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DP WORLD TOUR CHAMPIONSHIPNovember 22, 2012Luke DonaldDUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES MICHAEL GIBBONS: Many thanks for joining us, as always. Just start us off with your assessment of a fine round of golf, 65, 7‑under. LUKE DONALD: Yeah, nice start. Nice to kind of pick up from where I left off last week in Japan and felt very comfortable out there. Made a lot of great swings. Had a really good feel for the speed of the greens and the line. That middle part section of the course from about 5 to 14, really swung the ball well. Swung the club well, and made a lot of putts. It was a nice, solid start for the week for sure. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Just how many confidence do you take from last week? LUKE DONALD: Well, you always feel different the week after winning. You just feel like you have that little extra pep in your step and there's a bit more confidence flowing through you for sure. Especially winning by five as I did last week gave me a huge boost. Q. Compared to last year, obviously you feel there's not as much pressure on you this year; does that help you play and relax out there? LUKE DONALD: Yeah, definitely, the feeling is different today on the first tee than it was a year ago. There was a lot more at stake for me last year, so obviously I felt a little bit more pressure. I think the goal was the same, just to come here to try to win the tournament. It was a different set of circumstances. So this week, even though it's a great event, it feels more like I'm just playing for the tournament. Obviously I don't have a chance to win The Race to Dubai and win both money titles, so it definitely feels a little bit easier. Q. We know how much you enjoyed your time as No. 1 in the world, and it was a full calendar year. How much of an ambition is it to get that back and how tough of a challenge do you think it is given what Rory has done in the last year, how much does that spur you on? LUKE DONALD: Certainly will be a challenge. We all know how well Rory has been playing. He's been the most consistent player of the year and he plays well in all of the big events. He's going to be a tough man to catch. Certainly it's not something I'm really concentrating on. Again, I think the focus is to continue to improve and put myself in contention. That World Ranking will just take care of itself if I continue to be as consistent as I am and try, and even win a few more events next year, who knows. Q. Speaking of Rory, how would you feel going head‑to‑head again for the second year in a row come Sunday? LUKE DONALD: I'd love the challenge. Rory is No. 1 in the world, and it will be fun for us. It will be fun for the fans and obviously fun for TV. It would be a great way to end the year; if‑‑ it's been a long way to go, but come Sunday, if Rory and I are going head‑to‑head. Q. How is the rough out there and do you notice any major differences between the course last year compared to this year? LUKE DONALD: Reasonably similar. I think in spots there is a little bit more rough. You know, you can get some lies where it sits down. You can be lucky, as well. But I would say, generally it's slightly more rough but pretty much the course setup is the same. Q. How would you assess your year and what mark would you give it out of ten? LUKE DONALD: You know, I'll certainly look back and think that there was a lot of positives from this year. Obviously you know, the main goals of trying to win Majors were slightly disappointing and I had a solid Open Championship, but outside of that, I wasn't anywhere near contention. Missed the cut at the U.S. Open, and those tournaments were disappointing. But around those events, there was a lot of positives. You know, if I were to give it a mark, it would be an eight out of ten, but to win three times, I think that I've won eight times in the last 2 1/2 years, so it's been a good run for me. I feel like I'm at the peak of my career and I'm excited to be playing golf. That's always a good feeling. Q. How do you look ahead to the rest of the week, and are you confident that you can shoot similar scores over the next three days? LUKE DONALD: You know, I'll just take it as it comes and be ready to go tomorrow when I tee off on the first tee and not get too far ahead of myself. You know, there's no point thinking ahead to Sunday. Just take it as it comes and hopefully I'll continue to hit the ball as well as I am and make some putts like I did today. Q. Did you think that the course played a little easier today because of the rain last night? LUKE DONALD: I can't speak for the guys who went off early, but I didn't find too much difference. The greens maybe were holding slightly more. Any time you have a course where the greens are soft, you're going to produce birdies, but it didn't seem overly different to previous years. I think by the time I teed off, the course had dried out very well. Q. You obviously come in with some great form in the back end of the year, with Christmas coming up with the family, how can you keep that momentum going into sort of the start of 2013? LUKE DONALD: I'm not sure you can. When you have a break that long, it will be time to kind of regroup and practise. Whenever you go from calendar year to the next year, there's always a change. You re‑set the goals and you focus on new things. So I'll just be concentrating on trying to finish off this year as best as I can, but I don't think it will carry on into next year, though. Q. Just taking us through the round, what were some of the holes that were key today in terms of birdies? LUKE DONALD: Well, maybe the first couple of holes, making a couple par putts. I made an 8‑footer for par on the first and I made a 15‑footer for par on the fourth. I could have been 2‑over through four but made some good putts there. Then kind of settled into a good rhythm. Made a 12‑footer on the fifth. Was in the green‑side bunker on 7, the par5 in two, and had an easy up‑and‑down. Then just hit some really quality irons on 10 and 11. I was hitting it to three or four feet. Again, 12, I had another good up‑and‑down from about 70 yards. So it was just very tidy. I don't think there was anything that stood out. I mean, I hit a great drive and a 3‑iron on the 14th and had a chance for eagle and just missed that one. But it was just a lot of solid golf, especially in that middle part. I gave myself a lot of opportunities, and when I got out of position, I was able to get around with the short game very well. Q. Going back to last year, I think you progressively warmed to the task and got better and better as the rounds went on throughout the week. How comfortable, looking back upon that time, how comfortable do you feel now out on the course? Do you think it suits you and are you happy out there, as it were? LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I suppose the first year I played this course, I didn't think it was a great course for me. Obviously a reasonably long course, pretty wide fairways and you would think it would suit the guy who could bomb it 320. Looking at my scores, I think three rounds of 66 to finish this tournament last year, I believe, and obviously 65 now; so I'm proving to myself that I can play this course and when you keep posting rounds like that, you feel more confident about knowing that you can play around this place. Q. On the same subject, for such an important tournament, do you feel that the course could be toughened up a little more? The scores are very low right through the field. LUKE DONALD: Well, the only way to toughen it up would be to try to narrow some of the fairways or try to get the greens extremely firm. A lot of these greens, the pins are hidden by bunkers and you're hitting uphill, downhill. If you got the greens extremely firm, it would make it tougher. You know, again ‑‑ Q. Would you like to see that? LUKE DONALD: Yes and no. I mean, I guess it's the same for everyone. I don't really know. I suppose tougher courses, the good players usually come to the top, so usually the tougher the better. But I suppose it's the same for everyone, whether it's easy or tough. Q. If you go on to win, where would this rank? Where do players put this? LUKE DONALD: I would say it was pretty high up. Probably just a notch below a WGC. You know, a strong field, 60 best players from the year, and you know, the end‑of‑year tournament. I think it's got a great field, and you know, I think anyone would want this on their resumé. Q. On a par with Wentworth? LUKE DONALD: You know, it's a smaller field. You feel like you probably have a better chance here. But just a notch below that. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Luke, thanks for joining us. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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