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THE HONDA CLASSICFebruary 27, 2014Luke DonaldPALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA Q. What is so scary about the Bear Trap? LUKE DONALD: There's a lot of water everywhere. Tough angles, especially 17. That green angles away from you. It's really about the start line off that hole. But you can get some strong winds out here and so with a mid‑iron to long iron going into those greens with not much margin for error makes tough. Q. Anything happen to you over the years on those holes? LUKE DONALD: 15, 16, 17, they are all in completely different directions so very tough to get your bearings on where the wind is coming from. I've had years where I played them very well and years where I've struggled a bit, so I think obviously it's certainly a key this week to being successful is staying dry. Q. If they didn't name it and they didn't have anything attached to it and it was just 15, 161217 on a regular golf course, would it be as difficult or because it's named and there is kind of an entrance to it, do you think about it perhaps earlier in the day? LUKE DONALD: I think that adds to it; the fact that 17 now is surrounded by marquises and tents, there's a lot of atmosphere and a lot of buzz, too, even if it wasn't named, I think the because will get you going on that shot to are sure. 15 is a little quieter but 17 for sure has a great atmosphere. Q. 67 in round one, how did you find the conditions of the course? LUKE DONALD: Conditions were good. Obviously having ball‑in‑hand helped a little bit today. Wind was pretty blustery this morning at the start but then it calmed down. It was a different direction from what it's been all week but certainly conditions are good, but after a very slow start, I was happy with the round. Q. Talking about the slow start, bogey, double‑bogey, you're 6‑under in the last 16 holes? LUKE DONALD: Yeah, obviously not the start I wanted, but I think those are tough holes out of the gate early in the morning, and you know, some of the changes I made to my golf swing, I think that was just‑‑ I'm just not quite trusting it under the pressure, and certainly I knew there was a bunch of holes left and I felt like I've been swinging well for the last few weeks, and just had to stay patient. Made some good putts and made some good shots. Q. Playing with potential Ryder Cup teammates Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson, did you talk about it while you were out there? LUKE DONALD: We didn't talk about The Ryder Cup so much but it's nice to play with a couple guys that you know and have fun. Q. Can you talk about obviously a rough start? LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I hit two good tee shots, 10 and 11, and just iron shots like came out a little bit. I think from having made some changes in my swing, that's kind of the mistake, the old mistake coming back in. So yeah, it's just more of a case of I was a little off on those and it cost me on 11 and got me off to a very slow start. But I've been feeling pretty good about my game the last few weeks and how I've been striking it and just had to stay patient. Fortunately, there were 16 holes in front of me and I played those very well. Q. Talking about conditions out there, did it seem like a lot of wind? LUKE DONALD: No, obviously pretty calm, different direction than what we've had all week, more out of the west/normal west, which made a few holes play differently. But yeah, it was blustery early warming up and then it sort of calmed down once the sun came up. So conditions, and especially bag ball‑in‑hand made things a lot easy. Q. With the atmosphere, does it feel like a big event? LUKE DONALD: It does feel like a big event, and I think hats off to all the guys that have really done a good job in resurrecting this tournament, Ken Kennerly and all those guys. A few years back, it struggled to get a good field and now it has one of the strongest fields outside of the majors and the World events that we play in, and it's great to see and it's nice that I live ten minutes down the road. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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