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THE 3 IRISH OPEN

May 14, 2009

Johan Edfors

BALTRAY, IRELAND

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Johan, thanks for joining us. Fantastic round, course record equalling 64. Tell us about it.
JOHAN EDFORS: Yeah, it seemed like every time I hit a good approach shot, I knocked it up really, really close. Got a lot of really easy birdies, and didn't actually hole a putt over ten feet all day. Took good care of the par 5s, as well. So it was a nice, solid day.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: And a great start to the tournament. What's your opinion on sort of links golf and all of that? A lot of the guys are talking it up and how great it is to be on a links course; do you agree with that?
JOHAN EDFORS: Oh, definitely. We don't play very many tournaments on links courses. I would like there to be a few more. I haven't played it that much in the past, either, so I really enjoy it every time we get an opportunity to play on a links course.

Q. (Regarding facial hair).
JOHAN EDFORS: I don't shave very often, maybe every other weeks or so now. So it's about two weeks now I guess. I cut my hair last week, as well.

Q. What links courses have you played; can you remember?
JOHAN EDFORS: Well, we play the Dunhill Links every year, and being sponsored by a pub called the Dubliner every year, always went to on a trip to Ireland each year. So I've played probably around ten, 15 different courses here in Ireland, so I really enjoy that, since we don't get to play very many tournaments on them, you have to go for social golf.

Q. What is the name of the pub?
JOHAN EDFORS: Dubliner.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: An Irish chain of pubs.
JOHAN EDFORS: Ian McGlinchey owns it.

Q. Do you drink much Guinness?
JOHAN EDFORS: I prefer Kilkenny.

Q. Your countryman disgraced himself by drinking too much Guinness, and then falling off the tee and not quite making his round.
JOHAN EDFORS: Yeah, I heard about that one.

Q. Does this course suit your game?
JOHAN EDFORS: Yeah, definitely. I like to shape the ball, and playing a links course, you really have to. Today it was playing a bit easy; the rain made the course a bit softer.
But I played a practice round on Tuesday and played the Pro-Am on Wednesday and it was playing really tough. You really had to think your way around, and some holes you were not even trying to hit it on the green. It's better to miss it left.
And it's such a big difference from the golf we play most of the weeks where you have to shoot straight at the flag. I really enjoy it when you have to think your way around the golf course.

Q. I'm slightly curious, how did a Swede get to be sponsored by the Dubliner, and what does the sponsorship entail?
JOHAN EDFORS: It's a pretty funny story actually. It was before my first year on the Challenge Tour, I didn't have any sponsors and I didn't have any money to play on it. I was working hard to find sponsors but I couldn't find any and someone said, oh, try to meet this Irish guy, he's a really nice guy and he loves golf.
So got to have lunch with him and after five minutes he said he would give me 100,000 Swedish pounds, which is about 12,000 Euros at that time. So that paid for 12, 15 events for me. So he helped me out. He was the only one that helped me out in the beginning, so I'm really grateful.

Q. Is he a friend?
JOHAN EDFORS: Oh, definitely, he's one of my best friends, Ian McGlinchey.

Q. Have you found it difficult to follow up on that incredible year that you had? Has it sort of been difficult to produce the sort of golf that you produced at that time?
JOHAN EDFORS: Yeah, of course, I mean, after last year, my goals were set a lot higher the year after, and I also worked a lot harder, but didn't really get any results at all. In 2007, I was really frustrated because I really put a lot of work and effort into it but didn't get any real results.
Although, I think every year has gone, after 2006, I feel I'm a better golfer and I'm a more consistent golfer, and although the results haven't really shown, I had a really good start to the season last year with five Top-10s in seven starts, and so I've had periods where I've been playing really consistent but unfortunately my short game has not been up to standard the last couple of years. But I'm working really hard and I'm improving day by day.

Q. How did you keep warm today? How many layers of clothing did you have on?
JOHAN EDFORS: It was warmer today than it was yesterday, because the wind was really cold yesterday. I wore this and then the rain jacket all day, so it wasn't too bad. I expect it to be a bit colder tomorrow morning at 7.40.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: Johan, well played.

End of FastScripts

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