THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 18, 2006

Luke Donald

STEWART McDOUGALL: Luke, we interviewed Paul Casey, one of your former Ryder Cup teammates a few years ago. He said the course required a lot of patience to get the ball going.

LUKE DONALD: It's obviously very, very firm out there. I played nine holes yesterday and 18 today. And yesterday was very different around the greens than it was today. Today they watered the greens quite heavily. I don't think they cut them at all, and they were very manageable. Yesterday they were very, very firm. You had to bounce the ball in. You had to hit a good 15, 20 yards in front of the green, and it was hard to control that and that made it tougher. So yesterday was harder than today and today was a lot more playable.

But the course is obviously playing very, very short right now, which makes it tricky in a way, because you're running through into bunkers, running through into rough. But at the same time the rough isn't up too much. It's almost it's been so hot that it's withered away a little bit. And the course, if the weather stays like this, you can make a few birdies.

Q. I'm sure you've been asked before about the European challenge; you're successful in the States, how you approach The British Open, if you feel any extra pressure to try to win on this side of the Pond?

LUKE DONALD: It's frustrating to us, all the Europeans who feel like they should be winning that haven't won. I can't really answer why we haven't won a major for a while or a British Open before, since Paul Lawrie. You would have thought it would have suited our games, especially the British players were brought up on this kind of golf course. At the amateur level we played it quite a lot, the English amateurs, the Brabazon Trophies, all those kind of events. And you would have thought we were more used to it, but it hasn't worked out that way.

We do have a lot of good European players right now, and there's no question we're good enough to win a major.

Q. Obviously you want to win, it would be a big deal to people here if you won, but given all that he's gone through, with Colin at Winged Foot, what would it mean to the people in the UK if Colin Montgomerie finally got The Open Championship? What would the reaction be?

LUKE DONALD: It would be very welcome, obviously. Colin has had a lot of near misses, none so more than the last major, the U.S. Open. He was right there, had as good a chance as Mickelson, if not better. He hit that tee shot well on 18 and was in perfect position.

But it would mean more to him, I think, than the crowd. But it would definitely be a great atmosphere here if he was coming up 18 with a two or three shot lead.

Q. How important is good performance here to cement your Ryder Cup place?

LUKE DONALD: Well, I'm concentrating on playing The British Open, The Open Championship this week; I'm not thinking about the Ryder Cup. Obviously last week helped a little bit towards that. I feel like if I can just play every week as it comes and not think too far ahead to that Ryder Cup, just play solid. Obviously I'm coming here to compete and try and do well. And if I keep playing the way I've been playing, hopefully that whole Ryder Cup thing will sort itself out.

Q. Do you see yourself as spearheading the British challenge? Obviously there are a lot of very strong British players at the moment, Paul Casey, David Howell, sort of coming into form ahead of this event. And you obviously have a great profile in the States. There's a band of you, really. Do you see yourself as kind of leading that British challenge?

LUKE DONALD: Well, you know, as you said, David and Paul both had very good years. Paul has played very well the last few months, especially. And David has been playing well the last couple of years. I've always been playing pretty consistently the last few years, and I seem to have improved every year, getting better and better. And I feel more confident as a player, more ready to compete at the major level.

I don't know if I'm spearheading the group, but we all get along really well and I think it's only a matter of time until one of us breaks through; hopefully it's me.

Q. Do the conditions with it playing so firm and fast, does it negate some of the emphasis on power at this week's tournament because everyone is going to be pretty long?

LUKE DONALD: To a certain degree. I mean, I'm definitely, obviously the ball is rolling 40 to 60 yards off the tee, once it lands. So even the anyone can play this course; length isn't an issue. You don't need to hit the ball that far.

But saying that, there are a few holes where if you can carry it over certain bunkers off the tee, you fly into trouble, it's easier. Someone like Tiger, he can wail away at the drives and the rough isn't that bad and he can get within 50 to 100 yards of most greens because especially the way the wind was today. There's a few bunkers out there, 290, which I can't really carry but he can easily carry, and it will make it a little bit easier.

Q. How many times do you plan on using a driver out there?

LUKE DONALD: Well, I would probably it depends on how the wind is, but I used driver probably eight or nine times today. I wasn't afraid to use it.

Again, I don't think it's it's not one of the narrowest British Opens I've played. The first two holes are quite narrow and then after that it widens out a little bit.

Q. The last year at St. Andrews, if I'm right, you had two rounds with two masters, as it were, of the game. Did that help, that experience, on the first two days, in front of domestic galleries? Is that an experience that you can use here?

LUKE DONALD: Well, you know, there was probably not much of a bigger couple of guys I could have played with last year. That was the biggest crowds I've ever played in front, the most pressure, probably. I mean, obviously everyone wasn't watching me, as such, they were watching Jack and even Tom a little bit. But that was a lot of pressure. It doesn't get much bigger than that. I coped with it fine. I played decently the first two days, didn't play very well the third day, but those kind of situations definitely help along the road.

You get more used to being in front of the crowds, that kind of atmosphere, the pressure, and all of that. It definitely didn't hurt. When I tee up on Thursday with Ernie and Edoardo, it will seem not a letdown, but it won't be as pressurized as it was last year.

STEWART McDOUGALL: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.