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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 17, 2012Luke DonaldLYTHAM ST. ANNES, ENGLAND MIKE WOODCOCK: We have Luke Donald, the World No.1, with us this afternoon. Luke, can I just kick off by asking you, you've had a great season, two wins and a top‑20 at Castle Stuart. You must be coming into this year with a lot of confidence. LUKE DONALD: It's been a decent year for me. It's always tough to follow probably my best year last year. But a lot of positives, winning back‑to‑back tournaments, championships at Wentworth, a win in the U.S., and, yeah, the last few weeks I've been working hard on the game. It was a disappointing U.S. Open; I didn't perform very well there. I did a lot of work after that, and feeling a lot more comfortable about where my swing is. Q. Tomorrow is a pretty important day for us; it's Nelson Mandela's birthday. You've obviously spent a lot of time in the country and appreciate how important that is to us. If you could give us your thoughts on him and possibly a congratulatory message you might have for him. LUKE DONALD: Unfortunately I've never met the man, the great man. But to be honest, what Mr. Mandela went through, and to have the attitude that he came out with, that's something not many people could do in their lives. And obviously I wish him all the best. And what is it, the Nelson Mandela‑‑ what is it‑‑ is there an event? Was it just his birthday? Well, I wish him happy birthday and hopefully continued health. I know he's had some scares in the last few months with his health, but hopefully he continues. He's one of the great men on this earth. Q. Obviously you're around now the time of the Olympics and a bit of excitement around Team GB, as well. How nice is it to be a part of that and take all the vibe here now in the United Kingdom. And looking ahead for the 2016 Olympics and your involvement there, as well? LUKE DONALD: I was in London the week before last, got to watch Wimbledon and got to walk around the town a little bit, and there was already a good atmosphere with all the countries' flags down Regents Street. It's very festive right now, and hopefully the sun will break out and show London in a great place that it is. Yeah, it's exciting for the country, and hopefully it's a very successful Olympics. Hopefully in four years maybe I'm a part of that in Rio. Q. Very different weather and challenge from Wentworth in May. Here what will be your strategy? How many times would you likely take the driver here? LUKE DONALD: Well, I've played almost two rounds. I played 11 holes today, I played 18 yesterday. And to be honest, I've hit quite a few drivers so far. I think the weather conditions have predetermined that a little bit. It's not that fiery out there. It's reasonably soft. The way the bunkers are positioned on most of these holes, it doesn't give you that much of an opportunity to hit before them. I mean, they kind of start 230 yards and work their way up 100 yards up the hole on most holes. So most tee shotsyou just have ‑‑ there's a lot of tee shots you have to step up and hit very good tee shots. It's as simple as that. The bunkers kind of come into play whether you hit 2‑iron, 3‑wood or driver. So far I've hit quite a few drivers, and if I do feel comfortable with that club, I'll continue to do that. Q. Depends a lot on the wind? LUKE DONALD: Yeah, we've had consistent wind direction the last two days. It's kind of blown out of the southwest a little bit. And again, ironically, probably the one hole where I might not hit driver is the longest hole on the course, and that's the 11th hole, just because it does give you an opportunity‑‑ it plays into the wind. I'm not going to reach it in two. So for me the number one goal is to stay out of the bunkers off the tee shot. Q. 15 different players have won the last 15 majors. Is that more of a case because of Tiger Woods not being Tiger or the players getting better? And if it's the latter, why are they getting better? LUKE DONALD: Yeah, hard question to answer. Obviously I think Tiger would admit that his form hasn't been as good over the last few years. He hasn't been as dominant in the majors as he was. And it probably also speaks to how good a player he was, that he was able to dominate. Even though there are some great players around right now, no one has really come through and started to win consistently at the majors. So I think that speaks for what an amazing run he went on and he's still continuing to try and do. But just speaks to how difficult it is to win majors. Q. You've been in the area a few days now. First of all, what do you make of the crowds and the people here in Lytham? And any time off? Have you been out to look at the local area, and if so, what do you make of it? LUKE DONALD: Not much time to go out and see much. I mean the weather hasn't been that conducive for that. But so far the crowds‑‑ it's actually been reasonably quiet out on the course. I played quite late on Monday, early this morning. There hasn't been a huge rush of people out there. But I'm sure as each day passes that will change, and more and more people will come out. And I'm sure by Thursday it will be a fun atmosphere. Q. Just going back to the statistic of the 15 different winners in the past 15 majors. Is 16 your lucky number? LUKE DONALD: Hopefully by Sunday, you know. Q. How would you rate your chances? You mentioned working hard on your game after the U.S. Open. How would you rate your chances going into this week? How confident are you? LUKE DONALD:  Well, I feel like I did a lot of good work in the last two weeks. And I felt quite comfortable in the competition last week at the Scottish Open. I hit a lot of very solid tee shots, and that's exactly what you need to do around here. I do like this course. I think it's set up great. It's very fair, but it's very tough. It's certainly, I think, going to produce the guy who plays the best because there's no escaping some holes; you've just got to step up there and hit good tee shots. You aren't going to find lucky lies in the rough. You're not going to be able to get to the greens from the bunkers. It's about hitting fairways, hitting greens, and hopefully I can do that. Q. When you think Royal Lytham, how long does it take you to think about those 205 bunkers? LUKE DONALD: Well, you do feel a little bit claustrophobic on a lot of holes. They're everywhere. And they're very well positioned. As I said I'm not sure it favors the longer hitter, especially, because some courses, some Open Championship courses, you have bunkers at 280 and past that you're okay. But here there's another one 20 yards further, there's another one 20 yards past that. There's not too many holes where if you can carry it a certain distance you get past them. They seem to be continually going along the holes. In that way I like it. I like that it just favours the guy who can hit it in the fairway. Q. It does seem a little quiet out there. Does it have the buzz of an Open yet? LUKE DONALD: Well, as I said, it seemed quite quiet. I talked to ‑‑ Sam Walker I was playing a few holes with this morning and it just seemed eerily quiet, not many claps and cheers when you hit good shots into the greens. I don't know if that was just me. I played with Lee and I played with Sergio today. And it's not like I'm just not playing with anyone. But Tiger had a few more people behind me. But it did seem reasonably quiet. Q. Would you like it to actually start picking up now, or is it quite nice to prepare in this condition? LUKE DONALD: Yeah, it doesn't bother me either way for the practice rounds. It's kind of nice to kind of get on with things without being swarmed between green and tee signing autographs. I'm sure by Thursday that will change; it will pick up and have that great atmosphere. Q. I know it's not a stat you want revisiting much, the not breaking 70 since '06 the first round of a major. You've explained the first thing in a major championship is not to get too anxious. Is that any kind of admission that there is an increased anxiety at times like this or any kind of psychological block? I just wondered if your work with Dave Allred suggested any particular remedy to it. LUKE DONALD: Well, I think the remedy has to come from me. It's taken a bit of time for that to drop, that thought to drop, because I just have been getting a little bit too uptight and anxious. It's a very normal mode to switch into because the pressure is that much more. You want it that much more. It's a very normal thing to happen. It's about, for me, just kind of controlling it and predetermining how I want to feel and trying to stick to that. It's going to be tough. There will be times when I get uptight, but then I've just got to kind of remember where I am and how I want to feel over each shot. And really it's a very cliché thing, but the only thing I'm really focusing on is that first shot on Thursday, hitting a good, solid shot and going from there, finding that ball and going to the putt and then going to the second hole and not really getting too far ahead of myself and raising those expectations which I have done in the past. Q. You've said about this course needing to be ‑‑ someone who can shape the ball either way as well as hit it straight because of being strategically around the bunkers. One of the finest displays of that was Seve in 1989. Have you ever seen any of that film of that 65 or read about it? LUKE DONALD: In what year? Q. 1989 when he beat Nick Price in the final round, shot 65. LUKE DONALD: I have watched some of it, the iconic chip, playing from under the car on 16. Yeah, I think that should give me some heart, that I've not always been known as the guy who hits it consistently tee‑to‑green, but I have a great short game. I have great skills to get the ball in the hole no matter how I'm playing, and I think that's what won him The Open Championship in '89. I believe it was his Open‑‑ Q. That was '79. LUKE DONALD: Was he more straight then? So in '89 he played a perfect round, is that right? Q. Yeah, it was 65. LUKE DONALD: Well, I have seen some of it. I'm getting my years mixed up. But again the principle is the same. Seve was known as someone that would hit it wild off the tee and use his short game to get out of trouble. No matter where he was, he felt like he could hole a shot. I've got to go into this tournament with that kind of fun attitude, that no matter how I'm hitting it, there's always a way to make a score. Q. You talked last week about trying to make this week sort of feel like any other week on Tour. In reality now that we're in that week, is it proving possible, and how difficult a task is that? LUKE DONALD: So far so good. I'm feeling pretty relaxed. I'm feeling comfortable. Had a good couple of practice rounds, no real issues so far. So obviously time will tell when it comes to Thursday. But I'm happy with the preparation so far. It feels‑‑ it doesn't feel like a normal event, but I'm managing the attitude the right way so far. MIKE WOODCOCK: Thanks everyone. Thank you very much, Luke. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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