- or the guy who finished top of the rankings. It doesn't really matter. So I'm not going to be thinking about that.

Q. On 17 you hit a really good second shot. How far were you and did the wind factor into your shot?
LUKE DONALD: I had 166 yards there and the wind was a little bit down off the right, and I just held an 8-iron in there. Hit a really nice shot just the way I pictured it and went to about eight feet and made the putt.

Q. I guess yesterday Monty in France said that he had all the pairings set for next Friday and that he was trying to reach everybody to tell them who they're going to be with. Have you heard from him, or has he tried to reach you about that? Do you know anything?
LUKE DONALD: I have not spoken to Monty in regards to pairings yet. So no, I don't know who I'm playing with, if I'm playing, when he's going to play me. I don't know yet.

Q. He says he's playing everybody the first day.
LUKE DONALD: That's good.

Q. What do you make of this little run Casey has been on here tuning out all the various and sundry distractions and still contending for big money and more headlines?
LUKE DONALD: Well, I think Paul has had a solid year in general. You know, he's come close a couple times out here this year. Obviously losing in the Match Play, narrowly missing a couple weeks ago in Chicago, so he's had a solid year. He's a top 10 player in the world, so you expect him to play well.

Q. Is it hard to focus at all this week?
LUKE DONALD: No, you take one day at a time. You try not to get ahead of yourself.
Next week is going to be totally different to this week. Obviously this week is 30 players playing in 90-degree-plus heat. Next week is going to be a match play event, Ryder Cup. It's just oranges and apples.
So I'm concentrating on this week. Hopefully I can show some form, already showing some form this round. Hopefully I can continue that for the week and go into next week with some confidence knowing that I'm playing well.

Q. How ready, how equipped is Luke Donald to win again on the U.S. Tour?
LUKE DONALD: How long is it going to take?

Q. No, how badly do you feel you need another victory on this U.S. Tour?
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I certainly feel a certain amount of urgency. I feel like I'm good enough, I work hard enough to win out here, I just haven't got it done the last few years. There's no one more motivated than myself to try and rectify that.

Q. When you start looking at the projections, obviously most of the guys in the top 5 didn't get off to a great start today outside of Paul. Is that something that you don't worry about until Sunday or do you look at it now? Do you feel like you're in a better spot because those guys struggled a little bit today?
LUKE DONALD: Well, we've all seen how much that fluctuates throughout the week, so I don't think there's much point at looking at it every day and studying it and seeing what you need to do. I think you just kind of concentrate on yourself.
The only thing I can control is trying to win this tournament, and unfortunately I'm outside the top 5, so I don't control the FedExCup. But if I can go out and win the tournament, then I have a great chance.
JOHN BUSH: Instead of going through the whole card, take us through a few of those highlighted birdies, the long putt you made.
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I holed about a 20-, 25- foot putt on No. 4 for birdie.
The next birdie was 7, where I made a putt from about 12 feet.
I birdied 9 with a 20-foot putt again.
10 was probably a 30-foot putt.
Hit the green in two on 15 and two-putted for birdie.
And then made about a 10-foot putt on 17.
JOHN BUSH: And the only bogey was on No. 5.
LUKE DONALD: The bogey on 5 and 16.
JOHN BUSH: Take us through those.
LUKE DONALD: 5, I hit it in the left rough and couldn't get it to the green and pitched it to about 15 feet, a poor pitch and missed the putt.
And 16 I drove it right into the trees, wedged out again just short, missed about a 10-foot putt there.
JOHN BUSH: Solid start. Keep it going, Luke.

End of FastScripts

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