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NORTHERN TRUST OPENFebruary 13, 2013Luke DonaldPACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA MARK STEVENS: Luke, you're making your first start of the year at the Northern Trust Open. If you want to talk about your thoughts coming into the season and maybe something about the course which you just got done playing and then we'll have some questions. LUKE DONALD: Yeah, obviously a little bit of a late start for me this year. Something I did back in 2011. Worked very well for me back then, and you know, it's been a long year, the golf season, and it's hard to find breaks and it's hard to find time where you can actually work on your swing to try and make some improvements with your game. So I took a decent amount of time off, but I feel rested, feel ready to go. I've been working hard on the swing, and looking forward to starting again here this week. Riviera is always a great course, a great field, one of the classic golf courses we play all year. And as usual, it's no real changes this year to the previous year. It's good shape. You've just got to control your ball around this place. Q. Starting later, was that a reaction to feeling tired last year, or can you tell us about that? LUKE DONALD: Not really. I mean, there were a couple‑‑ there was one health issue I had to deal with. I had some sinus issues I've struggled with for ten years, and I got a sinus surgery in December and I needed to or three weeks to recover from that. But I still could have started first or second week of January, no problem. It was more just a reaction to having enough time where I felt like I was rested and having enough time where I felt like I could make some improvements in my game. I feel like we play week‑in, week‑out, it's very hard to do any incremental changes in your swing when you only have a week or two off between tournaments. For me it was important to have a good amount of time to work on a few things. Q. What kind of things did you work on? Were they significant changes or just more fine‑tuning? LUKE DONALD: I don't really like to use the word changes. More just improvements. I'm constantly striving to get the club in a little bit better position at the top, a bit more neutral, a little bit more deeper with maybe slightly more cup in the left wrist and I'm always working on the downswing, trying to get my hands and arms a little bit more underneath me, so I flip left past impact. So working on that, and working on obviously continuing to be sharper on the short game. Q. You called Riviera a classic course. It's a course they say is a ball‑striker's course, you have to work the ball both ways. What makes it special in your mind? LUKE DONALD: Well, for all of the reasons you just said, it's an old, classic golf course. It's a course that has stood the test of time. I think what makes this place difficult is, you know, the greens more than anything. You really have to think about how the ball comes into the greens. They are very small. They can get firm. You know, you don't hit many greens around here compared to some of the other places. You know, it demands you thinking about your whole game, from tee‑to‑green, which side of the fairway you want to be in to attack the pin location, because the greens are just positioned that way and then once you get on the greens, they are very slopey, very fast, slopey and tricky. And if you consistently leave yourself uphill putts, you're going to make a couple birdies. Q. As you were at home working on your game and everything, were you aware‑‑ I mean, obviously you were aware of Tiger winning and Phil, and the way Brandt was playing. Did you feel a little bit like anxious to get out here? LUKE DONALD: Yes and no. I mean, I've been around the TOUR long enough to know that it's a marathon; it's not a sprint. It's been a long season. It's about positioning yourself. Obviously when it comes to the Playoffs, you certainly don't need to‑‑ I think with this new playoff system in the last five years, it's not a Money List title anymore. As much as the Money List was a great way to define who was playing the best, the FedExCup gives you a chance; you don't have to be going in No. 1 at the beginning of the Playoffs. So again, I still feel I have plenty of events till then. Obviously Brandt has got off to a great start, and it's nice to see Tiger and Phil playing well. Any time you have the great players playing well, it inspires you to work harder and try and catch them. Q. You've been over here in the States for a while, but with Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy actually moving over here, can you just talk about your decision to do it and what you thought about their decision now? LUKE DONALD: My decision was a long time ago. I felt, a lot of my decision to actually play the U.S. Tour was predicated on how successful I was in college. I won 13 times, won the NCAA. Felt like my game was very comfortable over on these style of golf courses. Obviously meeting my wife, who is from Chicago, that determined why I kind of set up base there for a while. Obviously Chicago is not very good in the winter, so I moved down to Florida during the winter months. For me, it's a lot easier place to travel from. I still play probably 75 percent of my events over in the U.S., and it's a great place to hone and play against some of the best players in the world on great courses. I think Rory and Lee, Lee especially I've talked to, he just got fed up with the harsh winters in England. It was very tough to practice. It's hard to be motivated to go outside when it's 40 degrees and raining. I think he just wanted a little bit better lifestyle of weather and practice facilities. Q. Did he pick your brain about South Florida and where to move? LUKE DONALD: Not really. I think he had a good idea. You just have to look at all the players, between Jupiter and Orlando, there's probably about 50 TOUR players residing there. MARK STEVENS: Thanks for the time, Luke, and best of luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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