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BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIPMay 25, 2012Luke DonaldVIRGINIA WATER, ENGLAND SCOTT CROCKETT: Luke, thanks for coming in and joining us, as always, we well done, excellent second round here. Give us your thoughts on that and your place in the championship looking ahead to the weekend. LUKE DONALD: Yeah, obviously very pleased with that round. This is a tricky course, and the scores are reasonably pretty good. Obviously James Morrison had a great round. There are scores out there. I think because the greens are holding. But with the wind getting up those last seven holes were playing‑‑ six holes, really, 13 onwards, were playing very tricky. And to play those, what did I play them, 1‑under I think, was satisfying to me. When I made bogey on 15, to finish with a couple of birdies on 16, 17, really will make me feel a lot better going into the weekend. SCOTT CROCKETT: Anything in particular please you today about the game then? LUKE DONALD: I'm feeling very strong on the greens. I feel like something that has been not as consistent for me over the last couple of months, but felt very comfortable on the greens the last two days. Every time I've had opportunities, I'm seeing the line, and got the speed down and making some good putts. SCOTT CROCKETT: The wind is getting up a bit; end of the day, do you think will you be too far away from where you are at the moment? LUKE DONALD: I don't see anyone getting past 12‑under, so at the worst I'll be four back. Q. You were saying that you were feeling so good on the greens and yet a lot of guys have been saying they are considerably slower than they have been used to in America and Spain, so what is it that has got you feeling good about them? LUKE DONALD: Just a little bit of stroke work leading up to this week. I think with slower greens, I have a tendency to get the handle of the putter moving a little bit too soon rather than getting the head of the putter moving. And on slower greens, you need to‑‑ almost like in the olden days, the Palmers and the Players, you know how they used to have a bit of a hit. That's kind of what I've been working on in my putting a little bit over the last few weeks. And I think that hit has really been a help on these slower greens for me. Q. Obviously big crowds for the second day running out there, does this sort of imply that it could make a go, golf as a professional entity in the U.K., having a few more tournaments? LUKE DONALD: It certainly would be nice. I've made a few comments in the last few months, with English golf being so strong right now. Obviously the weather has been perfect here. That's helped and brought plenty of people here this week. I remember even when the weather isn't so good, this place is very crowded usually. It gets a lot of people coming here, and there's no reason, obviously other than trying to find a sponsor, that we shouldn't at least make an effort to try and find another event in England. Q. Was James Morrison someone you had met or were aware of before this round, and just how good is a 64 the way conditions are? LUKE DONALD: Certainly aware but never personally‑‑ I don't think I've ever played with James, but I know of him. 64 is very impressive. There are opportunities out there, but certainly going off earlier was going to be a help. I mean, the wind is getting up, it's getting trickier. To shoot 64 around this course, on any conditions, I think is great going. Those last, as I said, those last six holes, we don't often get that kind of easterly wind around here. It's making the par 5s, 17, certainly is not reachable. 18, you can reach. But you know, there's some tricky winds into, some tricky crosswinds, and he's obviously hitting good shots and making putts. Q. Were you aware of the different scenarios for you to get back to No. 1 this week; do you look at the calculations? LUKE DONALD: This week no one's told me yet. Usually someone does. I don't know how far behind I am points, three or four‑‑ Q. If you finish top eight, depending what Rory does‑‑ LUKE DONALD: Again, I mean, I hear these every week, and you know, a situation like at THE PLAYERS where Rory had missed the cut and I had that opportunity, then I might focus on it. But to be honest, the focus is always to try and win the tournament. Q. How easier is it to be consistent every week now that you're in your mid 30s, rather than for example, when someone is 23? LUKE DONALD: I think it's easier to be honest. I know a lot more about my game. That's something I've been most proud of over the course of the last few years; when I'm not playing well, I'm still able to grind out a score. I've done that quite a few times this year. I might have posted 72, 71 and a few years ago that might have been a 75 or 76, just through managing my attitude and managing my game. Q. Sorry to hit you with another James Morrison question, but he staggered us by saying that he didn't pick up a club until he was 16 years old. And within ten months, he went from 18 to scratch. I wondered how long you had been a golfer when you were 16 and how long it took you to get from 18 to scratch. LUKE DONALD: Well, I started when I was eight. By the time I was 18 handicap, I was probably maybe ten. By the time I got to scratch, I would have been 14 or 15, so it took me five years at least. He's got a little head start (smiling). Q. And question about playing, for him, relatively inexperienced‑‑ LUKE DONALD: Obviously I couldn't hit it very far when I was ten. Q. To be fair, he says he can't. But he's got a big championship this weekend. What's that going to be like for him compared to you guys who have been regularly featured at major tournaments? LUKE DONALD: It's a great opportunity for him. I think any aspiring players, you want to get in these situations and deal with it. Great crowds. This is the biggest event on The European Tour, and I'm sure he'll have some nerves. But I'll try and chase him down I guess. Q. I saw Dave Alred was out there following you and writing lots of notes. LUKE DONALD: Surprise, surprise. Q. Give us some insight into what he'll actually have written down and saying to you after that round today, please. LUKE DONALD: I think it's more for his memory than anything else; how many birdies I had. No, I'm joking. Kind of. But just he'll be writing down fairways and greens and how many putts I had, keeping track of my demeanor, how my body language was out there, whether I was getting a little slumped in my shoulders which I do sometimes. And we'll just go over the round and just see what could have been better. He'll talk a lot about the positives and kind of reinforce some of the confidence in me through that. Q. Does he do that, does he look at your body language and say‑‑ LUKE DONALD: He's always on at me at my posture and everything. Q. What's the problem? Just a bit‑‑ LUKE DONALD: I think hereditary, yeah. My dad was a bit the same way (indicating shoulders forward, hunched over). Get my shoulders a bit forward and get my chest out a bit more and have a bit more of a swagger. Q. Does it help, or is it just to make him happy. LUKE DONALD: Well, part of it to make him happy. Yeah, it does help. I think the more you can kind of be aware of not‑‑ you know, in tough situations, when you hit bad shots, it's easy to get your shoulders down and kind of let that affect your next shot. I think the whole point of just having a good posture and kind of putting it to one side and getting on to the next shot; it's as simple as that really. Q. Can I just ask what you said earlier on, about playing courses that might not suit you, in order to grind a score on them; Rory has probably not got a lot to learn, but is that one of the things he has to learn, he's only 23, and he has the Sawgrass thing and doesn't seem to like this place. Is that something that will come with experience with him? LUKE DONALD: I'm not sure how much Rory has to learn. I suppose I turned pro when I was 23, same age as he is now. I think for Rory it's more just managing the heavy expectations on him more than anything. You know, he obviously has this abundance of confidence and when he gets a sniff at the lead like he did at the U.S. Open, he handled it beautifully. I'm sure he'll learn when to be aggressive, when to kind of lay back a little bit, and manage courses a little bit better. Because this is a course he has not played well at, is that what you're saying? That happens sometimes. There are courses I don't like to play and I try to miss them off my schedule. You just can't miss this one off your schedule unfortunately. But I think the more he goes‑‑ the more he plays the course, he'll figure it out. Q. You mentioned the word swagger. Is Dave also trying to get you to sort of project an aura because of what you've done in the last year, world No. 1, and sort of give off the fact that you are confident in what you're going to be doing? LUKE DONALD: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's exactly the main reason, the posture. I think slumped shoulders with your head down isn't a very imposing look. But you get your shoulders back and chin up a little bit and the head high, and you're playing partners think you're not bothered by a bad shot or whatever. You never know if that's going to help. Q. Will it help going forward to Lytham playing in front of crowds like this and delivering as you have done the last two days, is there any benefit? LUKE DONALD: I mean, crowds are good for atmosphere and kind of getting you up for the moment. But I feel like I play most weeks where we play in front of pretty good crowds, so I'm not sure that's a huge factor. Q. Handling the expectations, obviously there's a lot of expectation among the gallery today. LUKE DONALD: Well, it certainly helps. I mean, every time you play well, when you're supposed to play well, that's an added boost confidence‑wise. SCOTT CROCKETT: Luke, thanks, as always. Good luck tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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