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THE SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY ROLEX

July 24, 2016

Magnus P. Atlevi

Carnoustie, Scotland

MAGNUS P ATLEVI: I knew at the 14th, I was 7-under and I made some bogeys. I actually made nine birdies in 14 holes. I was like, put that away now. Four more holes to play.

Yeah, I'm happy. Even though I wasn't able to finish well any other days, but there you go.

Q. How aware were you of your position during the round?
MAGNUS P ATLEVI: It seemed possible, and I also decided to learn to like it and ultimately today -- I had a poor finish yesterday and fell off the leaderboard. I said to my wife, get back on to that leaderboard, and then I had a 3-putt at the first. I thought, okay, now we've gone the other direction. But I turned it around beautifully and made lots of birdies. Got back on the leaderboard, so it motivates me.

At the same time, I haven't played a major for eight, nine years. I'm a rookie compared to all these guys. At the same time, it frightens me, because I'm not used to it. But for every tournament I play now, I'm getting used to it and hopefully I can cope with it better. A 67 is still good.

Q. With all that being said and perhaps what you said is a lack of experience, how would you assess the week for you?
MAGNUS P ATLEVI: I mean, overall, good. As I'm playing the European Senior Tour, this event is worth like five events. Assuming if I finish, I'm fifth currently right now, that's like five Top-10s straightaway, compared to some of the guys who missed the cut by one. It makes us so much more important for us to do well on this occasion, and that puts some extra pressure. But you know, that's the way it is.

Q. So did you say this was your first experience?
MAGNUS P ATLEVI: I stopped competing eight years ago. I played The Open championship eight times before, but last time I did that was 2002. That was 14 years ago. I started to compete this year, so I mean, I'm fairly fresh.

Q. What brought you back into it? What gave you the impetus to be competitive again?
MAGNUS P ATLEVI: I was struggling for a long time and then I start a family and you just felt like you have to stop. Then when I started to become a club professional and start teaching people, when I tried to actually help other golfers, I helped my own game, too. So then I kept my game going a little bit in the summertime and training. I work as a coach, as well, figure how to improve. So never stopped.

I feel like all these years I've been away from the top arena, I've slowly improved. Whenever I've played a few events ^ because you don't have much time when you do other things, working. So I decided to have a go because I didn't think I had the career I should have had, so this is my second shot.

Q. A great round today. How did it feel out there?
MAGNUS P ATLEVI: It felt good. I'm just happy that I got into the groove again, because I had such a good start the second day and a great start on the third day, and I let it slip away. I was up at 8 and finishing off at 3. That's like a knockout. But thing I came back today, made lots of birdies. Finished off slightly better. It's not an easy finish we have here at Carnoustie. I'm happy.

Q. When you got to the turn, what was the mind-set? Was it stay the same or were you thinking about the lead?
MAGNUS P ATLEVI: After 14, which I was lucky, made four, with a poor tee shot, I felt like 15, 16, 17 is decent, 18 tough again, just classic one shot at a time. Just make good shots, decent shots. If you make a birdie, that's a bonus, but just make the pars and nothing silly, like double-bogeys like I finished off yesterday with.

It was close, but I managed to make two bogeys at the end.

Q. You're fifth at the moment and could possibly move up. How much confidence does that give you this week for the rest of the season?
MAGNUS P ATLEVI: I feel like I gain confidence every tournament I play this year. I finished third previous tournament in Germany, one shot behind, having the lead with Peter Fowler the last day.

So every week now, I feel like, all right, this is good. Yeah, I'm excited for the next tournament.

Q. What can you bring out of your game from this week to bring on to the rest?
MAGNUS P ATLEVI: Everyone is fighting. You do stress out and you start swinging faster. That's what I feel I do, and you get out of the rhythm. You have to bring it back to how you do it. Just trust your shots, trust your distance. Even though sometimes it doesn't feel good, it actually can feel crap -- although it didn't feel bad today, though.

Just play good shots or decent shots and not try to aim too high sometimes. And suddenly you hit good shots without even trying to hit it, because you're in such a good form, so you almost try to take a step back instead of try too hard; it just feels the opposite. It's a mental thing again. So it's good. To do this on this arena, on this level, because I haven't been on this stage in a very long time.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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