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Donald No. 1, but not the main attraction (12:35)
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Luke Donald spoke to the press Wednesday at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. Listen to his full news conference as he talks about being paired with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
TRANSCRIPTS
-Alright, ladies and gentleman. Luke. Thanks to those who are
coming in and joining us. Welcome to Abu Dhabi. We're
just looking at the record groups there. 2008 was the
last time you were here. You played this morning. Did
you remember much about the golf course or has it
changed a bit in your mind? -Yes. I mean as
golfers we cannot remember courses pretty easily and you know
a few little changes here and there. Actually had my
yardage put from 2008 and there's a few added bunkers
a little bit of added length but mostly the course
is very similar. So yes, I don't remember too much
how I played that year but certainly remembered the course
too. -And how was the form to do of going
back into it? -Yes. My form on Wednesday is never
going great. You know Wednesdays are Wednesdays but I've been
working pretty hard the last 10 days and I feel
good about where my swing is. -It's sure an interesting
draw coming up tomorrow with Tiger and-- -Yes great draw
obviously you know. I'm always excited to be you know
in those kind of marquee pairings and I'll be good
to play with Tiger again. It's been awhile and obviously
got to play with Rory a few weeks ago at
Dubai and looking forward to that pairing with a fantastic
group. -Okay. Thanks for that Luke, Well, if you got
some questions, just raise your hand. We'll get the mic
to you. Jimmy, do you wanna start this please? Thank
you. -Luke, can you remember the last time when you
played with Tiger? -Not off the top of my head.
Probably some time in 2009. I think it's been awhile
though. -Just when you played with him in the last
round of the U.S. PGA, at the time on that,
can you just say how different it got for you
or now to what you were then? -Yes, hugely you
know I think in 2006 I had it coming off
a pretty good year that year, but you know obviously
had a bit of a lean spell for a few
years, '08, '07, even '09 wasn't that great, but you
know I think every year you learn more about yourself
as a golfer. You learn a little bit more about
your swing. Obviously last year was you know hugely important
year for me in terms of dealing with pressure and
been able to come out on top. You know when
it mattered and yes, I feel like certainly a different
player since and a lot more experience. -Yes, John, please.
-Hey, Luke, given the break, can you just tell us
what you were actually-- were you working at something or
was it just relaxing and did the new arrival make
it a little difficult for you? -It was certainly. There's
always challenges with new babies but ours has been you
know very good in terms of sleeping very well and
it hasn't been really a distraction in terms of that.
It's been another blessing really. I had 4-1/2 to 5
weeks off since my last event and put the clubs
away for 3 weeks, didn't touch them and the last
couple of weeks just been working on very similar stuff
I worked on last year, really trying to get my
swing a little bit more solid especially with the longer
clubs and create a bit more consistency with that. -Yes,
John. Center at the right wing. -Luke, Dave is down
here but to my understanding is he's spending quite a
bit of time with another player. Is he doing anything
with you this week? -No. He's I believe on a
trial week with Padraig and you know I obviously talk
to Dave about this at the end of last year
and I don't have an exclusive deal with him and
you know happy with him to work with other players,
but you know he said whenever I wanna work with
him, he'll work with me and no other player but
this week you know it wasn't in my plan to
work with him and so he's working with Padraig. -Just
a follow-up if I may, when do you expect to
work with him for the first time this year? -He's
gonna be over in Florida next week. We're gonna start
doing some work together, kind of a practice week before
I get started in the U.S. tour. -Yes. Go ahead.
Left one, sir. -Luke, we've seen the photos of what
you did yesterday in the desert [unk] asked him earlier,
just wanted your thoughts about playing out of the world's
biggest bunker. -Certainly it was big. I've never get out
of that one. It was pretty amazing to see. You
know it's my first time really to the actual desert
so you know it's an amazing kind of landscape and
obviously I've seen a couple of pictures in the last
couple of hours and you know they turned out amazing.
So yes, it was a fun thing to do and
something I'll remember, of a great shot you know to
have up in the world because yes it's pretty spectacular,
that backdrop. -Yes, Derek. -Is there any sense of trepidations
setting out this year after all you've achieved last year?
-Not really. I'm really trying to you know feed off
for the good stuff more than think about going backwards,
you know. I think you know my job is just
keep controlling what I can control and try and to
do similar things I did last year in terms of
just trying to improve at a margin of everything that
I do and then I let everything else fall into
place. Obviously there is always expectation but you know I
think as I said last year was great for me
in terms of confidence and knowing that when I need
it to play well, I did. -Jimmy, please? -You had
the best year you know of your life than most
other people's lives and last year you changed your clubs,
you know. What was wrong last year about your swing?
-Nothing wrong, you know. I think throughout my career I've
always changed clubs. When I've tried something that I think
is better, then I've changed. This is a great week
to at least try some new stuff under pressure, but
you know I did some good testing in the last
10 days and you know really felt like they were
very solid. I wasn't in on that. They almost felt
a little bit more of an improvement on my clubs.
You know sometimes it's good to put in new equipment
now and again. It gives you a little bit of
a spark, you know. You feel good about it just
because it's new and we'll see how it plays out
but certainly I'm excited about some of the changes. -David,
please? -Yes. Luke, Rory was saying that when he first
saw and played with Tiger, he was a bit awestruck,
a bit nervous, but he's got over that as he's
got to know him with experience. Is the same sort
of process happening in your case? -I think certainly. You
know obviously Tiger and that's not just playing with Tiger.
It's the fact that you know he brings a bigger
crowd. You know he's a little bit more of an
atmosphere. So you wanna feel a little bit differently, but
certainly my experiences over the last few years and haven't
played with him quite a few times in the past.
You know that feeling intimidates certainly dissipates. Yes, so I'm
looking forward to seeing his game again tomorrow and getting
out there. -Yes. You, in front. -Luke, have you grown
to enjoy pressure? -Well, certainly. You know the goal is
always to be in contention and those situations yes you
are under pressure. So yes I'm always-- you know if
I'm playing a tournament and not under pressure, it means
I'm not near the lead so yes getting into contention
and feeling that pressure is exciting. That's I think what
we practiced for and being able to kind of perform
under the pressure is why work hard and obviously the
work up, the hard work paid off pretty well actually.
-Yes, Jay. Thank you. -Luke, you always seem to be
so calm under pressure or any other situation on the
golf course. Is there something in the game that really
ruffles you at times? -Bad golf. I mean you know
I would say you know I'm somewhat of a perfectionist.
I like to work hard and when things don't work
out, it's annoying but yes certainly try to learn from
situations, you know whether it's good or bad, you know
when I played good all this week or not so
good, you know. I'm trying to take something out of
it and you know always trying to move forward. -Another
question at the back there? -Hi, Luke. Having been to
Abu Dhabi before, do you feel that the city has
changed and how? And apart from golf what other attractions
are you planning to enjoy as open up a little.
-Well, I haven't seen too much of the city but
certainly you know from the city landscape has changed quite
a bit with some new buildings, even just around the
hotel where I'm staying at the palace, Emir's Palace is--
I'm pretty sure those buildings across the street weren't there
the last time I was here so yes. It's a
growing country and whether I'll do anything outside of going
to the hotel and the golf is unlikely but there's
a possibility I might go to the track and I
think they were gonna try and put you know, race
a car around the track at one point, but I'm
not sure if that's gonna happen. -Yes. Jimmy again. Thank
you. -You told us last year that your goals for
last year were to contend in all 4 majors, but
I'm just wondering what obviously you set the goal this
year? -Well, again the overall goal for me is to
continue to improve and get better. You know obviously the
goal every year as a golfer is to try and
win the biggest events and those are the majors and
obviously having a year like I did last year, I
did everything but win a major you know in a
way and you know obviously that would be at the
top of my goals and just trying to win a
major but obviously you've gotta put yourself into contention first.
-Oliver? Thank you. Far right. -Luke, you showed some hesitation
Twitter about the issue of slow play. I just wondered
how urgently you felt the tours needs to deal with
that issue and you know how serious you thought it
was. -Well it's an issue that's been around for years
and years. I think you know it's a hard one
to deal with. Like I said on Twitter, I think
the responsibility has to come with the player just being
aware of when it's his turn to play and be
ready and some players aren't and some are and it's
an ongoing problem. But you know hopefully someone as the
number one ranked player in the world, maybe I have
a little bit more of a voice now and people
will take notice and if it makes a little bit
of difference then hopefully that was a good message to
get across. -Is it something that's got worse? -Since I've
been on tour it's been pretty similar to be honest.
There hasn't been a lot of change either way. -Derek,
please? -Of all the things you're trying to get, that
perhaps is the one thing that's stands out. -Certainly, I
do believe the key to winning, for me to try
and contend and win majors is to continue to improve
my driving. I think majors become strictly around the greens,
the firmer smaller greens usually, it's more prevalent to hit
it in fairways in majors. It's something Jack Nicklaus told
me last year. He thinks that he was successful because
he drove it very well. So I think that's the
area that I would love to continue to improve. I
certainly made some pretty good improvements last year but still
have a long way to go.
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