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BELGIAN KNOCKOUT

May 18, 2018

James Heath

Schilde, Belgium

Q. What's been the difference over the last two days?
JAMES HEATH: I think that it's steadily been improving over the last few weeks. But I think the format has kind of allowed, when you're struggling with your game, the thought of competing in a four-round tournament over a tough course is over here somewhere.

I think the format this week, just being able to break it down to the first couple of rounds, get that bit done, and the weekend, just beat the person in front of you.

So I was able to be a bit more present and a bit more focused and not get too far in front of myself because I thought, well, let's just get through this cut and the people in front of you over the next few days.

Probably a bit to do with the format.

Q. What's particularly pleased you about your improvement in play?
JAMES HEATH: I've just managed my game well. I've putted a bit better and probably made a few better decisions, like last week -- in Sicily, I didn't play very well, but I made poor decisions. So if I had made a couple better decisions, I maybe would have made the cut and done better that way.

Making better decisions and putting better. Still not hitting as many fairways as I'd like, but I guess those two things, better putting and better course management.

Q. You have to hit fairways around here, don't you?
JAMES HEATH: You do but you kind of get away with just like trapping probably about a quarter of them are 4-irons off the tee, and I'm only hitting a handful of drivers and handful of 3-woods, still missing those fairways.

But I'm able to just kind of plot it around a bit more. It's not like your typical tour course these days which is 7,400 yards where you need to be on your game with driver and 4- , 5-irons into the green. This week it's more back foot, trap it around, don't go there, go over this way.

You see by the scoring, 8-under par through two rounds. I don't know what the length of this course is, but it's not long and the scoring's not been great.

So it's just a testament; I don't think you need long golf courses to have a good test of golf.

Q. Do you feel you've done well because it's a similar course?
JAMES HEATH: Yeah, definitely. So many golf courses within 30 minutes of where I live are like that, little heathland courses, in the trees.

So yeah, I guess just kind of tapped into the old amateur days, playing new courses week-in and week-out, which is a game that's more of a positional golf course where you put it there, put it there, put it there rather than bomb it.

Q. You're going to be one of the seeds going into tomorrow. Do you think that's an advantage?
JAMES HEATH: Honestly, I just -- I think it's neutral. It's weird playing out there today knowing that you're just playing to just make that cut because it all starts again. Is it an advantage? I mean, I'd rather be 7-under than 1-under because I've played better, but I think you just start again tomorrow and you just say, right.

And it's stroke play, as well, so there's an element of match play -- stroke play/match play is a funny one. It's a bit of tactics. Straight-up match play is different. You can't really play your opponent too much. You have to play the course, especially around this place where you have to keep the ball in play.

Q. Do you think it's good to have something different?
JAMES HEATH: I definitely do. I don't know what the feedback has been like this week, but why not? It's a Friday evening. It's a great tournament, anyway. This is a superb tournament.

Thursday and Friday have had great crowds, but feeling a bit of a buzz on Friday night, oh, who is going to make the top 64 and all that sort of stuff. I think it's great. It's definitely tapping into some amateur tournaments, like British Amateur was top 64 I think and then you played the match play.

So yeah, there's a little bit of element about that, but I really like it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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