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RBC HERITAGEApril 19, 2014Luke DonaldHILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA JOE CHEMYCZ:  We welcome Luke Donald to our interview area. Luke with matching today's best round, 5‑under, 66, today to put you the top of the leaderboard. And maybe just start off with a discussion, a little talk about the conditions out there, then we'll open it up to some questions.  LUKE DONALD: Well, the conditions were actually pretty manageable. The wind picked up as the round progressed. It got pretty windy the last couple of holes, where it was a little bit exposed. In amongst the trees you don't feel the wind as much, and obviously soft conditions from the rain yesterday. You could fire at the pins a little bit more. The fairways played a little bit wider because they were soft. But it's not the usual weather we have here. It's usually 75 and sunny and pretty nice conditions. But very happy with the way I played. I felt like I controlled my ball flight very well. And just felt very good about where I was with my game today. I really stayed out of trouble for the most part. I made a bunch of birdies and nice eagle on 2, as well. JOE CHEMYCZ:  Just for statistics, 10 of 14 fairways today, 14 of 18 greens, 26 putts, and you are tied for second for greens in regs this week. With that we'll open it up for some questions. Q. Can you talk about the shot on 18. Do you think you had hit it in the hole? It looked like from television that you almost did. LUKE DONALD: Last couple of shots, 17 and 18 both nearly hit the pins. And just, again, a little bit how comfortable I felt out there with my game. I felt very relaxed, very comfortable. 18 obviously that second shot is pretty daunting, and I had 214 yards into a 20, 25‑mile‑an‑hour wind. And it was as good a rescue club as I could hit. I was trying to hit it to the right side of the pin, right‑hand side of the green, and just turn it in a bit. And obviously came off perfect, and almost hit it a little bit too good; just rolled to the back of the green. But that's obviously a shot that came from someone ‑‑ I felt very comfortable over the ball there. And it wasn't an easy shot. Q. Last win came a couple of years ago. A couple different questions, here. One, I was curious if you've been at all anxious during these last two years. And then secondly, when you made the change to go to Chuck (Cook), just curious as to what spurred that decision and why now, or why then? LUKE DONALD: I think as players you always get a little anxious if it's been a little bit of time between wins, especially coming from me. I was former world No.1 and was there for a long time, and obviously slipped down the rankings. But I haven't felt like my game had gotten that much worse, it's just obviously the last eight months or so it's been a little bit of a transition to me, when I switched to Chuck. The impetus really was, you know, nothing taking away from Pat (Goss), who took me all the way to No.1. I just felt like at times under pressure, and especially in Majors where the course setup is more extreme, I wanted to be able to get the ball in play a little bit more, hit fairways, hit greens when I needed to. I felt like with Chuck's method I used the bigger muscles a little bit more. And obviously the last couple of days it's kind of shown that on a course with tiny greens. I missed three yesterday and four today. And that's always a good recipe for success around a place like this. And obviously if you can do that in Majors, that's a recipe for success there, too. Q. I was just wondering whether you've played a PGA TOUR event that you've finished 2nd and 3rd and not won? And how nice would it be to come back tomorrow and win? LUKE DONALD: It would be nice. I always come in high on confidence. I think this is a great golf course for me. Certain courses are tough these days for me, how long and difficult they are. But this one I feel like I can plot my way around with the low wedges. If you miss greens, you need to be pretty good at the short game. Certainly a course that favors my style of play. Hopefully I'm sitting here in 24 hours. Q. Has there been a PGA TOUR event where you played close, and you feel like you deserve to win this, when you've been so close? LUKE DONALD: Obviously I lost in the playoff to Sneds a few years ago, which ultimately cost me from getting to No.1 that week. I had to wait a few more weeks to Wentworth to do it. Obviously I've had my chances here. Again, it's a place that I think suits my style of play. And if I can go out as relaxed and confident as I was today, tomorrow‑‑ I know conditions are going to be tough; they're calling for even more wind tomorrow than there was today. But if I can control the trajectory as well as I did today, then hopefully I'll be sitting here as the winner. Q. Three bogeys after the eagle on 2. Were you disgruntled with your game at all at that point or did something click after the 7th hole? LUKE DONALD: I wasn't really disgruntled. Again, I really didn't think too much about them. As I said, I felt pretty good about my game and how I was swinging and how I was feeling. That when you feel that way, bogeys don't irritate you so much. There were bogeys that weren't coming from terrible shots. I was a bit unlucky on 6. I pulled it a little bit left and it plugged. That ball is in a half decent lie in the bunker, it's a pretty easy up‑and‑down. 7 was a poor short game. It was a simple chip and I missed a four‑foot putt there. Pretty unlike me. But other than that, you know, wasn't coming from terrible shots, just a little bit sloppy bogeys. But, again, I didn't really panic when I did that. Again, I just felt very calm and felt like I was swinging well, that there would be a lot more chances. JOE CHEMYCZ:  Start with the eagle, tell us what happened on 2 there, and then we'll get to the birdies.  LUKE DONALD: A drive and 3‑iron to about 25 feet and made that. Just go through the birdies? JOE CHEMYCZ:  Yes. LUKE DONALD: No. 5, driver and 3‑wood short of the green, chipped to 4 feet. 8, a drive and 4‑iron around the trees to about 15 feet. 10 was a 2‑iron, 6‑iron to 8 feet. 11 was a drive and a hook 6‑iron to about five feet. 7‑iron on 14, made about a 16‑footer there. And then on 17 I hit a 7‑iron and again made a 15‑footer. So it was nice to roll in some putts today. Q. Can you kind of go through what your routine was like when you got to the course today. And do you think it was an advantage that you finished your round as opposed to having to finish this morning? LUKE DONALD: Yeah, when I finished yesterday I thought we were going to have the better of draw. But obviously it rained so hard they called it. And obviously guys had to come back in the morning, which has its disadvantages. But they got to play in reasonably calm conditions, soft greens, newly mowed greens. And the scoring was pretty good for those guys, rather than playing in the rain. So I think it evened itself out. It was nice to sleep in and not worry about getting up too early and having a relaxed morning. But other than that I think it evened itself out pretty much. Q. Just wondering, we've seen the leaderboard change up during the first two rounds. How does that weigh on your mind? And how you will keep yourself from the trend of changing winds, as the final round is just right around the corner tomorrow? LUKE DONALD: Well, I'm two shots ahead. I'm where I want to be. I'm excited about going out tomorrow and playing a solid round, like I did today. I'm obviously in prime position. I'm favored to win. But this is a course, again, I feel very comfortable on. So I'm excited to go out there and hopefully play a solid round, and hopefully finish ahead of everyone else. JOE CHEMYCZ:  Luke, thank you. Play well tomorrow. LUKE DONALD: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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