WGC BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONAL

August 23, 2006

Luke Donald

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Luke Donald, thanks for joining us here at the Bridgestone Invitational. Had a solid performance last week at the PGA Championship, came up a little bit short, but certainly put yourself on the map in the United States and worldwide and continue to play well on the PGA TOUR. Maybe some opening comments about this week.

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, obviously looking forward to this week. I've played the course, played nine holes today, nine holes yesterday. I've never seen the course in better shape. The greens are running, it seems, about twice as fast as Medinah. They're very, very fast, and everything is in very good condition. The rough might be even slightly lighter than in previous years. But I think with the greens being as fast as they are, it'll play just as difficult.

Q. Do you like fast greens?

LUKE DONALD: I like fast greens, yeah. You have to be careful, though. I mean, there's some putts out there that can get away from you very easily. You know, there's going to be more three putts this week than if the greens were a little bit slower.

If you feel like you're rolling the ball well on fast greens and when they're as pure as they are, then you can definitely make some putts. But the faster they are, the better line you have to pick with the speed obviously, and it has to go kind of more in the middle of the hole rather than the lips. When it's fast it's harder to hole putts when they're going in the side door.

Q. Any guess as to why they didn't drop on Sunday?

LUKE DONALD: It's hard to tell why they didn't drop. I felt like I played decent on Sunday, didn't really deserve a 74. But it's a learning experience, and I think the more you get in those situations, the more you kind of believe in yourself, and those putts start to drop in rather than lip out.

I took so many positives away from last week, I don't want to think about Sunday too much. I want to think about the whole week as a whole.

Q. Tiger said that when he's locked in mentally that he almost feels like he can will things to happen when he's that locked in. I'm wondering when you're playing against a guy like that, is it intimidating? Do you feel like you're almost playing against two people when he's that locked in and he feels like he can will things to happen?

LUKE DONALD: No, I just feel like I've got to get in that situation more and more so I can get to his point where I feel like I can do the same. I felt really there was a big difference with our games on Sunday. Tee to green there wasn't too much difference. He obviously hit it a little bit closer on some holes. But he was able to get those putts in when he wanted them to go in, and I wasn't able to do that. That was a big difference.

Q. How much of a low is it when you have one putt that finished on the edge and he followed up with one from the same position. Was it the 6th hole?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, my big lip out on the left side and then his went straight in the middle.

Q. Is that like match play?

LUKE DONALD: You try not to make that kind of scenario of match play, you just try to play your own game. But it's hard not to obviously. At that point I think he went to 3 under for the round and I was still at 1 over. So within six holes I was four back. So I'm playing a bit of catch up.

When you're playing with someone and they're playing well, you're obviously conscious of their score, and in that way it turns into a little bit of match play because you're trying to pull back those shots. I wasn't really aware of what other people were doing because I wasn't looking at the leaderboard, but I knew what Tiger was doing so I knew what to do.

Q. You said going into the last round it was vital you didn't watch Tiger and you played your own game. Did you feel you accomplished that?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I did. I mean, I knew what he was shooting obviously. I mean, I was writing down his scores on his score card. I really wasn't watching him hit balls or watching him swing, wasn't really watching him putt, either. I was just trying to play my own game. Perhaps I even got a little bit not aggressive enough out there when I needed to be, especially down the stretch. You know, there were some tougher pins on Sunday and it was hard to be too aggressive.

Q. Tiger may not intimidate you by staring you down or anything, but is it intimidating in the sense that you know that he's going to have a good round and so you have to have a great round to win?

LUKE DONALD: Well, I think it's been said you'd like to go into a final round thinking that the pressure was on him because he's expected to play well. But it's almost reversed that way because he's been there so many times, and for me that was one of my first times, that maybe there was a lot more pressure on me. He knows how to do it, he's been there a few times or many times. You know, it comes a little bit easier for him.

He feels likes he doesn't have to play his best golf because not his best golf is good enough, even though he played pretty well on Sunday.

Q. Is it fair to say that you know going to the tee that you're going to have to shoot a great round, whereas maybe with another player you're thinking he might have a bad day?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah. I mean, he's obviously going through a very good patch right now. He's hard to beat. He is going to shoot a good round. You don't really feel like he's going to give it to you, you've got to go out there and shoot a good round, and that makes it tough. That puts a bit more pressure on you.

Q. Did you think long and hard about the red shirt?

LUKE DONALD: Not really. Again, at the beginning of the week, I chose my outfits for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It just happened to be red. I've worn red and white pants, white trousers I should say, many times before, even at the Honda. I was wearing sort of an orangey red shirt. It wasn't pre planned or anything. I didn't think about it Saturday night. I wasn't trying to intimidate Tiger. I don't think I had any I didn't mean to do that at all. You know, it just is what it was.

Q. Did you hear his comment about it?

LUKE DONALD: I didn't. I heard he was not very complimentary about my blue belt, but I'm not sure if he can comment after that horrible shirt he wore on Friday (laughter).

Q. What color on Sunday this week?

LUKE DONALD: Could be red again, I don't know. I actually haven't chosen my outfits. Diane is not with me, so I'm a little bit less on the ball.

Q. It was an excellent week all around, obviously apart from not achieving quite what you wanted. But has it helped you to reassess your goals for the coming year or so?

LUKE DONALD: Well, one of my goals this year was to come into Sunday with a chance to win and compete and have a chance to win. You know, that was very encouraging. It was nice to play in that position and really feel like I played I didn't hit many loose shots. I didn't hit too many bad shots. So many people have come up to me and said, wow, you played pretty well, you just didn't get the breaks. It wasn't like next time you'll get it even though you played badly on Sunday. It wasn't really a case of that. It was a lot of encouragement from people and I felt encouraged, too. That will make me a stronger player the next time I'm in that position.

My goals are going to be the same. I'm going to try and get in those positions more and more, and the more and more I get in those positions, hopefully it will turn out where I'll make a few putts and walk away with the trophy.

Q. Would you like to play Tiger in the singles at Ryder Cup?

LUKE DONALD: Absolutely. I'd like to play the best player when they're playing the best. That's a great sign to know whether I'm playing well or not and whether I need to improve. I obviously need to get better to beat Tiger at the moment. He's very hard to beat, and that's why he's the best player in the world.

Q. Your schedule between now and Ryder Cup?

LUKE DONALD: I fly to Germany next week to play at the BMW, then a week off, followed by World Match Play at Wentworth, Ryder Cup and then American Express.

Q. I was just curious about your thoughts on the FedEx Cup and how it might affect your schedule next year and what importance you might place on it.

LUKE DONALD: I don't think it'll change my schedule too much for next year. Obviously I played a lot of my golf from January to June mainly in the U.S., and that won't change. Obviously I'll play a little bit more at the end of the FedEx Cup, the Playoff Series as they call it, and the few events leading up to the FedEx Cup and the TOUR Championship. But other than that, you know, I'll have to probably play a little bit more in Europe after that and probably one or two less events before that in Europe. I don't see it changing too much.

Q. Would you consider that stretch of golf after the PGA up to the Ryder Cup a lot of golf, more than you'd like to play? And would you increase your schedule to take advantage of what's at stake?

LUKE DONALD: It's quite a lot of golf. Next year obviously isn't a Ryder Cup year, so it won't be so bad. I don't usually like to play more than three in a row, and I'll be at least playing four in a row leading up to that FedEx Cup. It's a decent amount of golf but not over the top for me. I still play 28, 29 events a year, and it won't change really much from that.

Q. You mentioned that Tiger is going through a really nice spurt right now, nice stretch. When you go into a tournament like this, do you go in with the mindset that he's the guy to beat or everybody is the guy to beat because it's a new tournament, a new week?

LUKE DONALD: Oh, it's a new week. This kind of golf course really does demand a lot of good golf and a lot of good golf shots, and the best player is going to win. Whether that be Tiger or whatever plays well this week. Hopefully it'll be me. But I'm not really going into this looking at leaderboards trying to see how Tiger is playing or what he shot the first day or the second day. I'm just going out there and playing golf and trying to beat everyone, really. I'm not trying to beat one person. It would be ridiculous to say that he's going to win every event he enters. He's playing very well, but you don't expect him to win every event.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Luke Donald, thanks.

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