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TURKISH AIRLINES OPEN

November 2, 2017

Nicolas Colsaerts

Antalya, Turkey

Q. How do you feel about your round?
NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Feel good. I was in control of what I was doing all day. Took a few holes to get going but once I did, I started to get on a roll. Nice eagle on 12 that kept everything going. Birdied the next, yeah, everything kind of clicked together. One of those rounds that you enjoy doing.

Q. We had a quick word with your caddie, Brian, when he came off, and he said he was delighted with how well you've been driving it. A bit of a change in technology recently?
NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Yeah, changed my whole driver. I changed to another Callaway driver. Yeah, it seems like I can do what I want with this one a bit more. I'm really happy with the way it's been going.

I've been using it since British Masters and the results that I have done or basically because I'm a bit more comfortable off the tee and I can use that good driving, which was, you know, one of the main or key things that I did well in the past; once I'm comfortable off the tee and show up with half a strike, I'm always going to be there.

Q. When you look at the way you performed today, longest birdie putt you had was 31 feet, so the ripple effect of that driver is coming through to the iron play, as well. Does it feel like at a really important time of the year every part of the game is clicking for you at the moment?
NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Yeah, I mean, we've played together; you know that I'm capable of pretty good things when I decide to show up. These events are quite cool to play because they are big; you play four rounds and you get going from the first shot on Thursday, which is a little -- maybe a bit more comfortable. It's the second time we've come here. The greens are in impeccable condition. Everything kind of clicks together.

Q. In terms of how this golf course plays and strategy, you've obviously posted a low number and we saw that last year, is this the sort of golf course that you have to keep your foot down all the way around and keep being aggressive?
NICOLAS COLSAERTS: I don't think it's a golf course you can be very aggressive off the tee, actually. You have to play the design. 18 is the perfect example. They have added a tee at the back which all of a sudden now you have to play the hole where last year some of us could actually bomb it over the water.

So it's a tough finish. There's a good par 5, 15. But 16, 17, 18 are holes that require good shots. There's a lot of holes that are a bit like that throughout the round. So it's not a golf course that you can just go out and actually rip apart. You still have to play the thing and be somehow sensible.

Q. From your scorecard it looks like you had to be fairly patient early on, but around the turn with the birdies and eagle, it really got going for you.
NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Yeah, I didn't really start off very low. I had to stay patient on the first four or five holes. Made a few on the front and then went eagle, birdie, 12, 13, which all of the sudden, you find yourself at 7-under after being four at the front and then you kind of understand, or you kind of realize that it's one of those rounds that you can go very low.

Q. Quite narrow in places, in golf course, so being off the tee is all-important to shooting low around here.
NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Yeah, you kind of have to hit the fairways. You have those trees that come in certain times on certain holes. It's not one of those golf courses you just tee it up and rip it. It's almost like an easier version of Valderrama-type thing; off the tee looks the same, and if you place the ball well on the fairways, you can be pretty aggressive at pins. The greens are designed in a way where these pockets are there and they are pretty appealing. So if you place your ball well off the fairway, you can go at the pins.

Q. You've had some good finishes in the Rolex Series events so far this year. These big events, are the ones that spur you on that little bit more?
NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Yeah, of course. The big events are always the one that gets you tingling a little bit. Obviously everyone would like to play well in them. I've done okay in some of them this year, and there's two more after this one. I'll try to squeeze as much as I can out of them.

Q. Comfortably inside the Top 60, so you know you have the three to come, including this one. How exciting is that again with Dubai coming up in just a couple weeks.
NICOLAS COLSAERTS: Yeah, Dubai is the one after next week. Still have three more rounds to play in this and four rounds to play next week in South Africa. There's still a lot of golf to be played before I get to Dubai. But yeah, this one and Dubai are probably my two favorite out of the three and I'll try to make sure that I do well in them.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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