BETFRED BRITISH MASTERS HOSTED BY SIR NICK FALDO

August 21, 2025

Luke Donald

The Belfry Hotel & Resort

Quick Quotes

Q. An opening round of 1-under par 71. What pleased you most about your play today?

LUKE DONALD: Overall it was pretty solid, I would say. Did everything reasonably well, and had a putt on 3, my 12th hole, to go 3-under from about six feet, missed that, and would have liked to have come home with a little bit better score.

All in all, hit a lot of good shots out there, so pretty happen.

Q. Last week of Ryder Cup qualification; I'm afraid I have to go there with you. Obviously the team is looking very similar to the team that won in Rome: 11 out of the 12 guys if you pick people we are expecting. How valuable to you to have a team that already has team chemistry established and pairings that you have tested and know what work well together?

LUKE DONALD: We had a great group of guys in Rome. We gelled really well together. We had some great partnerships in there. Yeah, again, there's a lot of those guys playing really well, which is great. There's a few other guys trying to make their way into the team as well.

So I'm keeping my eye on everything this week, next week. There's still lots to play for. There's good chance there's a lot of continuity from Rome which is only a positive, I think.

Q. As you mentioned last time guys came through at the end, Nicolai, notably, with a third- and a fourth-place finish to force your hand and say: You need to pick me I'm playing so well. Could the temperament required to typically with the situation trump form this time around?

LUKE DONALD: I'm not really sure. I think every Ryder Cup, there's always people that are making a push.

I'll certainly sit down with the vice captains next week just to see where we are with everything once East Lake is finished and once this week is finished and we'll try and pick the 12 best guys.