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CIMB CLASSIC

October 27, 2015

Ben Leong

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

THE MODERATOR: Ben, thank you for joining us. It's your first year playing in the CIMB Classic. Just your thoughts playing here.

BEN LEONG: It's a whole new experience, definitely. You know, it's the PGA TOUR. It's my first time playing on the PGA TOUR. It means a lot. It's a dream come true, definitely, and looking forward to the whole week definitely.

THE MODERATOR: How is the game feeling for you so far?

BEN LEONG: The game feels good. I took a week off after Macau on the Asian Tour. Before Macau it was three weeks in a row, and rest a week, play in the CIMB, which I think is good preparation for me. I'm fresher mentally and physically, and yeah.

Q. What did you do during the week? Did you just practice or did you --
BEN LEONG: Just light practice. You know, light practice, two, three hours, and the rest was just doing my laundry, paying bills, because I was away for three weeks and had catch-up to do, and yeah, just that, which I think is a good distraction. Just don't overthink my golf game, which I think was the problem before, and yeah.

Q. Do you have any specific target?
BEN LEONG: No, I don't. Just want to go out there and have fun. No expectation because it's my first time on the PGA TOUR. You know, it's a whole new experience, and I just will take what comes, one shot at a time. Well, I do set some goals, like mental goals, not really golf goals, just stay in the present and stay positive. You know, when things aren't going well, I try to think the way I'm playing well. That's the main thing and the main goal, actually, yeah.

Q. (Inaudible) do you think you played your best golf?
BEN LEONG: No complaint. I wouldn't say it's the best because I've done better before, definitely, because you don't know, because golf is such a funny game. You don't know what's going to happen the next day or the next year down the road. I just take what comes. As I said, stay in the present, just one shot, one day, one tournament at a time, yeah.

Q. You were paired with Danny?
BEN LEONG: Yeah, I played with Danny today. It was good fun. I haven't been playing with him since the qualifying, and it was good to catch up. With Danny winning again on the Asian Tour, it's really, really good for Malaysian golf. It shows that especially this week we have three Malaysians playing, which is the first time in the CIMB. It shows that we Malaysians, we're getting there. We're not sprinting our way there, but we're getting our way there, and that's the main thing, so yeah.

Q. I think the past few years has been a bit tough for you with the injury and all. Tell us a bit about the extent of the injury, and have you recovered fully from it?
BEN LEONG: For now it's good. I wouldn't say 100 percent. There's still phobia, definitely, when I go out there and practice, especially my first five shots. I don't go at it just like before. It changed the way I practice, my practice routine, because I used to hit quite a lot of golf balls at the range, spending three or four hours at the range every day, but now it's just 18 holes and pretty much done for the day, just play the game, play the golf course, because on the golf course I can hit one shot and I start walking to my second shot. It kind of gives my back some time to recover in a bit.

Yeah, I guess things happen for a reason. I wouldn't say it's a blessing. It made me grow up in a way, mature in a way that golf doesn't have a specific way to practice. There's all kinds of ways. Before it's just you start like listening to people saying, oh, you know, this professional, he spends six, seven hours on the range, and look, he's up there. But golf is not like that. It's all about -- it's not quantity, it's quality, yeah.

Q. Do you plan to return to Q-school?
BEN LEONG: Definitely. You know, I'm getting prepared, you know, scheduling my tournaments for Q-school, definitely, for Asian Tour, come January, yeah.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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