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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 13, 2006

Luke Donald

MAMARONECK, NEW YORK

RAND JERRIS: It's a pleasure to welcome Luke Donald to the interview area. Luke is playing in his third US Open Championship this week at Winged Foot. Maybe you could start us off with some general comments about the golf course here at Winged Foot and what your particular key for success might be this week.

LUKE DONALD: Well, it's a pretty typical setup for a U.S. Open, very tough, playing quite long out there. The fairways are obviously quite a bit narrower than last week especially, and the rough is very, very thick. You really have to stay out of the rough as much as possible, but keep it in the fairway, you've got half a chance.

RAND JERRIS: Talk a little bit about the state of your game coming into this week and how you feel about your chances.

LUKE DONALD: My year has been pretty consistent this year. I think the win at Honda was obviously a big boost to the confidence and had a few Top 10s in my last couple of events in the U.S., so I am coming in here in pretty good form. So I'm looking forward to this week.

Q. A lot of people talked about the rough and the length. How severe are the greens out there, and how much of a test are they going to be this week?

LUKE DONALD: Boy, I think everyone is so wound up thinking about the rough, they do forget about the greens a little bit. But they are quite slopey in places, I think the first few greens especially. I just played the front side this morning, and the first green it's hard to see four pin placements on there. It's pretty slopey.

You really do have to think about where you want to position your second shot into the green because the greens are that slopey, usually from back to front, which makes it tough. You can't be too aggressive out there.

You really have to place the ball underneath the hole to give yourself a good chance if you want to make a birdie, otherwise you're going to struggle to two putt.

Q. How is this rough compared to Bethpage a few years ago?

LUKE DONALD: I think somewhat similar. I think the outer cut, the longer stuff, is probably a little bit longer and a little bit tougher, a little bit more dense. But from what I remember, Bethpage was pretty rough, too. It was quite hard. It's pretty similar from what I remember.

Q. The U.S. Open, how is it viewed by foreign players and foreign fans as compared to the reference of the British Open is held by North American fans? Is it similar?

LUKE DONALD: How do the U.S. fans

Q. How do the fans in foreign countries view the U.S. Open? Is it held in the same reference as say the British Open by American players?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I think so. I think this is one of the four majors. It's one of the big four tournaments we play all year. You always get great fans at all the major championships, and this will be no different. Even yesterday, on a Monday, there was a lot of people here watching, trying to get a peek at some of the good players and see how they're practicing.

I think the fans are the same all around the world. It'll be I'm sure it'll be a sold out week this week and it will have a great atmosphere.

Q. After The Masters, I believe you said that you needed to change your approach. Was that meaning regarding your play at Augusta National or your play in majors in general?

LUKE DONALD: It was more directed at my play at Augusta. I felt like I didn't play the holes that they changed very well. I struggled on some of the changes, some of the lengthening of the course. My comments were really directed at trying to figure a way, when I go back there next year how to play those holes better.

I think you try and approach every course a little bit differently. Obviously this course for me I feel like if I can keep it in play off the tee, the way I've been hitting my irons lately, I've got half a chance to make a few birdies if I can play out of the fairway.

But if I hit it in the rough, it's going to be very tough for me.

Q. It's been since 1970 since a European player won this championship and back into the '20s, I think, since the one prior to Tony Jacklin won. Is it just coincidence or is it something that the European players even talk about or consider?

LUKE DONALD: I don't think it's really coincidence. I think U.S. Opens always set up very similar narrow fairways, thick rough, slopey, usually quite quick greens. This is the type of setup where a lot of Europeans aren't used to that. I think these days, or in the last five to ten years, a lot more European players, the good ones especially, have been coming over to the U.S. and playing and becoming more accustomed to it.

So I'm hoping that with that experience of playing more and more on these types of courses that they'll feel more and more comfortable, and we will have a European winner soon.

Q. It seems like the southern hemisphere guys have found it okay, South Africans, New Zealanders and others that have won it. Are the courses really that different?

LUKE DONALD: Well, we don't play with rough anything like this in Europe, really. I haven't played enough in South Africa or Australia or any of those parts of the world to know if the course setup is any different to here.

But certainly playing a few European Tour events that I play every year, we don't play these kind of golf courses. The U.S. Tour events, though, are somewhat similar; they're a little bit more generous off the tee, but in general there's still pretty thick rough and the greens are, on the whole, a lot faster and a lot slopier. It does take time to get used to that kind of play.

I don't know whether the European Tour need to think about that, whether they should try and start making courses a bit narrower, a bit tougher, setting pins a bit tougher to prepare guys who play over there for U. S. Opens. But it's a significant difference.

Q. What do you think of the third hole and what have you been hitting in there, and have you played it all the way back?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I played 18 holes a week ago on Monday, and I played nine this morning. I played it all the way back, and it was into the wind somewhat. It was playing about 220 yards to the front, I think. The pin was on another 30 yards, so it's a long hole. You can't be too aggressive, even though it's a long hole. You've got to play to the front of the green. I was using my Rescue, my 2 iron Rescue club, and a good one would have got me kind of to the front third of the green.

Q. In 1959 Billy Casper laid up four times, as you know, and won. Could you see anybody using that strategy, laying up?

LUKE DONALD: Maybe Rich Beem. He looked like he laid up (laughter). He hit an iron. I think he was trying to lay up, anyway.

I think the green is heavily surrounded by bunkers. I think you can't be too aggressive. You don't want to play to the hole or past the hole. You can go to the front of the green, I think that's still a decent play. You're still going to be chipping up the green if you miss the green, and the bunker shots aren't too bad if you miss it on the right side.

You know, you never know; some people might lay up and take their chance. It's not an overly difficult chip from the front of the green, so who knows.

I believe the USGA are going to move the tee up, at least maybe a couple times, to make it a little easier. But when they put it back, some guys might lay up, I don't know.

Q. Presumably with your style of play, you've always viewed U.S. Open as the best chance for you to win a major, and second to that, do you now feel as if it's the time that you should be perhaps winning one?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I've always said U. S. Opens seem to suit my game. I don't hit the ball 300 yards every time. I hit the ball quite straight, I rely on hitting fairways and hitting greens and kind of grinding out par sometimes, especially on tough courses. That's the kind of game plan you need for a U.S. Open.

It's definitely I would put U.S. Open at the top of the majors for my chances of winning one. It is getting to that time where majors are really important to me. I'm really starting to prepare for my year around the majors. I'm looking to be very successful in majors. I know that I've got to a point in my career where winning a few tour events is great, but if I want to be known as a great player, I've got to compete and try and win majors. You know, these are important weeks for me.

Q. There are a number of good young European players coming out such as yourself that are really starting to make an impact. Meanwhile, there's been some criticism that the young American players haven't necessarily won as much or made as much of an impact as people felt. Is there a different mindset among the European young European players as far as being more aggressive, thinking about winning more than perhaps their counterparts in the U.S.?

LUKE DONALD: I don't know, I don't really know how to answer that one. I don't know if I know the answer, to be honest.

Whether it's a mindset, whether it's something else, I'm not really sure. Obviously there are quite a few good youngish Europeans that have started to play well of late, and I think if you watch some of the U.S. coverage, the commentators keep mentioning that there's not too many of the young Americans really coming through. Why, I'm not really sure.

I think Americans have a great college system, and when I went through, it really helped me get to where I am, and I'm not sure why some of these younger Americans aren't playing as well as they could. Maybe expectation, I'm not sure.

Q. If I could have a follow up, you've talked openly this year about if you're going to be on top that you have to think about being on top. Is that something that the Europeans have a little more of that thought process than maybe they do over here, or is it just specific to you?

LUKE DONALD: Well, I've tried to put it specific to me, just I feel like that's the next step that I have to take to kind of get through that Top 10 barrier to become better. It's not really a European thing, I don't think. Not boasting, but trying to put yourself out there that you're better than you really are. It's not really a European characteristic. I'm not really sure if that's the reason why the U.S. guys haven't come through as much as they should have.

Q. It seems as though every June we arrive at a U.S. Open course that is very difficult and sometimes really very difficult, Bethpage Black, Pinehurst and now here. Is this the most difficult U.S. Open course you've played, and if not, what is?

LUKE DONALD: You know, it's a little bit different to Pinehurst last year. I think Pinehurst, the little bit of trouble was around the greens where the greens were sitting up a little bit higher and everything rolled off the greens.

The greens here seem to be the opposite; they all seem to be sectioned in towards the middle of the green, which in a way makes it a little bit more difficult playing into the green. If you're slightly off line, it might catch a slope and come back towards the pin.

The rough is a little bit tougher here; it's a little bit longer, this course, I believe. I'm not sure of the yardage, it just seems to play a little bit longer.

Q. So overall?

LUKE DONALD: Overall I'd say it's a couple shots easier through the four rounds than last year, just because I feel like hitting into the greens you can be a little bit more aggressive than last year. I felt like the greens just felt like you had to play to the middle of the greens last year.

Q. And Bethpage?

LUKE DONALD: Bethpage, again, was pretty tough. It's a few years ago, so I've obviously improved since then. But a similar keel to this week I would say.

Q. Looking at the past history of this championship here, Billy Casper was considered probably the best putter of his generation, Hale Irwin probably the most consistent ball striker of his generation, Fuzzy Zoeller, certainly a shot shaper or shot maker, if you will. Does that history give you encouragement when you're going up against guys that hit it farther than you?

LUKE DONALD: Well, I don't think you can overpower this course. The rough is so long that not even the strongest players, if the ball sits down, they're going to struggle to get anywhere near to the greens. For me, that's a good sign, keep it in play, keep it in the fairways is what's going to be my key to success around here.

I read a little bit about when Hale Irwin won back in was it '74? 7 over par I believe he won at. That was his key, just to keep it in play. He's pretty known for a pretty straight driver of the ball, and I think that was his key to his success. I think that's what I'm going to have to do. And that is encouraging to me.

I think any time waywardness off the tee is punished, that's a good thing for me.

RAND JERRIS: Luke, thanks very much for your time and we wish you luck this week.

End of FastScripts.

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