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THE RYDER CUP

September 27, 2018

Alex Noren

Guyancourt, France

TOM CARLISLE: Alex, good morning. Welcome to the Media Centre. Here at Le Golf National earlier this year, you won The Open de France, but what is it like being back here as part of Europe's Ryder Cup side?

ALEX NOREN: It's great to be back. Great memories. It's different with The Ryder Cup, but it's nice to be at a course you've played a lot of times, and like you said, I've done well this summer. Yeah, it's just very nice to be here again.

TOM CARLISLE: And you've played the course a couple of times since arriving here earlier this week. Are there any differences compared to July?

ALEX NOREN: Well, it's softer fairways than in July. Greens are about, you know, same firmness. Greens are rolling great. You know, and the rough, some of the really long stuff is gone, but it's a little bit greener, the whole course.

So it probably emphasises, you know, even better shots off the tees. Into the greens, it plays similar to July.

TOM CARLISLE: And when you were last here, you were here as an individual and now you're here as part of Team Europe. What's the atmosphere like in the team room.

ALEX NOREN: It's great. All the guys are great. It feels bigger, obviously, than the team events I've played in the past, EurAsia Cup or Royal Trophy. You still want to win those things very badly, but this is different, yeah.

Q. Obviously The Ryder Cup gets a huge buildup and we make a great big deal about it. Has it lived up to expectations so far for you? Is it what you were expecting?
ALEX NOREN: Yeah, it's hard to know how big it's going to be, but put aside all the expectations from outside the team; the teams really want to win this, and you can feel that, and everybody around the team. I try to take away all the expectations from outside and the crowds and everything.

It's great that everybody here wants Europe to win, but, you know, it's easier to kind of go in the team and within yourself and kind of just take it as a golf tournament and try to kind of train that way and prepare that way.

Q. Entering the last French Open, you were already very likely to make The European Team. How much of a gain of confidence did it give you to win The French Open on the course that was going to host The Ryder Cup?
ALEX NOREN: Well, a lot. It's a totally different thing playing as a team and as an individual, but as I said, you know, it's nice to be at a course where I've done well, especially the last three years, and it gives me confidence. Like you don't have to play maybe perfect shots all the time. This course is all about, you know, patience, and I think it's an unbelievable match-play course.

Like we played EurAsia Cup on a shorter course, a little bit wider course, and you're going to win on birdies.

Here, it's going to be -- there are a lot of birdies out there, but you've got to hit great shots, and it's going to be very interesting, I think, how the matches play out on this golf course.

Q. The European Team's got the last two winners of The French Open, yourself and Tommy. How significant is it, the fact that the Europeans know the course better? And is three or four days enough for the Americans to sort of -- bit of a leveller to get them to know the course as well as the Europeans? Is three days enough?
ALEX NOREN: I think as it's set up now, with a little bit softer fairways, it's more definite what you have to do.

This summer, maybe you need to know it a little bit more when it's rolling that much on holes like 9, 12. You have to hit less club than you think almost. Now it's more about looking in the yardage book and finding out the flight of the drive because it's very consistent how much the ball rolls.

I mean, in that perspective, you don't have to have as many practise rounds maybe as when it's firm, but overall, I think it's nice to come to a course where you know with this wind, it's this club, and with this wind, it's this club.

I think it helps us being a little more confident on, having played a lot of rounds here, how it plays, yeah, and what pins and all that. We've seen the whole place a lot of times.

Q. What's your take on those grandstands behind the first tee, and how are you preparing to hit a tee shot there?
ALEX NOREN: Well, it's unbelievable coming down there. At The French Open, it's already a great atmosphere around that first tee, and yesterday you've got a little bit of feel for what it could be. But it was not that many people in the actual grandstand. It was a lot of people around the tee. Yeah, it's going to be something else, yeah.

Q. I should know this, but was Thomas your captain at the EurAsia Cup this year?
ALEX NOREN: Yes.

Q. He's not here, so you can tell us the truth. How is he doing as a captain, both at the EurAsia Cup and this week?
ALEX NOREN: Yeah, good. I think he really understands the playing side of it. He knows that I think the best chance for us to play good is to prepare the way we usually prepare. He understands all that, and he's played I don't know how many Ryder Cups, and being involved in how many, I don't know exactly. But it feels like he understands how the week will play out and how much energy you have to put in so you maybe don't overdo it in the beginning and all that stuff.

I think it helps us a lot that he's experienced in that way.

Q. Am I right in thinking you have a baby on the way?
ALEX NOREN: Yes.

Q. Not any time too soon?
ALEX NOREN: No, it's in Christmas.

Q. What's the atmosphere been like for you in the team room in terms of the banter? We've heard about the videos, the WhatsApp group. Who have you really bonded with the most so far?
ALEX NOREN: You know, I know most of the guys pretty well before. I played more maybe with Fleetwood, Molinari, Stenson, where we play the same tournaments a lot, and Sergio. But it's great to get to see the guys a lot more, and when I played more in America, I know those guys a little better, the guys that play both schedules.

But the WhatsApp group, it gets people together, and the same with the videos, it's great. When you can make fun of each other, it always helps.

TOM CARLISLE: Thanks for your time and good luck rest of the week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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