won’t be speaking much obviously you’re not here to listen to me but obviously we’ve got a very very special guest Who U arrived straight from the uspga like to welcome Luke Donald Luke thank you so much for uh for coming it’s a it’s a real real honor to have you here in Belgium what what do you know about Belgium so far actually my first trip to Belgium ever so um uh you know I think that’s the great thing about my our sport our golf um is to go see new places um the opportunity to come here and play this week um was presented earlier in the year and uh you know I love to go play new places OB with the the role of Ridder Cup captain I think it’s important for me to come to Europe um and and see some of the players and check in uh uh throughout the throughout the process throughout the the term of my captaincy and you know it’s good to be here I heard a lot of good things about this golf course um you know tree lined not too long uh so should Su my game a little bit and uh one of uh the players favorites an old school golf course and uh looking forward to uh the week wonderful um talking about your R cup role obviously um but you still keep on playing some pretty pretty good golf I mean you had a you had a fun week last week yeah it was nice to play four rounds at the the uspga um you know it’s my my certainly my golf has been a little bit up and down I haven’t played as much this year um purposely played a lot the last two years and uh cutting back my schedule a little bit this year which has made it a little bit tough to be ultra competitive but uh I’ve been working quite hard on my game and uh it was good to to really see uh some good progress last week um you know I um I I did a lot of good things last week um and obviously to make the cut in a major um you know where I am in my career is uh is very satisfying very good um obviously you probably have a lot of questions for Luke so I will um pass it on to is there is there a microphone in the um in the audience here there like for not any questions uh I suppose no questions thank you much goodbye no obviously I mean we um then I will maybe I’ll ask a few questions that I had um you mentioned your role as a Ry Cup captain and this gives you the opportunity to meet some of the young up andc coming Talent some you know people you want to keep in in your eye um te tea times will be out later today um is this I mean this is uh obviously Belgium is a very very small country modest country in terms of golfing crowds we’ve got 80,000 golfers in Belgium but um but the sudal open has developed over the last three years in a pretty uh interesting way we would say in terms of Belgian uh Belgian terms um I must say I’ve seen you you’ve seen the draw also I mean not the draw but I mean the the starting of the entry list and I must say that uh we’ve put a press release out last week saying that this is the best attended sudal open ever we’ve got a really really exciting field of of players uh some wellknown names uh but I mean some lesser known names but I mean there the golf is what is the state of young golf today in uh on the DP wour I think um it’s exciting I think a lot of the players from when from I here you know very excited to be back in Europe um you know after a long few months traveling the globe to come back in Europe and play a number of events and starting off here in Belgium is is exciting um you know I think this is a great place for to develop talent and uh to to to keep getting better as a young player um you know to to be able to travel the world and play some great tournaments like here and uh it is is great for your game um just today I’m going to be playing with a 14-year-old amateur um nine holes that um he contacts with me on social media a month ago and just wanted to see if I could play some holes with him and you know I just uh I’m excited to see him and I’m excited for for this week in general so that’s um that’s a great story actually because from K was in touch with with Luke to play nine holes and you’re going to going to be out and play N9 holes at sure be quite ready for Beth pagee next year but uh you know I think uh I remember when I was 14 I certainly wasn’t ready to to really play tour events I was prob a four or five handicap um good golfer but maybe not ready for to to play tour events so uh he’s obviously very much ahead of the curve and um ahead of the game plan and look forward to seeing his game good question and for example your point of view about the the scores in modern goal for example 262 in the usbg with your experience what’s your point of view of the scores yeah scoring is very low I think you know again uh the golf course um unfortunately had some some some weather at the beginning of the week so it became quite soft you know anytime the golf courses are soft the players are very good you know um firm conditions windy conditions that’s when golf becomes a little bit more tricky for us we have to think a little bit but when you know when the hit the ball hits the ground and it’s going to stay there um that’s when good scoring happens um these modern players hit the ball very far so length isn’t really a problem for for most of the top players these days so um you know a lot of the golf courses are set up to to kind of promote that you know 7600 yards that the golf course was last week and uh but even with wet conditions you know length again isn’t much of a deterrent to to scoring so yeah it’s uh um you know I think it’s fun for for fans they they enjoy seeing birdies but uh you know there are times sometimes you want to challenge the players a little bit more but again with with weather conditions it’s it’s hard to control you know anytime you get soft conditions the scoring is always going to be better a question about um Nicholas K who you know pretty well obviously was one of your Vice captains in in Rome um what what do you um what do you think of or how what do you value in Nicholas’s um role as a Vice Captain yeah Nicholas um played a very important role um as as one of my vice captains you know I knew quite quickly once into my captaincy that uh Nicholas was on my mind to be a Vice Captain he has a great Passion uh for the game but he has a great passion for what the rider cup represents um you know I got to play with him in the Dina 2012 his only riding cup playing but you know he it left a pretty significant mark on him you know what that tournament represents playing for your country playing for your teammates um um just the feelings the Goosebumps you get representing team Europe in a rider cup and um you could tell that he’s very passionate about it he cares about it and um you could see that you know in his role as Vice Captain he was very engaged um he wanted to do his best he wanted he’s someone that is very well known and very liked amongst all of the European players out here on the DP World Tour and having good relationships like that amongst the players is um a big uh added bonus to to being a Vice Captain there’s actually a second part of the question which I didn’t ask right away is obviously are you reconsidering n obviously you can ask whatever you want but are you reconsidering Nicholas as a Vice Captain for yeah I mean so far I have Eduardo and Thomas on board and certainly I’ve I’ve talked to Nicholas and uh we actually had dinner last night and um yeah he was he would definitely be a consideration I I just think uh right now it’s quite early in the process I need to like kind of let things play out a little bit more um obviously part of a Vice Captain role is to try and find Future captains as well and so I I need to consider that um but Nicholas would certainly definitely be um in in my mind for for for Beth pagee as well is there any place for LIF players in your European team uh well if uh Live players are still members of the European tour then uh I’m eligible to pick them so um yeah I do not discounting anyone um but they need to you know fulfill the criteria uh that is necessary to for me to be able to pick them we’re heading uh to the USA next year to bet page for the Ryder Cup um how do you approach the preparation is there any difference compared to an addition um organized in Europe yeah there are some differences uh you know uh a few things out of my control you know when when you’re a home Captain you get to uh help get the course set up um you have a lot more decisions to make in terms of the week and the structure and how everything is going to go um so some of that decision is out of my hands but um yeah um I already took a trip to Beth Page a couple weeks ago got to see the golf course got to see the hotel got to see um you know where everything is going to be and starting making decisions uh based upon that but uh yeah it’s always with a way rider cups is more of a challenge um you know it’s it’s very difficult to win away because of the the home support that you get um and obviously in New York it’s going to be pretty loud and Rowdy and for the us so you know some of those advantages that we had in in Rome are going to be disadvantages now so it’s my job over the next 16 months or so to try and figure out ways to counteract those those disadvantages being a a r good Captain away away it one of the biggest challenges of your career you know very well to United States as a student and also as a golf player it is it’s uh it’s very difficult to do uh in in Europe we’ve only done it four times um I’ve been a part of two of those teams which is which is nice so I can draw a little bit on some of those memories and um certainly starting to talk to um we’ll be talking to some of the captains and Bernard and and Jose you know who I I was under that that were was successful being a way Captain so just trying to learn a lot lot about that right now and and put my team in a in a good place to to at least feel like they have success have a chance for Success it’s it’s not easy but uh we have done it before and uh um yeah the the preparations are well underway what do you think about performance of tomato Tre the P Championship it’s possible to it’s a good CH for you for yeah obviously it’s very early to to be talking about who’s going to be in the team right now uh you know current form leading up to a Ry cup is very important but uh Thomas has shown a lot of uh a lot of progress in his game um you know he’s a very good player you know I feel feel like once Thomas gets that first win will help him as well and um he’ll go from strength to strength but he’s a very strong driver of the golf ball he does everything very well um to finish obviously fourth last week was a great performance he had another top performance earlier in the year I remember um again I think you know once he uh if he continues to do that uh I’m sure he’ll break through and and win a tournament and that will give him a lot of confidence but uh Thomas is certainly someone that uh has the game to to play rder Cups and that should should certainly be his goal about Nicholas Kart can you go a little bit deeper with about him what was his most important contribution on the go golf course or into the locer room or anywhere else I think it’s just the relationships he has you know he’s very good at PE keeping people at ease he keeps uh a lighthearted atmosphere around him he’s quite uh joio uh a good sense of humor um but you know you you also you see the other side the passion the care that he has for that riding cup you know and I even played um I was I think it was for the rider Cup in Wisconsin um he he messaged me I think he was doing some TV maybe that week and he messaged me and said you know do you still know anyone at Madina he wanted to go go back to Madina where had uh seen the rider cup and um he just wanted to go back and walk the course and take it all in and you know that that you know when he messaged me that that that meant a lot to me that uh he had the um you know meant so much to him that that riding cup of 2012 that he wanted to take the time to go back to that place walk it and and relive those feelings that he had at the Riding Club so you know you want someone like that that really cares so much that is very passionate about um what what the Ry cup represents the history he knows he has a part of that history you know he’s he has a role and um you know and his his history continued last year as a Vice Captain so yeah he was uh he was great in the team room and U great great to be around the guys but to in the process as you say did they get de seasions with yeah uh I I I think um we’re still quite far out um you know Eduardo was necessary from a from a stats point I think Thomas um has so much experience as a pass Captain as well like navigating uh all kinds of things with within the riding cup and what it represents and what what is needed um right now you know the other decisions for the the last three I think will don’t need to be made quite now you know I think we we need to kind of wait see how things play out and uh but but uh I’ve I’ve already told this to to Nicholas and he understands and he’ll be ready uh if if I uh if I call upon him any more questions yeah um we work for the flamish golf Federation and we’re making a podcast um out of several interviews and I have for every player one fun question so can I ask my fun question for you it’s like more on a lighter note um what is something people um assume about you as a person or as a player and that is and is not true it’s on a lighter not that’s a great question that’s a good one I don’t know if that’s a lighter know that’s quite deep that’s one thing people assume that isn’t true I I I think just from uh maybe Outsiders like amateur golfers you know everyone thinks that if you’ve being at the top top of the game that you don’t feel pressure you don’t feel nerves you don’t feel anxiety but we all do so um maybe maybe that’s a bit generalization but you know um good players even people like me that have been at the top of the game you know we we feel pressure on the first team we might not look like it but we do so hopefully that’s a little a little bit makes amateur feel a little bit better about when they when they they step on the tea and you know have those nerves as well CU we do uh we just practice and we know how to deal with them a little bit better thank you great question I see any more questions no well well thank you very much for taking the time to come and see us um we’ve got last year we had about 16,000 Spectators which is about 20% of Belgian golfers which is um we’re pretty impressed about that we’re very proud of our small country you know uh Belgium is a small country but we’ve got some uh great players on tour and we’re so delighted to for us to have you here it’s a real honor and have a great week and uh see you later great to be here thanks thank you takeing pictures just
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