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WGC AMERICAN EXPRESS CHAMPIONSHIP

September 30, 2004

Luke Donald

KILKENNY, IRELAND

Q. Great round.

LUKE DONALD: Thank you.

Q. 5-under par.

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, good round, just hitting the ball very solidly today. The course is playing quite long, for me especially. The ball is not going very far. I'm hitting quite long irons out there, but I hit a lot of good shots.

I had the putter going really hot on the front nine for a while, four birdies in a row, then stumbled a bit, missed chances on 9 and 10, but I finished with a birdie on 17 and had a chance on 18, but a good start.

Q. That run of four birdies, that obviously got your round really going. Talk us through those. What were the details of those?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, birdied the 5th, par 5. I just had a three-foot putt, four-foot putt for birdie.

Then 6 was a 2-iron and 25-footer.

7, driver, 6-iron to about four feet.

Then 8, I wedged it to about 25 feet again and holed, so two good 25-footers.

The greens are pure so if you get it on the right line they're going to go in.

Q. You said it's playing long. You obviously seem to enjoy it here. It suits your game, does it? Is it the greens that you can see the lines on, or what is it about this course?

LUKE DONALD: It's my first event here. I think it's a good course. It's very American style, which I play on every week. The greens are very good.

I would have thought this course would suit more longer hitters the way it's playing when it's wet. If you're playing well anyone can score around here because the greens are so pure.

Q. You're obviously playing well at the moment. The last couple of months you've had a great run.

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, it's been going great the last two months. The Ryder Cup was the icing on the cake, the team performance, but individually I've been playing very well.

Q. What did you do last week?

LUKE DONALD: I relaxed. I went to Puerto Rico and sat by a pool for about four days.

Q. How was the Ryder Cup? We haven't spoken to you but we've spoken to a few of the other guys about the Ryder Cup. You've had a couple of weeks to reflect on it.

LUKE DONALD: An amazing experience. It was a lot of fun, great team spirit out there. The whole week was a lot of fun. I mean, just a lot of laughs and a lot of everyone getting along really well. I think that really added to why we did so well.

Q. Obviously you're back in Europe now. What was the reception like and meeting up with your teammates again?

LUKE DONALD: It's been nice to see them again after a week off. Everyone is in good spirits obviously. It's always nice to get one over the Americans, and to get one over in such a big style. It's good to be back this week.

Q. You obviously played with a high profile American today. Talk about that. You obviously beat him by a shot today, but there was obviously concerns over his fitness and the back injury.

LUKE DONALD: He was struggling. He's got some pain in his ribs and it's very hard to play golf when you've got that. He got around very well, putted quite well, holed a few long ones like me. He played well, considering.

Q. Does it affect your own game when you see somebody like that who's in such obvious discomfort? Tiger was grimacing a lot out there, wasn't he?

LUKE DONALD: I try not to pay too much attention to the people I'm playing with and just kind of get on with my own game. I feel sorry for him, but there's not much I can do. I just played my own game.

Q. Have you played much with Tiger in the past?

LUKE DONALD: No, it's probably the second or third time. I played with him at the British Open a couple years ago at Royal St. George's, but we haven't played that much together.

Q. It's a great start anyway.

LUKE DONALD: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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