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SMURFIT KAPPA EUROPEAN OPEN

July 6, 2006

Bradley Dredge

STRAFFAN, IRELAND

STEVEN FRANKLIN: Thanks for coming in. Very, very well played. Seven birdies, no bogeys, you've got to be happy with that.

BRADLEY DREDGE: Yeah, very pleased. I'm starting to play better recently, and last week I was up there with a round to go and shot 4 over the last day which wasn't very good. I knew my game was still okay, so you've got to bounce back from the last week and pretty good one today.

STEVEN FRANKLIN: Anything click for you recently with your game?

BRADLEY DREDGE: I struggled with ball striking at the beginning of the year and short game has not been as hot as it could be. So I've just been working generally on everything, and this is the time of the year that you want things to come together.

So that was the plan. I don't really play much at the beginning of the year so hopefully it will come together now in the next few weeks.

STEVEN FRANKLIN: We'll go through your card and open up to questions. Birdie at 2.

BRADLEY DREDGE: Hit 7 iron in to about sex inches or so and just tapped it in.

7, went for the green in two but caught the bunker about 30 yard short of the green, I don't think it was in play, caught the bunker hit a pretty good 50 yard bunker shot to 18 or 20 feet and rolled that one in.

12, hit 4 iron to 15 feet and rolled that in.

13, I hit an 8 iron on the green to about five feet and rolled that in.

Lob wedge at the next about two feet. And then 15, 70 yard pitch in there and rolled that in. Hit the green in two on the last. Simple birdies.

STEVEN FRANKLIN: Simple birdies and nice putting display.

BRADLEY DREDGE: I putted nicely today. I've been working hard on that. I changed my putter a couple weeks ago. I don't really like to change things, but I used the sort of the cameras available that we have here now, and the putter I'm using now seems to roll the ball a little bit better. So that's the reason why I'm using it.

STEVEN FRANKLIN: What make and model?

BRADLEY DREDGE: Callaway. I had a 2 ball before but this one, I don't even know what the model. I just sort of pick them up, as long as they work then I don't really care where it is.

Q. Is the Ryder Cup a thought for you at this point?

BRADLEY DREDGE: I think like a lot of guys, you have 20 guys who are favoured to get here and I'm sort of behind and probably another 20 guys who think if they play well; Anders Hanson for example, if he thinks if I can play well, I've got a chance. At the beginning of the year the plan was to play well at this time of the year because now is when you want to play well. There's big, big prizes and obviously big points.

Q. You're playing next week?

BRADLEY DREDGE: Yeah, playing the next three after this. If you play well, have a good run, you can do some damage on the Ryder Cup points board.

Q. You are not that far away?

BRADLEY DREDGE: To be honest, unless I am close I do not really look.

There's still sort of eight or nine weeks of golf left here and a lot can change, because the events are so big. John Bickerton, he won last week, a massive one and goes to 10th in Ryder Cup. You get your head down and try and win the tournament or do as well as you can.

Q. Have you seen the other course?

BRADLEY DREDGE: The other course? I've been over there. I've played it in the past and I know it quite well. At the moment, you focus on this tournament. But obviously in terms of goals set, I think a lot of guys must be thinking, everyone wants to play Ryder Cup, and you know, it's obviously in a lot of people's minds, so certainly mine.

Q. Say you won here last week, you would be near the Ryder Cup and probably in the top 50 in the World Rankings. Is that something you realise you need step and do?

BRADLEY DREDGE: Definitely I had chances last year to win some big events and didn't take them. I had a good run of form, Top 5 a lot.

But if you want to get inside the Top 50 World Ranking which a lot of guys want to do; as Padraig was saying at The Belfry, it's okay to play good golf. But if you're not picking up the big checks, not picking up enough points and World Ranking points and Ryder Cup points; you've got to win these big events or come in the Top 3. That's always been the goal.

Q. You did not go for the US Open qualifying. Was that because you wanted a break before targeting this run of big money events?

BRADLEY DREDGE: The way I look at it, six good events in a row for me, and if I went to the U.S. Open, the chances of me doing well there are quite slim to be honest because I've never played the U.S. Open before, the course is set up so differently and also, I wanted to be fresh now. I had two weeks off in that time, so I'll be fresh for these tournaments coming up.

If you're exempt, great, you go and play it. But for me, I wanted to target these events. So everybody's different.

Q. But did you still think it was the right decision when you watched Kennie Ferrie, who is behind you on the rankings, playing so well on his first appearance in a US Open?

BRADLEY DREDGE: Ken's (Ferrie) got a really good game for the U.S. Open, he's really straight and when he's on, he's a great player as he's proved over the years. My game is a bit different from Ken's. I'm not as accurate as he is and I'm a bit more streaky with ball striking. Sometimes I'm very good and sometimes I'm not so good. Usually my short game usually is pretty good. So I get away with it that way.

Q. What do you need to push you over the brink?

BRADLEY DREDGE: Yeah, I mean, towards the end of last year and certainly the beginning of this year, if my short game had been better, I would have done better than I have. It's always trying to find a balance, you're trying to improve your swing to hit more greens so you have more chances and then you spend more time on the range and then you have your short game so you're trying to balance everything out. Now I'm going to spend less time on the range and more time on the short game now.

My short game was good today. I made three very good saves today. It's important to keep the bogeys off the card, if you're playing decent and putting well, you're always going to make some birdies.

Q. Has Ian Woosnam had a chat to you. He has said he would quite like a fellow Welshman on the Ryder Cup team?

BRADLEY DREDGE: I mean, I think Woosie, he's a nice guy and everything but I really wouldn't go up to him and perhaps buy him a beer or something close to the time. (Laughter) at the moment I'm not really close enough to be seriously thinking about it. I understand what I've got to do. I think everybody knows the score. You know it's going to be 1 million Euros or whatever it will be and everybody is trying to achieve that.

Q. Would it be bigger to play in the Ryder Cup compared to your win in last year's World Cup?

BRADLEY DREDGE: That's a good question. I think it will be. I think certainly from the goal setting I do, Ryder Cup would be above World Cup. You know, when people think of World Cup, it's still a great one to win, but I would like to play a Ryder Cup. That would be great.

Q. Soon rather than later - it's still a long way away in Wales?

BRADLEY DREDGE: Yeah, 2010, that's way away.

End of FastScripts.

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