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THE IRISH OPENJune 25, 2013Jamie DonaldsonKILDARE, IRELAND STEVE TODD: Welcome to the Carton House. I'm sure Portrush seems like a long time ago now but I guess you can start by reflecting on some of your memories of that victory and also what it's like to be coming in this week as defending champion for the first time. JAMIE DONALDSON: Yeah, it's great to be back in Ireland. Great to be back playing Carton House. It's a great golf course.  It's set up very well. It's sort of favouring more lower scoring than last time I came here, so that I'm slightly happier about, rough is not as brutal as it was last time. Reflecting on Portrush, it was a very special week for me. To play in front of sort of 130,000 people through the gates during the week, massive crowds on what was a tough and fantastic golf course, Portrush, and to have a hole‑in‑one at the start of the week was pretty amazing. It was a Cinderella story, wasn't it. STEVE TODD: It was indeed. Reflect on the last time we were here as the Tour to where you are today, obviously the win in Abu Dhabi after winning in Ireland last year, as well, so you come back a very different player. JAMIE DONALDSON: Yeah, my record's not that good from the event, the two times I've been here, but like I said, like you said, I wasn't as good a golfer as I am now the last time I came here. So, you know, what's important is the fact that I'm sort of playing well now and looking forward to it. I can see last time I came here, I wasn't seeing the shots now, and I can see them and I'm playing them, which is very important. Yeah, it will be a good week. Q. After Abu Dhabi and the doors opened up to you with the Masters and everything, how did that affect you? Did you find it easy or were there adjustments you had to make? JAMIE DONALDSON: In playing the events? It's been great going over and playing a lot of these bigger tournaments in America. I played quite a few times this year, seven or eight times. I didn't play great sort of not long after Abu Dhabi. Form dipped a little bit and didn't play as great and courses were slightly harder at some of the places I went to, which you couldn't be slightly off. But I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was great going into the Masters; to have a hole‑in‑one there on what was one of the harder par 3s was mad, yeah. But I thoroughly enjoy it and want to do more of it. The great thing is that I'm doing it now, playing in these bigger events, playing against better players on tougher golf courses, which is where I want to be and what I want to be doing. The thing is, that I'm just learning it now, guys that have been playing it for eight, ten years, something like that and they might know the courses slightly better and slightly more used to it than I am. So it has been a little bit difficult in that respect but you have to start somewhere. I've playing some of the best golf I've ever played the last sort of year or so. So it's a case of getting there more often and playing more Majors and putting myself up there more often in bigger events. Q. Have you thought at all about joining the PGA TOUR? JAMIE DONALDSON: Yeah, I've thought about it. It's playing by ear really. I haven't played quite well enough in the events to get enough money to get a card over there. Would I? I don't know whether I would play there full‑time. I quite like doing a bit of both. It seems to work quite well with having big breaks in between. You know, Europe, I played here for so long, I enjoyed playing here. I enjoy playing in America. But I don't know, do I want to uproot and go over there? It's a possibility it might happen in the future in the next few years, but I'm quite happy here and I'm quite happy doing a world schedule, if you like. I don't mind the traveling. I'm not ruling it out. It's just a case of playing over there more often to get in a position to do that. I mean, there's no TOUR School there now, so it's play in Top‑50 and get your money up and then you've got an opportunity to go and live there and play over there. When I'm in that position, it's a decision to be made then, not now. Q. How would you describe your year to date? JAMIE DONALDSON: It's a bit stop and start. Obviously it was a great start in Abu Dhabi. I played pretty good in Sweden. I played pretty good in the U.S. Open last week. I played good in some other events but not quite got the results. Played better than results have suggested. So it's not been as consistent as I have been in the past where I might have had quite a few Top 10s, but I've won this year, which is the most important thing. And if I win again‑‑ well, when I win again, then you get two wins in a year and nothing else either side or not a lot is a very successful season. So you know, the form is getting better each week. I'm just looking forward to this week and getting the ball rolling over the next three to four weeks. I've got quite a lot of big, important events coming up in Europe and then the PGA and Bridgestone in America. So I've got a good run of tournaments ahead of me, and you know, like I said, I'm playing pretty good, so we'll let the results take care of themselves. Q. You did a hole‑in‑one winning here and a hole‑in‑one at the Masters; have you had a whole lot of them in this run, or how many have you had in your life, and when? JAMIE DONALDSON: I think I've had four, two as an amateur, two as a pro. Yeah, that's it. But I've holed a lot of shots on par 3s and 5s. I've had an albatross, and I think I've holed every iron in the bag but I've only ever had sort of four hole‑in‑ones, so it's mad. Some guys have had lots, haven't they, 15, 20. I've only had four. Maybe I just need to hit it a bit closer to the flag. Q. There's been whispers about Portrush and maybe being put on the roster, the Open roster, and as somebody who won there and somebody who went to Merion, could you see it working? Could you see an Open working there? JAMIE DONALDSON: Merion, a lot of guys‑‑ it wasn't perfect the way it was worked, but it did still work. I didn't mind it. I think if it can work there, it can work anywhere. But you know, a lot of guys complained that it wasn't as easy and as free‑flowing as it could be in some other Majors where they have got a modern golf course with a lot more room. There wasn't much room at Merion at all. The whole course was crammed onto a very small site but I thought it worked quite well. The course was funky in places, severe in places but they managed to make it work. Like I said, if they can make it work there, they can make it work anywhere. I don't know the ins and outs of tournament organisation, but The Irish Open was great there, wasn't it. I mean, I thought so (smiling). I'm sure if they can do that ‑‑ and there was an Open crowd there, there was 130,000 through the gate and it worked well, so why not. STEVE TODD: Thanks for joining us, best of luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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