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ALFRED DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP

October 1, 2009

Richie Ramsay

ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND

Q. Fantastic start to this Dunhill Links Championship. What was the story out there for you today?
RICHIE RAMSAY: I had an open mind to just go out there to put a score together. It was good fun. I was playing with Ian Webb and Schalk, which was a great laugh all the way around, and obviously Anton. It was just good fun out there. Didn't take sort of too many shots seriously. Just if I hit a bad shot, get up-and-down but I didn't hit too many bad shots. I hit it really solid all day and I made a few putts.
I've been working really hard on the putting, which is key to any good score out here. Managed to drop a couple today and had a good chance on the last but just missed. I had three or four of them just on the edge so giving myself plenty of chances but more importantly taking a few of them.

Q. In terms of how Carnoustie was playing, it feels pretty still; was it quite kind?
RICHIE RAMSAY: It's been harder. I would never say Carnoustie is easy. When we teed off at nine o'clock this morning, we were on the range at eight and it was very cold, I mean, very cold, and the ball really wasn't flying anywhere the first kind of three or four holes. And the sun came out and made it a bit easier. It's never an easy course and any time you shoot under par, doesn't matter whether it's flat calm or not, it's a good score around Carnoustie.

Q. It's a more relaxed format to what you normally play in; is that the key to doing well this week?
RICHIE RAMSAY: I think you've got to embrace the guys you're playing with and also the format. Obviously it's different from playing your average 72-hole event. It's good. It gives the event a unique credibility and obviously you play three fantastic courses. The guys that play with you are very good. If they are out of the hole they pick up, and have a chat the way around and when it comes to your shot you concentrate on it. It's good to have maybe a bit more wee relaxation on the golf course and not take yourself too seriously.

Q. Early days, but it's a great start.
RICHIE RAMSAY: All it is, it's a great start. I'm going to try to go out tomorrow and do the same that I did today. Really happy with the way I'm playing and I just need to have that confidence. I feel I did have it on a few holes out there. It's funny, when I played the U.S. Amateur, I just had the confidence that I needed to go out and put the score together. So carry it to the next three or four days, anything is possible.

Q. Would be lovely to win, as well, playing up here in Scotland; Scots have a good record in there.
RICHIE RAMSAY: I think when you play out here, these are the courses we are brought up on. There's places like Asia, you can see guys doing well, but it's home advantage really. It's just like when you're playing the football match. You've got home advantage, and you've really got to takes positives from that and think, well, I can go out there and I know these courses, I know the shots to play and how far the ball flies. So all of those little things add up to give that you little edge that sometimes makes a difference.

Q. How much have you played here?
RICHIE RAMSAY: I played a few rounds with Eric Ramsay and we played last week, so I probably played ten or 12 rounds. I know where I'm going. The important thing is being an hour up the road, you know how far the ball flies. Obviously you go to South Africa, and the ball can fly miles, and you go to the States it can really fly far. But you come here, it difficult to grasp how far the ball doesn't go really.
So you've really got to know your clubs and the shots to hit, and if you want to hit it up -- we played last Friday, and the guys hit 3-wood, 3-wood into the 17th, and we hit driver, wedge into the last. I think we hit 3-wood, 8-iron. Even though the first one we played last week, we hit driver, 5-iron.

Q. 3-wood, 8-iron into the last?
RICHIE RAMSAY: Yeah. So it's playing quite long. But you know, the thing is if you hit the fairway and you get the run, then you're okay.

Q. A message today?
RICHIE RAMSAY: I had to buy my girlfriend a birthday card. She asked for a Top-5 finish in Madrid for her birthday, because her birthday's next week. But if I do it a week early, that would be nice.

Q. Big week, big chance.
RICHIE RAMSAY: Massive event but I just want to go out there, and just like I was saying the other day to the guys, you're playing fantastic courses and you're playing with nice guys and you just have to realize, take that, and just go out and have fun and put a good score together, then great, and if you don't, don't try to be too hard on yourself.

Q. Does it make you feel more relaxed maybe in the fact that you weren't planning to come here particularly and you get that chance and you're a bit freer because of that?
RICHIE RAMSAY: Yeah, it's an opportunity that's been given to you, because a few guys have pulled out, and you feel that you have to take advantage of it.
Like I say, a couple weeks ago, I wasn't in the tournament. I think it was the end of last week -- but actually the day I played the practice round here, I wasn't in the tournament. It was only like a day later. But I just thought I wanted to get all of the preparation done so if I did, then great. So it all worked out pretty good.

Q. After what happened in Wales, you missed three cuts in a row, was it?
RICHIE RAMSAY: Well, the next day, I went to Sunningdale and shot 8-under and made The Open. So that probably --

Q. Did it affect you?
RICHIE RAMSAY: I think it affected me from the point that it's something that I had to work on mentally more than anything else, because of people saying stuff, and you've just got to deal with that.
But you know, I just did what I needed to do and tell the truth and that's what I thought. Like I say, I went out the next day and went down to Open Qualifying at Sunningdale and shot 8-under to get in The Open, which I think sometimes, you've just got to let your clubs do the talking and not say too much. I think that spoke volumes of the way I dealt with it.

End of FastScripts

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