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EMAAR-MGF INDIAN MASTERS

February 5, 2008

Arjun Atwal

NEW DELHI, INDIA

SHENTON GOMEZ: Let's get started with coming back to India, you must be pleased to be playing competitive golf here since your last appearance in 2005.
ARJUN ATWAL: Definitely. Sorry, my voice is not good, bear with me.
But yeah, I'm really happy to come back home. If nothing else just to see my family as well, because my parents are here and my wife.
SHENTON GOMEZ: Tell us about your adaptation to being here.
ARJUN ATWAL: Whenever I land in Delhi, I always get -- (indiscernible) -- but I'll be okay by the time Thursday comes around.
SHENTON GOMEZ: How has your preparation been coming into the Emaar-MGF Indian Masters?
ARJUN ATWAL: You know, I had three months off, so I practised really hard and worked on my game and it's pretty good. You know, I played one tournament on the Nationwide Tour in Panama, and finished tied fifth so getting the right step two weeks ago.
SHENTON GOMEZ: And you've played the course; how is it looking?
ARJUN ATWAL: It's difficult. Maybe I'm biased toward it because I'm growing up playing in Delhi so much, but it always brings back good memories, and some of the changes, you know, are good, but some are a little weird for me. You know, I've seen this golf course without any of the bunkers and all that stuff, so I guess that makes it harder.
But it's in good shape.

Q. (How significant is it to have a European Tour event here)?
ARJUN ATWAL: Huge. When I first heard about it, I think there was a reporter who called me from India and asked me -- at that time there was still some controversy about the Asian Tour and all that stuff. I said, you know, it doesn't matter what happens. Just this event coming to India, I mean, for the Asian Tour and now The European Tour, it's really, really good.

Q. ?
ARJUN ATWAL: I think, you know, with the help of you guys, the media covering it so well, I've already noticed in the paper and TV and all that stuff, I think there's going to be more awareness of professional golf in India. I mean, there is a little bit already considering after '95, there wasn't that much.
But having guys like Ernie and later Vijay Singh and Adam Scott coming for the Johnnie Walker, having these events in India is going to be huge.

Q. Do other golfers know how much the sport is growing here?
ARJUN ATWAL: They don't know much about it. I mean, I played four years and they still don't know if there is golf in India. So I know there's a few of the guys who know Jeev and Joyti because they have obviously done well in the last few years.
But apart from that, they still ask me the same old questions about how many golf courses there are in India and where did I learn to play. I said, when I tell them about Royal Calcutta, which is older than any course in America, they are shocked.
That's why these events are great. We need events to help change that.

Q. Is the growth more to do with the Asian --
ARJUN ATWAL: I think it's more to do with India. It's not so much Asia because they have seen the Asian Tour on TV quite a bit. I think it's more India.

Q. Do you see India competing with China with golf tournaments?
ARJUN ATWAL: I hope so. I don't know about, you know, going beyond it, but India keeps doing what they are doing right now, I think everyone is happy in India. I don't think it's a competition with China, as long as both of them are growing at the same pace, it's beautiful.

Q. Do you think golf will become as popular as cricket here?
ARJUN ATWAL: I don't think so, because cricket is a religion in India. I don't think golf will catch up with it but I think it can become the second most popular sport in this country, especially with the youngsters taking so much interest in it. Yeah, I think definitely it could be the second most popular sport.

Q. Do people back in the US ever ask you about what it's like here?
ARJUN ATWAL: Since I am going back -- no, I mean, just generally, people who know India through Indiana Jones think we eat monkey brains, stuff like that.
You'd be amazed, guys like Tiger, they know everything about what's going on in India, Asia, all that stuff. So I'm not generalising but there are quite a few guys who do know, as well.

Q. (Is there an advantage to the Indian players on this course)?
ARJUN ATWAL: If they hadn't made all those changes it would be a huge advantage but I think it's a pretty fair playing field right now. You know, I played it for the first time with the changes yesterday, and I thought, this golf course is like way different from when we played it on the Asian Tour events and all that. I don't think there's really much advantage for the Indians, except for maybe the greens because growing up on these greens, you learn most of the lines on the greens.

Q. What do you think of the changes made to the course?
ARJUN ATWAL: Most of them are pretty okay. Just a few bunkers they added which I thought they didn't need to.
First of all, for example, it's 280 out and it's almost in the right centre of the fairway. It takes the option of hitting driver off that tee, you know, just out of everyone's hand.
Whereas, I've seen a bunch of guys and I've had this personal experience as well when I'm working on this golf course. You step up on the first tee in a practise round you hit your driver and you find it and it's like, wow, it's easy.
Then when Thursday comes around and those bushes kind of steep in a little bit, it becomes tough and now there's no options. I guess most guys will hit 3-wood or 2-irons or whatever. Same thing with 18, because that bunker on the left at 280, you don't need it, you know. Probably prevent balls from going in the bush which is the main defence of the golf club.

Q. (What do you think about the free admission this week)?
ARJUN ATWAL: I have no comment. I really think it's good, if you want to promote a game, if you charge for people to come in, it will hold a few people back, won't it. That's my comment.

Q. Is it unfair?
ARJUN ATWAL: Yeah, but it's fine. It's not unfair or anything. It's fine. It's longer but you can still hit it on the greens.

Q. Do you enjoy playing here in India?
ARJUN ATWAL: Yeah, I really do like playing here. In fact, my last win in '03 was on this golf course, so, you know, I'm looking forward to this.

Q. Do you see Jeev with a strong chance this week?
ARJUN ATWAL: Who knows how many times he's won on this golf course, so he's always a contender here.

Q. Winning score?
ARJUN ATWAL: I have no idea. It all depends on the wind and the conditions and how the greens are setup. Right now there's not much grass on the greens so I don't know what they are going to do with it. They don't look pretty but they are rolling fine. But I don't know if they can cut it any further.
SHENTON GOMEZ: Thank you for coming in this weekend, good luck.

End of FastScripts

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