	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

RBC CANADIAN OPEN

July 20, 2011

Luke Donald

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA

THE MODERATOR: Welcome, Luke Donald, here to the media center at the RBC Canadian Open. Luke, you finished third last year, obviously on a different golf course, but your track record at the Canadian Open is a good one. Just how about some opening thoughts on coming back to the Canadian Open and we'll open it up to questions.
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I'm excited to be here. This is actually the first tournament I ever made it as a professional the Canadian Open. So it has some good memories for me.
Obviously, I played nicely last year at at St. George's. Excited to be here. It's a tough course with very demanding roughs around the greens and off the tee. It's going to be a challenge this week, but looking forward to the week.

Q. Your impressions of the course and more detail of your round today?
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, it's a very good, classic golf course. I think there are a lot of these in Canada. Played one last year, obviously, and I believe next year's at Hamilton which is another one. A very good classic golf course that meanders through the trees. The rough is extremely thick, probably the thickest we played all year. I'd say it's even thicker than the U.S. Open. So there's a big premium on hitting the fairway and hitting greens.
The greens are very small, reasonable flat and a lit undulation on them, but the premium this week will be keeping it in play.

Q. Luke, you've been such is a consistent player this year. Are you over your disappointment of missing the cut last week at Royal St. Georges?
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I was disappointed. Obviously I'd come off a great week at the Scottish Open and felt very prepared. I just didn't short game it well enough. I hit the ball tee to green fine. But I wasn't very good around the greens. Getting up and down when I missed greens and not making those putts that you need to do at links golf courses.
Yeah, certainly over the disappointment. You can't really control the past but you learn from it and move on, and I'm excited to be here.

Q. Follow-up on being number one. It's switched a couple times this season, but does that bring with it any added pressure?
LUKE DONALD: I think so. It always brings a little more expectation, a little bit more media, little bit more time commitment. But I'm excited for the challenge. Since being number one, I've been able to hold on to it for a number of weeks now.
I'm trying to draw on all the good things that got me to number one. I draw from all of those positives and bring that to each week.

Q. You were on the charter. Can you explain what it's like getting off one course, getting on a plane, flying across a continent and getting ready to play another tournament and how challenging that is?
LUKE DONALD: I actually didn't go on the charter because of my missed cut. I decided to fly to Chicago for the weekend and see my family who I haven't seen for a few weeks.
But obviously, yeah, the lifestyle that we lead is a busy one. The worst part about it and most unglamorous side of it is the traveling. We're on the road 30-plus weeks a year and it's tough. It makes you really appreciate being at home. But certainly wouldn't give it up for anything.

Q. Luke, how much more pressure is it when you're trying to keep that high ranking going into a tournament? Do you focus on that at all or do you just go one day at a time?
LUKE DONALD: The focus really isn't on the world rankings. It's nice to be world ranked number one. But the focus for me is always the same. That is to continually try to improve every aspect of my game a little bit each day and continue to get better and continue to put myself in position to win tournaments.

Q. You mentioned off the top that you made your first professional cut at the Canadian Open. I'm assuming that was at Glen Abbey or some place back east, probably?
LUKE DONALD: It was in Montreal, maybe, yeah.

Q. Before that you played here in the Air Canada Championship and shot a couple of rounds of even par and just missed the cut, I think. What do you remember about that experience, and what do you remember about your match with Brad Newman-Bennett at Marine Drive Golf Club?
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, obviously did play the Air Canada here. Not too far away. Not only missed the cut. It was obviously disappointing. I was trying to at that point trying to make a name for myself. And missing cuts wasn't much fun.
But, yeah, you know, I obviously am friendly with Brad. He went to Northwestern, and I've seen him a few times. I think he's actually caddying this week for another Northwestern alum on a Monday qualifier. So hopefully going to meet up with them and have some dinner this week.

Q. Luke, what are your thoughts on Darren Clarke's winning last week, and is it a golden time for British golf right now with alt great players?
LUKE DONALD: Well, certainly the answer to your second question is yeah. You know, European golf and British golf has been really on a high. I mean, just looking back at the major championships that some of the guys have won, the success in the Ryder Cup, the world rankings where we have a lot of the guys in the Top 10. It's been a great run for European golf and obviously British golf, too.
Darren's win I think was very popular. He's a master of links and dealing with bad conditions. I think he grew up on golf like that and was able to deal with it the best of anyone and deserves the trophy.
So I'm happy for Darren. He's obviously been out here a long time. To get his first win after 20 years playing Open Championships is, I suppose, somewhat inspiring to me. It means I've got plenty of time left.

Q. Sorry if you were asked this. It's a very strong field here and that will impact the world rankings. Does that enter your thinking at all if you just play and let the chips fall where they may at the end of the day?
LUKE DONALD: As a player, you're always trying to play against the best players in the world and challenge yourself. I think that's part of the reason why I travel around the world. Not just to play on one TOUR, but to play all around the world. I think it makes you a better player to play against the best players on different kind of conditions.
The thinking when I set my schedule is a little bit to do with that, but it's also to do with the schedule and where the tournaments fall.
Obviously, I have a sponsorship with RBC, and it's part of the reason why I'm here. I think RBC has done a great job in elevating their championship in the Canadian Open. And they've done a great job with not just sponsoring this event, but other events as well. They've been a great partner for golf.

Q. You mentioned the RBC sponsorship, and that is the reason a lot of players are here. What else do you think drew so many players compared to past years that are high up in the rankings to come across from the British Open and all the way across North America to here?
LUKE DONALD: I think mostly the golf courses that you play at the Canadian Open are. Last year was a great classic course. Before I got here, I heard a lot of great things about this golf course. It was a very classic golf course.
On TOUR now it's a little bit of a dying breed. We're playing a lot of long, kind of wide open golf courses. And this is, you know, it's long enough, but it's a challenging, narrow, classic golf course. I think people enjoy playing that style of golf.

Q. Physically how difficult is that travel schedule like you said? Is it tough -- you have a sponsorship, I understand to be here -- but is it a tough decision to say I'm going to make the long trip from the British Open to come play a tournament like this?
LUKE DONALD: It is difficult, you know. It's never easy dealing with an eight-hour time change. Jet lag is something that, you know, if you play predominantly on the U.S. Tour, you don't have to deal with too much. The most you're going to have is three hours.
But learning to deal with that, again, makes you a better player. You learn to deal with tough situations and that makes you a stronger person, and helps you become more rounded by playing all over the world in different situations, different golf courses, different grass types. You know, I've always enjoyed the challenge of trying to adapt and feel like not just playing one style of golf course. It's very rewarding.

Q. As a National Championship, do you think the Canadian Open needs a better time slot on the PGA calendar? Maybe two weeks after the British Open?
LUKE DONALD: Yeah, perhaps. It's tough to find a great slot now with so many good events we play. We're very fortunate both on the U.S. Tour and the European Tour. If you go a week later, you come into the problem of maybe getting too close to the playoffs or you have the world event and the PGA. So it's very tough to find the ideal slot.
I think to be honest, it's not a bad slot. Obviously, this year being in Vancouver is a little bit trickier. A little longer flight. But more often than not it's being played in Toronto and that kind of area. And people are coming back to the U.S. anyway, so why not come back with a charter and come play a great tournament?

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297