|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
WGC CADILLAC CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 9, 2014Jamie DonaldsonMIAMI, FLORIDA STEVE TODD: Jamie, we'll make a start, great performance out there. You talked about how tough the course had been all week. Assess the day for us. JAMIE DONALDSON: Yeah, I played really good all day, was really happy with the way I played. You know, I hit a lot of good shots, a lot of good putts. So to come here on this golf course and play like I have done for four days has been really good, moved me forward I suppose in the world of golf and great to get in a really good week in America. STEVE TODD: Talk us through the story of your day a little bit. After the turn, you sort of got a couple birdies going, and put yourself right in contention. JAMIE DONALDSON: Yeah, I mean, I can't remember half the time‑‑ you can tell me what I birdied. STEVE TODD: 10, 14 and 17. JAMIE DONALDSON: 10, I hit a really long bunker shot. Played it, hit it sort of to a couple of feet which was great, which was a good, solid birdie there. Then 14 is a great birdie. I hit 3‑wood down the middle of the fairway and hit an 8‑iron straight down the flag and made a decent putt for the birdie. Then 17, I hit a great 9‑iron. We were in between yardages and went with a soft 9‑iron and came off perfect and nice to see it only eight‑foot away from the hole. Yeah, I played well. It's been a really good week. 18 was slightly disappointing obviously. After I hit a really good tee shot, tried to just draw a 4‑iron towards the flag and just left it out there and made five. It's one of the toughest holes we play all year on the finishing holes of any golf course, and it's a shame it didn't quite come off, but happy with the way I played all week on what is a very difficult golf course. Q. Where does that leave you in PGA TOUR status? JAMIE DONALDSON: Absolutely no idea. Q. Does that change your thinking if it secures it? JAMIE DONALDSON: Do you know what, because I've just come off the golf course, I'll have to really sort of sit down and assess where I'm going to go from here.  I've still got definites of playing Bay Hill and EurAsia Cup, and what else‑‑ the Masters, that small event‑‑ (laughter)‑‑ then the Heritage, then Wells Fargo, PLAYERS, home. That was the plan. If that enables me to play more events, my it squeeze in one or two, I don't know. Q. Given how far back you were of Patrick Reed, did it affect how you played the last several holes? JAMIE DONALDSON: Not really, because I played really well all week. I didn't really pay much attention to what was going on and I was trying to focus on keep hitting really good shots and that's just what I kept doing. I hit a couple of bad shots today which you're going to. It's just a pity that one of them was on 18 with the 4‑iron. But, you know, it difficult to say. I hit so many good shots all week, I played so well, so if the putter was a bit warmer early on in the week, then things may have been different. But overall, just very happy with the way I played. Q. You saw your playing partner put one in the water on 18. Does anything go through your mind, like you definitely don't want to do that? JAMIE DONALDSON: No. I could see the shot perfectly. I've hit a few‑‑ I can hit quite a few big draws, so my line was just inside just left of the traps on the right and just draw it, that's all I had to do. It could hit the green and kick towards the flag. I could see the shot perfectly. I didn't want much more turn but it didn't turn enough. But the fact that ‑‑ I knew before he hit exactly what I was going to do, and just didn't quite come off. Q. At 38 this is quite a renaisassance, isn't it? JAMIE DONALDSON: I don't know. I don't feel‑‑ I certainly don't feel old by any means. The fact that I'm playing the best golf later on in life; I've always been pretty much a late developer in most things, really. I left school before I could develop any there (laughter). So I had to play golf, really. It's been up‑and‑down for me. Early doors started off pretty good and then I had a sort of big loss in the world for four years after injury, and then I just had to regroup and do things that worked and work hard and keep believing and just force the wheel the other direction, and that's what it's done. I've found something that was working and just kept doing it and kept getting better at doing it, and then here we are getting better, again, so happy. Q. Since you joined forces with Mick Donaghy, your caddie, that famous week at Portrush, things have really taken a great turn for you in terms of your career. Can you talk about the chemistry that you have, what he brings, and the raising of your confidence? JAMIE DONALDSON: He's been very good.  He's been a nice addition to my golf team, if you like. You know, the caddie I had before did a very good job, and we had a lot of really good finishes. It was just we had not quite won‑‑ the caddie I had had before, he had done a really good job and it just so happens, the first week, it was there or thereabouts, but I wasn't winning tournaments, but I was having Top 10s and consistent finishes. Then Mick came on board and won the first event I played in. So I think sometimes ‑‑ mic's been very good, and he's got a lot of experience and he's been out here for a long time. He's caddied for a lot of good players. So it's great to have him on the bag. He's got loads of experience and knows what to do and when it matters. Just didn't quite hit the 4‑iron draw‑‑ (laughter). So, yeah, he's been really good and keeps me in a good situation, very calm, always says the right things at the right time. Q. There's another small event in September in Scotland, I know it's still a long way off, but this week is a big step towards being on The European Team. JAMIE DONALDSON: Yeah, big step. I need to have a good week towards that‑‑ it's obviously in the plans but I'm not really thinking too much about it. To get on that team is just a cool‑‑ is just‑‑ because I'm just playing well, so I just have to keep playing well to enable myself to get on the team. I don't really know what I have to do to get in. I haven't been paying attention. I've just been trying to play every week as well as I can and just try and put myself in position more often to win tournaments and do better in America. You know, this week is a big week, because I haven't played that way over here to start, it's been getting a little frustrating. But like you say, it takes time and I just have to deep grafting until I push the doors open really. Q. A lot of surprise names up there, the fact that everyone was learning the course for the first time, for someone brand new, is that an advantage this week? JAMIE DONALDSON: I suppose the only people that have an advantage are the people that have played here a few times even though it has changed a lot. But the guys that play on these faster greens every week, most of the Americans‑‑ I think the greens are slightly firmer over here and quietly quicker than what we are used to over here in Europe so we have to adapt and get used to that. But I think to most of the guys, it's a standard week for them. It just happened that the golf course suited my eye as I was playing it, because in practice, I just thought, it was going to take some really good golf to compete, because it was a very tough layout. After I played really well on the Friday, it sort of really put me up there; if you can play well in the wind, it sort of felt more like home, if you like, because it was so windy. We're used to playing in conditions like that quite a lot in Europe, so it favored the Europeans which changed the leaderboard slightly. But I think the course settled in great. I think they have done a great job, they have put a lot more bunkers in which suited my eye more than from last year, or some of the tee shots, the target to aim at‑‑ so the changes were all the better for my golf. Q. When did you start telling yourself or do you tell yourself, I'm one of the best players in the world now and I can contend in majors and do well in majors. JAMIE DONALDSON: When did I tell myself that‑‑ I think it's been a progression. Everything's sort of five‑‑ in 2008, 2009 sort of thing, I was just finding my feet again after not playing well for sort of two or three years. I was miles off playing well in majors at that point. But I was playing okay. I was getting back to what I was doing and I think from 2008, every Order of Merit position in Europe, every World Ranking in the end of each year has increased. So the graphs just going up, so all I have to do is keep doing the same things and work hard and trying to find little ways of improving to put myself in position like now where I'm playing my best golf. So yes, I'm in a position now to contend in major tournaments. I've played a few now but I've not played that many. So it's all experience that I have to keep working towards pushing doors open. Q. Do you feel like you belong out here? JAMIE DONALDSON: Yeah, this is a really tough field this week, biggest field in golf. This golf course is set up very difficult, which means I'm now playing better in America; maybe ought to compete in America, which is, you know, difficult to do, because we are used to slightly different conditions, so I'm getting better at that. Everything I'm doing, I'm getting better at what I'm doing, so I just need to keep working like I have been doing to compete more in majors. STEVE TODD: Jamie, well done. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|