JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Congratulations, Luke, 2005 Target World Challenge presented by Countrywide champion. Great finish, great day, and a good springboard going into 2006.

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, absolutely. Obviously I've had a couple of -- quite a few near misses this year, and it's always nice to finish the year off in that way, shooting 64, and finishing off the job with a win is very, very satisfactory.

Obviously I tend to like the last tournaments of the year. I think I won the Southern Farm Bureau was the last tournament, and when I won the World Cup with Paul Casey that was my last tournament, so I have a good record with my last event.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Eight shots back is not an advantageous position, but did you feel confident coming into today?

LUKE DONALD: I think I was six shots. I felt like it was the last round of the tournament, the last round of my year. I gave it my all, and who knows, if I shoot 8-under, I might have a chance.

Obviously I expected Darren, Padraig and Michael to maybe -- one of them out of those three maybe score 3- or 4-under, so I thought if I shoot 8-under it might be good enough.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: When did you realize that Darren did not birdie the 16th, or excuse me, bogeyed it actually?

LUKE DONALD: Someone told me just after I had signed my scorecard that he had a seven-foot putt for par. When I got into the locker room, I heard he missed it.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: How much did you follow Northwestern sports when you were going there? You know they're going to a Bowl game. Or your golf is what occupies you?

LUKE DONALD: Well, I still live in Evanston, so I do follow Northwestern. The golf coach, Pat Goss, is still my swing coach. I played with the golf team. I follow the football whenever I can. I know as much that they're playing in the Sun Bowl, but I wouldn't say I'm a huge, avid fan, but I definitely keep up with it.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: On Thursday after five holes you were 1- or 2-over and probably still feeling a bit jet lagged. Can you chart your progress from that position and what you were thinking to where you are now?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I mean, Thursday I really didn't feel very good health-wise. I was struggling a little bit with some kind of sinus, kind of a head cold, and was struggling and had a few birdies, few bogeys early on, cracked the face of my driver on the 5th hole and just played out with a 3-wood after that.

You know, I think after seven holes I was 2-over par for the tournament, and I bogeyed 10. So I was 3-over through 10, feeling down on myself, and then I made a few birdies and luckily finished birdie-birdie that first round, got me back to even par. You always feel a lot better about yourself if you're at even par rather than 1- or 2-over. I just kind of built my tournament after that round.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: At that point you're nine strokes behind Michael, though. Are you at all thinking about -- I mean, there's three days to go, but realistically, are you just thinking, okay, let me play three good rounds of golf after that, or are you still thinking you have a chance?

LUKE DONALD: You still think you have a chance, especially around a course like this where you can string birdies together. But there's also quite a lot of danger out there. You can make some bogeys.

The good breaks go my way and some of the bad breaks go against the leading players, then you can definitely catch the strokes up pretty quickly.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Does that help set you up for '06? The Masters you played well last year, it's a Ryder Cup next year, or is there too much space in between now and '06?

LUKE DONALD: I think any time you win it gives you a lot of confidence. I think it's just a nice feeling to know that I came here and beat a very, very strong field; 16 of the top 20 players in the world were here. There are a few guys outside the top 20, but it was a very, very strong field, and that's a lot of satisfaction, to know that you can come here, play one bad round, even the first round, and still win.
That's going to give me a lot of confidence going into next year.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: The near misses this year, Players comes to mind and Torrey Pines. Was there another one?

LUKE DONALD: I was 3rd at The Masters but not really in contention. But Buick and Players Championship, and then last week really at Nedbank I missed out on a playoff by a shot. There's probably a few others. I shot a bad last round at BMW, leading.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Which one bothered you the most and how much did it bother you to end the year coming into this thing without a victory?

LUKE DONALD: It did bother me. I mean, one of my goals was to win this year. You know, I'll definitely take this one. I would have loved to have won a regular Tour event, but winning this is just as good.

The one that bothered me the most probably was THE PLAYERS Championship. I think it was that one that -- obviously it was a tough final day with the weather and everything, and a few shots that I hit well ended up costing me. But I still had a good lead playing the final round and didn't win.

So that one bothered me, as did Torrey Pines, really, because I hit a couple bad shots coming down the stretch. This one is nice because I finished off the back nine 5-under, just finished by playing good golf.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Even going back to college, have you ever rallied from so far behind on the last day? That doesn't seem to be your M.O. really.

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, it's hard to think back. I can't really think of a time that I've come back from that far behind. I'm sure I could dig something up.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Is there something that you might treat yourself to?

LUKE DONALD: I haven't even thought about it, to be honest.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: What are your goals for next year?

LUKE DONALD: You know, keep progressing the way I've been playing. I need to keep winning more and more, keep getting myself more and more in contention. Obviously majors are going to be a good thing next year, to be in contention at least two or three times going into Sunday, keep increasing my World Ranking. I think I'm just outside the Top 10. I want to be firmly inside the Top 10 by the end of next year. And I think winning, you want to keep winning.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: How do you balance the frustration of not having won as much as you'd like with the steady progress up the World Ranking to 12 or 13 or something like that?

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, I mean, in a way, it has been a satisfactory year. I've accomplished quite a lot this year. I've been very, very consistent, you know, only missed one cut this year. I've had a lot of tournaments where I've had a chance to win, but I haven't. That was really the only frustrating part, really, just not quite closing the deal when I had a chance to win.

But, you know, I think I'm learning from those, and hopefully next year, once you win a couple times, it makes it a lot easier.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Did Tiger present the trophy to you?

LUKE DONALD: I haven't seen Tiger actually.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: He's been teeing off early this week. You probably missed him.

LUKE DONALD: Yeah, he didn't make too many moves this week.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: What do you need to improve to get from 12th or 13th to firmly inside the Top 10?

LUKE DONALD: I still need to improve my putting. I felt like even this week I hit some putts that I wasn't happy about. It wasn't misreads; they were bad putts, a few pulls, a few pushes. And I've been working hard the last few months on my putting. It's showing signs, by I definitely need to get that better if I'm going to be one of the top players in the world.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: If you can look ahead a little bit, the number of Europeans that have moved into the top 20, top 25, be it Monty and David Howell and yourself and on and on, we get to September every other year, and it always looks like you can look on paper how much the U.S. is stacked in the World Rankings and Europe is not. Do you think we might have a different look this year?

LUKE DONALD: Could well be. As I said, more of the Europeans have been playing well. Monty has obviously made a great comeback, David Howell has played very solidly this year, Darren is solid as usual. I think the first round when I played with him might have been one of the first rounds I've ever played with him. Yeah, it's very impressive, his ball-striking and the way he went around the golf course.

You can obviously see that we have a lot of strong players, and that's why we've done so well in the Ryder Cup.  We always try and go in there as underdogs, but it might be hard next year.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Did it take you time to get used to the traveling, the big trips, South Africa or China and that type of stuff and then back here, or were you sort of used to it having come from England originally before you arrived here?

LUKE DONALD: I don't think anyone really gets that used to jet lag. You just have to deal with it. It's just one of those things that I wish I didn't have to go through. But there's quite a few players here that played in South Africa, and we were all in the same boat. You just have to deal with it, really. I think staying busy and having to go to a function or having to get up in the morning, it forces you to get back on time quicker. There's no real secret to jet lag I don't think.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Do you ever think, hey, this is my job and these people are, quote, throwing money at me, so it's no problem to be there?

LUKE DONALD: Well, it's no problem, no.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Did the head cold on Thursday have anything to do with Wednesday, turning 28?

LUKE DONALD: No. I had half a drink actually, an alcoholic drink, on Wednesday. I was feeling worse on Wednesday than I was Thursday. It wasn't the best birthday I've ever had, but this is definitely making up for it.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: That half a drink is a half more than Darren apparently had this week. Is that a shock?

LUKE DONALD: Again, I haven't played much with Darren. Out of all the Europeans I probably know him the least. He does like a pint or two now and again, I believe (laughter). That is a little -- maybe they just don't make the Guinness quite as good here as they do back in Ireland.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Something tells me he'll make up for it tonight.

LUKE DONALD: I'm sure he'll have a couple.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: We'll go through your card.

LUKE DONALD: Birdied the 1st; 2-iron, lob wedge to about 15 feet.

On the 4th, 3-wood, 6-iron to ten feet. 5th, driver and a 2-iron and two-putted from the front edge, maybe 50 feet. 10, drive, lob wedge to four feet. 11, drive, 5-iron and two-putted from about 40 feet. 13 was drive in the right rough, had to hit a 9-iron over a tree and then hit a 7-iron from there to about ten feet and holed the putt. It was a pretty key birdie there, I guess. 14 was a 3-wood, 8-iron to about 14 feet.
16 was a drive, 2-iron just over the back, chipped to about 12 feet and holed it.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Are you spending Christmas in Chicago?

LUKE DONALD: I will be in Chicago this year.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: I wanted to ask you about that. For so many players that live in either Arizona or Florida and whatnot, what do you do when it's time to play golf again?

LUKE DONALD: Well, I spent quite a number of Christmases and that time in Chicago, and I finally wised up and I bought a place in Jupiter six months ago, so I will be going down there for New Year's and I'll be in Florida practicing. I'm a member of The Players Club there.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Do you ever see Jack out there?

LUKE DONALD: Quite a bit.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Congratulations, and happy holidays.

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Q. It was a great week weatherwise. Nothing could have been better except your golf game. Talk about what kind of a week it was for you and for your foundation.

TIGER WOODS: Oh, absolutely incredible, for the weather to be this good and to have these people come out. We have a lot of people here; it's very exciting. Again, it's what we're trying to do for kids, and I think overall this was an absolutely awesome week.

Q. Talk about how you played.

TIGER WOODS: Not very good at all. It's been a long week, a long year, and it's taken its toll. I just couldn't put it all together.

Q. Are you looking forward to your birthday?

TIGER WOODS: I'm just looking forward to putting the clubs away for a while. I probably won't remember my birthday.

Q. Are you glad this season is over?

TIGER WOODS: I am, I am. The stress that I had starting at the TOUR Championship, this has been a long stretch. I've been playing a lot of golf, putting on a lot of miles. My battery is just running a little low.

Q. There's nothing you would change about the schedule, is there?

TIGER WOODS: No, I could have played a little better. When you're in contention at these events, it wears you out a little bit more. I had a nice run there for the TOUR Championship and China and Japan and obviously in Hawaii, so real positive stretch.

Q. Talk a little bit about your foundation.

TIGER WOODS: My foundation? We're trying to help kids. We've got 3 million kids involved in the program in the country. We've got a learning facility going up here in Anaheim, so a lot of positive things.

Q. Anything you'll be working on during your downtime?

TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I'm just putting the sticks away, not going to touch them for a while. I'm looking forward to getting my body back to being healthy.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you, Darren, for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center. I know it was kind of a disappointing day, but all in all, it was a good week.

DARREN CLARKE: Yeah, all in all it was pretty good. Today was obviously disappointing. I swung it pretty poorly all day and it was going left a bit, and then bogeying two holes of the last three was not really the way I wanted to finish. I should have went out last night.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Kind of unlucky on the last par 5?

DARREN CLARKE: Well, you know, as I said, I was fighting it left all day. Not big left, but just enough to get myself in difficult, tricky positions to get up-and-down, and just sort of caught a big hill on 16, and then the last -- well, I can't believe I missed it that far. Hit it all over the place, lack of alcohol.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Luke was pretty far back at the start. At what point were you aware that he was becoming a factor?

DARREN CLARKE: Oh, I don't know. I wasn't really paying that much attention. I was having to work too hard on my own game to worry about anyone else's.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Was there a particular shot today when you thought you were going to be struggling with your swing?

DARREN CLARKE: Not really. I struggled all day with it. We got off to a decent start, but then I was having to grind it out and grind it out and grind it out. The par 5s on the back nine have been good to me all week, and the three places that I missed them today I didn't get particularly good lies. But I still had a couple of chances, didn't knock in the putts and just basically didn't play well enough to win.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Luke has been a good player for a while. Is this going to help him for '06 do you think?

DARREN CLARKE: Obviously he played fantastic today to shoot 64 and get the win, which is great for him. I think he'll get stronger and stronger.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Any regrets from Thursday night on?

DARREN CLARKE: Only last night (smiling).

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER:  What did you do last night?

DARREN CLARKE: Nothing (laughter).

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: And your golf, as well, you finished very strongly, as well?

DARREN CLARKE: Yeah, I put myself in position to win again. I went first, second, second the last three tournaments. I'm disappointed to finish the way I did today; two bogeys out of three was not very good. The one on 18 didn't make any difference, but the bogey on 16 was a little bit of a disappointment. I hung in there and played not bad.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: What was the lie on 16 and what was the best you could hope for on the first chip?

DARREN CLARKE: Get it on to 20 feet, 25 feet. I couldn't get it near the hole.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Did you have to aim away?

DARREN CLARKE: I had to aim away from it, yes, and the ball was sitting up this high (indicating six inches) in the grass six inches. I didn't realize until I hit it afterwards. It was sitting up very high and I went under it. That's why I came up short. But I was doing the right thing, chipping it to 25 feet.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: You hit a 3-wood in there?

DARREN CLARKE: Yeah, just tugged it a little bit.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: What's the missing piece?

DARREN CLARKE: Two days' worth where it went really well and two days where I didn't swing it quite so well. To finish second was not bad. I can't be too hard on myself. Yes, I'm disappointed, but I'm not going to be too hard on myself. As I said to you early in the week, it's not really that important. I would have liked to have won, but it's not that important. Tiger has given me a nice enough Christmas present.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Besides Luke, there weren't really a lot of low scores today. Was the course noticeably tougher today?

DARREN CLARKE: Just tricky, yeah, just tough to get close to the flags. It was tough to get it close there and make the putts for birdies.

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: Thank you. Have a nice holiday.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports.