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DP WORLD TOUR CHAMPIONSHIPNovember 15, 2013Luke DonaldDUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Q. 73 yesterday, 66 today, six birdies in a row from the second, what was the difference in your play? LUKE DONALD: I think just being a little bit more patient. I've been getting a little bit, you know‑‑ I've been pressing a bit too much on the golf course. I've obviously gone through a couple changes in my swing, and expecting everything to click in place pretty quickly. But today I just tried to really good back to the old adage of one shot at a time, and a lot more patient, a lot more not thinking about score so much, and I think that really helped with my round today. Q. Tell us about these changes you're making with Chuck Cook, having worked with Pat Goss for so long, how different is it? LUKE DONALD: It's different. I'm trying to, you know, really hit the ball with my turn a little bit more rather than with Pat I had a little bit more shift and a little bit too much flip through the ball. So it's decent changes, but they are slowly starting to bed in. Q. You didn't play last week in Turkey and there were times in the final round where it looked like you might not make this tournament. How nervous were you? LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I wanted to play better in China, those two weeks, and I didn't play well and I put myself in that position unfortunately. But fortunately I'm here and hopefully I can take advantage of it. Q. Things going in the right direction; that was lovely with six birdies in a row and a good score. LUKE DONALD: Yeah, not sure I've ever had six in a row. Always nice to do that and get myself back somewhat into more of contention in this tournament. I've got good feelings about this place. I've played well here before. Obviously not been my best season, but you know, it would be nice to finish this year on a high. Q. You finished third here the last two years, and I take it moving up the board like this‑‑ while we don't know what the leaders will achieve, a good weekend could work wonders. LUKE DONALD: Yeah, the weather conditions were strange out there. We started with no wind and picked up a lot in the middle of the round and now seems to have calmed down again. The course is certainly there if you're playing well to make some birdies. The greens are in perfect shape, and you know, if you're rolling your rock, you're going to make a few birdies. Q. Is your attitude and approach the same as ever, or slightly different because we didn't even know until late on Sunday you were even going to be here. LUKE DONALD: The last couple years, I had an opportunity to win The Race to Dubai. This year, my only thing to play for is winning this tournament. So a little bit different focus. Most weeks, you're trying to just win the tournament and everything else will take care of itself. But yeah, especially that's the case this week. Q. Kind of nice, flying under the radar a little? LUKE DONALD: I haven't really enjoyed flying under the radar. Rather be talking to you guys every day after every round. That means I'm playing well. So yeah, I miss you guys a little bit (laughter). Q. Talk about today, a very, very satisfying day's work I would have thought and a real birdie blitz right at the start of the round? LUKE DONALD: Yeah, obviously not the start, after getting a bogey on the first again today. But reeled off six birdies in a row and that felt pretty good. Again, I felt like my game was very close and certainly proved that today with a strong round. Q. When you get on a run like that, how do you sort of maintain the momentum of it? Does it sort of sweep you along? LUKE DONALD: Well, I think the last couple of months, I've been pressing a little bit too hard to try and force a score, and today I didn't do that. You know, I was obviously aware that I was making birdies in a row but it was literally one shot at a time and I think that's always the best approach. Q. It's amazing the number of players that say that, but it's always so elusive, isn't it, so get that mind‑set. LUKE DONALD: It's very difficult. Especially when you've been on a little bit of, not a great run of form. You're just looking for that one little good spell of golf to kind of break you out of it, and hopefully, you know, today was a big step towards that for me. Q. And by your standards, as you say, the form hasn't been as you would have wanted it. Do you put that down to the fact that you are making shifts in technique and that sort of thing, so it's an inevitable bedding‑in period? LUKE DONALD: Yeah, my ball‑striking hasn't been great all year, but certainly when I made the coach switch, I knew it was going to be tough for a little bit. But that's okay. You know, it's tough in our season now to make a change at any point in the year. So my goal is to try and be ready by April next year and hopefully have a good 2014. Q. And lovely to have a platform now for the final weekend of The European Tour season? LUKE DONALD: Yeah, nice round today got me back into contention, or thereabouts, and another couple of those and we'll see what happens. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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