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SMURFIT KAPPA EUROPEAN OPENJuly 6, 2007Pelle EdbergSTRAFFAN, IRELAND STEVEN FRANKLIN: Wimbledon week, nice to see Edberg leading the way. Take us through two very good rounds. PELLE EDBERG: Yeah, it was two good rounds, pretty solid rounds. Hard conditions: rain, sunny, everything colliding. Fortunately they have shortened the course a bit, otherwise it would have been pretty tough. It is still pretty tough but a couple of holes would have been almost unplayable. STEVEN FRANKLIN: You've had a couple of nice results lately, in France and Austria, as well. So you're not too surprised to be where you are at the moment. PELLE EDBERG: No, I feel pretty comfortable with my game. If you make a couple extra putts, which I've made this week, so far anyway, it's going to keep you up the leaderboard. Hopefully I can make those extra putts on the weekend. STEVEN FRANKLIN: Let's go through your details. PELLE EDBERG: 11 that was a good almost 20-metres putt. 12, five metres. STEVEN FRANKLIN: Your clubs in on both of those? PELLE EDBERG: 6-iron on 11 and wedge out of the bunker on 12. 2, that was a 6-iron, 20 metres. 3, that was about a five-metre putt. 4, I missed a three-metre putt. 7, birdie from three, four metres, 9-iron in. 8, sand wedge, 20 metres. Q. You had three 60-foot putts? PELLE EDBERG: Two 20-metres putts. Q. You said three. We have one on 11 -- PELLE EDBERG: Which is wrong. (Laughter) Hole 2 and hole 8. I started off at 10, that's why. STEVEN FRANKLIN: So what happened on 11? PELLE EDBERG: Two metres putt, 8-iron in. Q. Where has the form come from in the last few weeks? Why the sudden improvement? PELLE EDBERG: I don't know. I qualified through the Q-School and sort of -- it's tough in the beginning when you don't know which tournaments you're getting into. Fortunately I got a couple of good cheques which gave me a good rerank in the Q-School category. When you start making money, you feel a bit more comfortable out there, and you just play your game more than keep looking at what everybody else is doing. I made a good cheque last week in the French Open, and it just feels like it's there. I can hit the shots I want to and it's going toned up pretty good. Q. Have you led at the halfway stage before and what's the biggest cheque you've received? PELLE EDBERG: That was last week, €49,000. Have I been on the top of the leaderboard after two rounds? I don't think so, no. Q. This is a big prize fund this week, which could change your life a bit? PELLE EDBERG: It's just as much as last week, yeah. If I can just get a decent weekend, I will definitely secure my card for next year, which is a very big thing as I can choose whatever I want and I can put up a good schedule. Now they call me on Tuesday afternoon and they say you're in, Pelle, go to wherever this week. Q. They didn't call you on Tuesday this week -- PELLE EDBERG: No, I got in earlier this week. Last week they called me on Monday night and I got there Tuesday night. That would make a big difference. Q. Are you related to Stefan Edberg? PELLE EDBERG: My father's name is Stefan, but it's not that Stefan and we are not related, but we live kind of close to each other back in Sweden. Q. Have you ever met him? PELLE EDBERG: No. Q. How did you get your nickname? PELLE EDBERG: My name is Per, common Swedish name and the nickname just comes out as Pelle. Q. Your real name is Per? PELLE EDBERG: Per. Q. What's the story behind the headband? PELLE EDBERG: Well, I ski a lot, and when I ski it's usually headbands. Need to do something out here. Nobody else uses it. Q. No company has offered to stick their logo there? PELLE EDBERG: I was kind of close two years ago when I was in kind of the same position. I was third or fourth after two rounds and a company called me but I didn't play good the rest of the tournament and didn't get the endorsement. Hopefully, yeah, that would be great, yeah. Q. It's more comfortable for you? PELLE EDBERG: Yeah, it is. I don't want to wear a cap like everybody else does. I want to be a bit different from the others. Q. Do you ever get any comments from other players? PELLE EDBERG: Especially from the English guys. They give me a hard time sometimes. But that's fine. Q. What do they say? PELLE EDBERG: They just say it looks like shit. (Laughter) Well, I don't mind. I don't mind. Q. Have you thought about wearing a cap backwards like Jesper? PELLE EDBERG: No, I'm good, thanks. Q. Do you have different colours? PELLE EDBERG: I had a pink one; red, green, black, all different colours actually, purple. Q. Did Poulter try to steal the pink one? PELLE EDBERG: He wouldn't like that kind of stuff, but maybe I should give him one. Q. Did you go through the college system in the States? PELLE EDBERG: Not in university, but I have been playing pay-and-play tours there but no college. Q. Were you nervous at all today? PELLE EDBERG: I thought I was going to be more nervous when I played today seeing my name popping up the leaderboard but I stayed pretty calm. Obviously, if there's going to be a crowd out there, a lot of people watching tomorrow -- I may get nervous, I'm not used to that kind of situation. Last week it was a pretty big crowd, as well. If you just get up there a couple more times, you're probably going to get used to it and enjoy it more. Q. What finishing position would you have expected? PELLE EDBERG: Well, with my game, if I can play as I did today on the weekend -- if the guys told me before that I could have a Top-10, I would have taken it. Now I am not so sure. Top-10 is always a good result and a good position, but I'm going to do everything I can to be up on the board on the weekend. Q. Do you watch leaderboard or can you force yourself not to? PELLE EDBERG: No, I watch the leaderboard, I do. But I'm not as focused on it now as I was like two years ago when I was out here. Q. Will you find it hard tomorrow not to watch the leaderboard? PELLE EDBERG: No. I've still got to watch it, but I don't think it's going to be a problem, no. Q. Are you inspired by Parnevik. He was a bit wacky and a bit different as well, fashion-wise. PELLE EDBERG: He's a really good guy and everything. We've got two different styles and probably as you say kind of wacky. I've always been like this and I can't find any reason changing it. As long as it's working for me I'm going to stick to it. Q. Chances for the weekend - there are some big players out there? PELLE EDBERG: Well, it's going to be a tough weekend for sure with these guys chasing me. But I feel pretty confident I'm going to have a fair chance. Q. Why do you think the Swedes are doing so well here? PELLE EDBERG: One reason I think is the courses play pretty long and a lot of Swedish guys hit it miles. And it's not too tight, the course, you can miss it a couple metres left or right, and still have a shot into the greens. We're not famous for hitting a lot of fairways in Sweden. Yeah, I guess that's one of the things, yeah. Q. What are some of the whacky things you've done off the course? STEVEN FRANKLIN: Careful. Q. You follow Arsenal? PELLE EDBERG: I do, yeah. That's not whacky. Yeah, I've always liked the team. I forgot my suitcase on the belt twice and just got home and they called me back the day after: "You've got something here." (Laughter). I lost my wallet and they called me up and said, "Hey, Pelle did you forget something here last night?" "Yeah, yeah, you found my wallet, thank you." "No, your suitcase. It's going round and round here." That's not a good thing, is it. Q. Bad memory? PELLE EDBERG: I do, yeah, bad memory. Q. Why do you support Arsenal? PELLE EDBERG: Because of my brother, Hans, who is also my coach. He supported Arsenal. He played on the Challenge Tour a couple of years ago. Q. Do you play any other sports? PELLE EDBERG: A sport called floor ball, have you heard of it? Plastic club, plastic balls, like hockey, but inside. Tennis, football, ice hockey. Q. You play ice hockey? PELLE EDBERG: Played. I've done a lot of sport. I've played a lot of table tennis. I started when I was 15, Top-10 in Sweden at that point, yeah. And the floor ball thing is a really big thing -- a big sport in Scandinavia, Switzerland, even Germany I think. I was at the highest level in Sweden as well there, and in ice hockey just average. STEVEN FRANKLIN: Thanks, Pelle and good luck for the weekend. End of FastScripts |
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