EDS BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIP

May 17, 2003

Luke Donald

TODD BUDNICK: We thank Luke Donald for joining us after his 3-under 67 today. Luke, you are two shots back at the moment heading into tomorrow, talk a little bit about a chance for victory out here.

LUKE DONALD: Yes, I won late in the season last year. That was a great feeling. And I would love to win again. It's always nice to be in contention going into Sunday and I haven't really be in contention this year, so I'm going to look forward to it.

Q. Has this performance this week come out of the blue at all for you. Is there anything that have you seen?

LUKE DONALD: Well, looking at my results the last few weeks, you know, I have had a few missed cuts, not very good scores. But my scores really haven't reflected the way I played. I played a little bit better than my scoring. I'm not surprised, I'm having a good week now. I think it was only a matter of time that I was getting the right bounces and making a few more putts. You know, golf is just a little bit like that, such a fine line between you finished 50th place and being up there where I am today.

Q. Talk about the bunker blast there, could you see the hole?

LUKE DONALD: It was pretty deep that bunker. I could just about see it but I knew it was a little bit downhill and it was going to break to the left. I had a lot of green to work with. It was a relatively simple bunker shot to get within six feet or so. It came out right and got on the right line and had enough speed to drop. So a nice eagle.

TODD BUDNICK: You got off to a slow start but were able to recover. We talked about that, and how you got your game back.

LUKE DONALD: Yes, the front side I had 2 birdies, two bogeys. Just playing decent. But I think the front 9, the first few holes were playing a little bit harder than the back nine with the wind. 3 was almost unreachable for me in 2 but I made a good 4 there. I just made, you know, a couple of bad bogeys on 2. Just missed it way right. And then 6, I 3-putted, but I got a good birdie on No. 9 to get back to even for the front 9 and that kind of gave me a bit momentum going into the backside. I kept hitting good shots on the back nine, made a few birdies and that eagle helped a lot.

Q. What do you think your mindset will be for tomorrow, how tough is Vijay to chase in this position?

LUKE DONALD: Vijay has obviously had a great year so far. He has been there quite a few more times than I have. I'm sure he will be used to the situation where it's a little bit of a new situation for me. I'm just going to go out there and try to play my normal game and not think about the lead at all until the last few holes, and if I have a chance to win, hopefully I will be walking up 18 with a couple stroke lead.

Q. Luke, have you examined the new Ryder Cup system?

LUKE DONALD: I haven't really looked into it too much. Have they done what they said they were going to do?

Q. (Inaudible) I'm not sure?

LUKE DONALD: I don't know enough about that yet. I know the Ryder Cup points in Europe start the end of this year so I'm sure I will know by then.

(Scorecard.)

Q. You said it's been a while since you have contended, with the win last year is that something that you can draw on tomorrow even though it's been a while since you have been in this position?

LUKE DONALD: Yes, it hasn't been that long. It was the last tournament of 2002. I don't know. I think you learn from experience. I'm just looking forward to going out there and see how well I can do.

Q. How is the painting going?

LUKE DONALD: I have done one point painting, that was the end of last year. I struggle to find time to do it. It's almost more time consuming than golf is. The 2 mixed together doesn't give me a lot of time for fun stuff. It's a little bit on the back burner right now, but hopefully if I can manage my time a little better, I can make it up a little more.

Q. Are a landscape guy, oil painting?

LUKE DONALD: An oil painting and I work from photos that I have taken or photos that I just found and do my kind of idea of that photo.

Q. Is it realism?

LUKE DONALD: It's mainly realism with some abstraction. Where did the painting stuff come from all of a sudden?

Q. It's in your bio. One of your paintings was up for an auction?

LUKE DONALD: That was the last one I did, yes.

Q. You did that because they asked you or you did it-?

LUKE DONALD: A little bit, yes, it was for charity and I thought it would be a good idea and I did it during the off season when I had some time.

Q. That's something that you picked up early on in life or what?

LUKE DONALD: Yes, pretty early on. I did it in A levels in England, the final two years of high school. It was my major in college.

TODD BUDNICK: Thank you, Luke.

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