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NEDBANK GOLF CHALLENGE PRESENTED BY GARY PLAYER

November 10, 2016

Thomas Aiken

Sun City, South Africa

Q. Please tell me, how satisfying 2-under par is to start?
THOMAS AIKEN: Yeah, it was obviously a nice start. A long week, four days of golf.

This year, the course is a little bit different to last year. There's some rough in places, but it's a bit patchy, so you can get lucky or you can get unlucky. But pleased with the way I played. I didn't make too many mistakes. I think I had one bogey and three birdies. Nice to way to start the week. But just very happy to be home and playing in our home country again.

Q. Low score but seems modest compared to what we've been used to here.
THOMAS AIKEN: Yeah, this golf course, it can be a beast. I think we've been very lucky the last few years that -- and I say very lucky from a scoring perspective because there has not been any rough and the greens have been fairly soft.

The greens are still fairly soft this week, but there are some patches of rough. When the rough gets up around here, it makes things very tricky and tough. You can see from the scores back in the old days, as little as 4-under par has won. So it all depends on course setup.

One thing that was different today was every tee was at the back of every tee box. We weren't quite used to that, but it's a good test and a good challenge and it will be interesting to see what the guys do out there today.

Q. It would suggest that you're feeling the length out there. Do you appreciate these kind of changes? Should it be tougher?
THOMAS AIKEN: I don't know. From a spectator's point of view, it's a very appealing golf course. There's some holes where you see some close shots. I mean, 9 is a great example. Today they had the tee off the back. Luckily it was downbreeze but going in there with a 3- or a 5-wood, 90 per cent of the guys are going to lay up.

We ended up laying up. Luckily I made birdie laying up. But it's a great risk and reward hole when they push those tees forward and I think it's fantastic for the spectators because they see some class long iron shots, and some shots that go in the water and some pitches that go close.

It's a course that ends itself to good golf. You have to hit good iron shots otherwise you're going to get penalised, because you can be close to the hole and be just off the green and be dead.

Gary really thought very well when he designed this, and I think it's a course that's kind of stood the test of time.

Q. You touched on being home. I take it, it's a slightly different atmosphere for you when you are at home and getting all the support?
THOMAS AIKEN: It's been a year. Last year this tournament was the last time that I was here. So it's been a long time away from home. It's nice to be back. Nice to see some friends and see some family and be in a place that you feel comfortable.

South Africa is a great country, it really is. We have got some amazing people that are extremely friendly. Yes, we have our issues, but whenever you come back, you always feel like you're at home. I always enjoy it. So it's always nice to be back. The crowd was awesome.

Saw Mr. Player on the tee. What an amazing guy. 81 years old and still full of beans. I believe he broke his age by 13 shots yesterday, so well done Gary. That's pretty impressive. I hope I can do that at your age. I hope I can just beat my age at your age.

So yeah, I think he's done an amazing job hosting the event. I think it's Alastair Roper's last year this year, so thank you Alastair, I think it's 20-something years. We grew up watching this tournament as kids and it was one of the events that really got us into the game. So thank you for all your work and thank you to Nedbank and Sun International.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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