The first day is a good 67 for you. How will you summarize your performance?
Luke Donald: Apparently very satisfied with the score, no bogey in the major. I was told that this was the lowest first round of majors I had fewer since 2004. So, you know, obviously I've been popping all the cuts I missed this week.
But no, it's a surprise. I made a very stable start. I hit a bunch of fairways in the first nine games and it always makes me feel good about my game.
I haven't played a lot of greens today, but my putting was really good. Greens Surprise – No surprise, but the first group this morning was much faster than in recent days.
But I made great adjustments to them and I made a lot of good, solid putts there.
ask: What was yesterday's press conference like when one question after another question was about Jon Rahm's game, a game for the Liv player or anyone's game?
Luke Donald: Well, that's what I registered. You know, as I said, I'm here, just because I'm the captain of the European Ryder Cup. Otherwise I wouldn't be in this field. It was a good invitation and a cheering for the Ryder Cup captain.
I see. I know my game is not where it was in the past, and that's the point. So this really won't bother me.
ask: I wonder how much fun you were in the course today, what it was like to maintain a healthy balance between focusing on potential Ryder Cup players and of course your own game, and it looked really good at the time?
Luke Donald: Well, it's always fun, there's no bogey at a big tournament, which is what you think is ideal for me.
Yes, yes. very good. I feel like I've been in the competitions I've participated in this year, but haven't seen much of them.
But, the balance thing, yes, I didn't find it – I found the first captain to go to Rome a trickier. I had less time to prepare for that captain.
This time, I had a longer time, obviously the second correction, and I was a little familiar with what was going on, what needed to be done and the time frame and all of this stuff. I was able to balance it well. The minimization schedule is great. I still like competition. I like being a competitor. But still give myself enough time to prepare for New York.
ask: Not sure if you checked the rankings, but Keegan is under 3 times. Are you here to turn it into your own Ryder Cup preview duel?
Luke Donald: Are you talking about the playoffs if you tied for 14-14? I will grab the trophy and go back to Europe.
Keegan is ranked in the top 20 in the world. He could have a great week here, win, he was very capable, and he was definitely talking about the captain of the race.
I don't think that's my future, but Keigan, we're very close together. I saw where he was practicing and he practiced very hard. He is still one of the top players in the world.
ask: There are some crazy questions here. When you get close to green, knowing that you're most likely to miss it and have chips, how do you set up your own chips coming and try to get up on some of these vulnerabilities?
Luke Donald: I think, as far as this course is concerned, as I said, the Greens are soon today. Much faster than before, they have a lot of slopes.
So the point of your purpose from the fairway – depends on whether you are from the fairway or the rough attack. But, you know, if you are not in the location, you do try to put yourself in a place where you feel like you can go up and down, because of the severity of green, this is more important than most places.
So I think I did a great job. I just put it in a bit manageable place. But, you know, if you're on the fairway, you're just trying to do a good, aggressive fluctuation on the right side of the hole.
ask: What you think of is manageable? How do you define it?
Luke Donald: I'm disappointed with the 18-year-old right bunker. I think it was a bad lady, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. I'm a little breeze, but I still need to play an 8-foot-9-foot ball for the PAR.
You don't want to think too much about the ball on the second photo, oh, I just don't want to be here. You're trying to do that, and what you're going to do is what you're going to do and where you're going to hit it. I think that when you leave the tee position, this is when you start thinking, yes, there are three shots in front: this pin is here; if I can put it to the right of the green, I will choke the hill. Such something. This will give me a chance to go up and down.
ask: When was your last performance?
Luke Donald: Testing my memory. Almost no memory of what I did last week, let alone this week.
You know, I only played nine greens today. So I won't say it's great, but there are certainly highlights today that have improved on previous events. More fairways. Driving better. Good iron.
But obviously, putting is very critical and a short game. I made good putts up and down when I needed it, and this is my key today.
ask: There have been some complaints about mud balls and decided not to lift, clean and place them. Where are you standing?
Luke Donald: I don't have mud balls myself. When it starts to get drier, you can get some this afternoon. This is tricky. Yesterday I heard this last night just because it was wet and I was a little surprised, but honestly, it did a great job.
Twice, I had to recreate from the fairway, which helped. You know, you can clean it. For the rest of the time, sometimes it's just a little bit of watery mud residue. It's not really mud, that's when it gets very clumsy.
ask: Generally speaking, when we go back to the game captain, what are the requirements for doing both jobs when we talk about what Keegan might do, and that seems really hard?
Luke Donald: I think it's a demand for a week. If you are going to play your own game, you will be on the golf course, so you will have to offer choices, decisions and others to others.
You know, obviously you have to direct that person, you know, what to look for, what you are going to do. And, if you try to play, I guess it's a little distracted.
I don't think it will be distracted until the Ryder Cup. Just a week. It's just that you're not watching guys. However, you do have an assistant captain, a vice captain, who can do all of this and get that message to you. Yes, this is an extra step you don't usually have to deal with.
ask: As someone of a certain age, you might go to the bathroom in the middle of the night anyway, but if not, what time do you set the alarm at 7:00 serving time?
Luke Donald: I think I did it all night last night.
But I was – this morning my alarm rang.
ask: How do you feel about leaving first? Are you okay?
Luke Donald: Yes, I was the first group last year. Combined with two main champions a solid pairing. I think it's a nice honor to open the game to play. I am fine. The first nine holes in the green were very good and the pace of the game was pretty good.
ask: Obviously, it’s an unusual way for you to prepare for a major championship, but if you can’t prepare as you wish, what’s possible to help you compete today?
Luke Donald: Last week's game. It was probably the first time I had been in a row for two weeks this year. Playing the minimization schedule sounds good, but it's hard to get a competitive mode. So, you know, playing for a week, three weeks off, a week, all of this stuff isn't easy for me. Just like stop, start.
It would be better to play for two or three weeks and get the rhythm. This is what I enjoyed when I was at the top of the game. So I think it's helpful to just play for weeks in a row
