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COMMERCIALBANK QATAR MASTERS PRESENTED BY DOLPHIN ENERGY

January 28, 2010

Robert Karlsson

DOHA, QATAR

SCOTT CROCKETT: Robert, thank you for joining us, as always and congratulations on a terrific score on a difficult day. Just give us your thoughts on your 68?
ROBERT KARLSSON: The course was very, very difficult and I'm happy with the round given the conditions. My caddie told me I hit every green out there which was pretty good. It meant I had a lot of long putts but that is what you have to do when it's windy. But I am obviously very happy.
SCOTT CROCKETT: It is particularly impressive to hit every green in this wind.
ROBERT KARLSSON: Well I wasn't aware of that and if I had been I would have probably missed the one on the ninth! But I hit good iron shots and when I was in the rough I was lucky, got a few good lies in the rough, so I'll take that
SCOTT CROCKETT: And a nice little bonus at 15, tell us about that one.
ROBERT KARLSSON: I hit a good 3-wood down there and the pin was tucked on the left side and my caddie, Gareth, said I can't really go for the pin because you're not going to get close. So hit a little 8-iron and tried to bounce it, got up there to 12 feet.
And then I pulled it slightly and hit the front edge of the green and it just trickled over the mound and there was one guy up there who was clapping and I thought it must have got pretty close but when I got up there there was only one ball up there and it wasn't mine, because I knew I hadn't been 12 feet from the hole - so I knew then it had gone in
SCOTT CROCKETT: What did you do at 16?
ROBERT KARLSSON: 3-wood and chipped it up to about eight feet and holed it.
1, 5-wood in the front trap, bunker shot to it three feet.
3-putt on 7 and birdied 8, 6-iron to ten feet.

Q. What was the distance on the 15th and what club was it?
ROBERT KARLSSON: 182 yards and I hit a little eight.

Q. Given the conditions, was this the best round of golf you've played since your return from injury?
ROBERT KARLSSON: It is hard to compare rounds but the last round in Japan was probably better, because it was in the last group and pretty poor weather, as well. I think that was probably better. But this was also a great round so I am very happy with it.

Q. Can you give us a medical update?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Yeah, I'm fine now except for a bit of a sore throat.

Q. How are the two nines comparing?
ROBERT KARLSSON: It's a bit harder the front nine, yeah. Shorter holes, like 7 and 4 straighter into the wind and then 6 -- you don't have very many birdie chances on the front. The way the course is set up as well, Depends how they set the course up as well but I would expect higher scores on the front than the back, yeah.

Q. So is the weather more of a factor or course setup?
ROBERT KARLSSON: No, the weather, definitely. The course is set up very well. It's tough but it's very fair and extremely good condition. It's definitely the weather that makes the golf course very much harder.

Q. Do you feel like you left some shots out there?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Obviously when you shoot 4-under in these conditions, it's great. But I missed a couple of putts under ten feet for birdie. But in these conditions, you are going to miss some putts and obviously the 3-putt on 7 but I'm not complaining. Whenever I hit it in the rough, I got some lies. I'm not going to say I left a lot of shots out there because that would be a bit unfair.

Q. Do you think the weather is going to get worse or better?
ROBERT KARLSSON: It is the wrong man to ask that -- if the wind drops, the course is set up quite friendly because they took the wind into consideration when they set it up so it would definitely be possible to make good scores if that happened. But we'll see. Depends on what the other guys are going doing. I have enough to worry about with my own ball out there, so I have to keep doing that for the next few days.

Q. Are you particularly looking forward to this season being fully health again?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to start again and give myself a proper chance to start playing again. Yes definitely, it's good.

Q. Back in 2002, Adam Scott had an eagle on the 15th and went on to win. Can you do the same?
ROBERT KARLSSON: I'm not going to guarantee I'm going to win it, no. But I'll take a two on any par four in any situation.

Q. Do you enjoy these conditions?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Well, I'm playing good. I know that these conditions it can be a bit more, yeah, but I wasn't really sure how it was playing. I know when I'm playing well, I usually don't let it affect me too much. And if I can go out and keep my head on my shoulders today and not get too impatient or things like that, I wasn't too worried about the conditions.

Q. When did you know it was going to work for you today?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Well you don't really know do you until you walk off the 18th green, because I mean, wide shots in these conditions, they can make a double-bogey very good very good quickly. So it's very much a round that you've got to play all the way to have the last ball in the last hole, because it's so easy to make mistakes.

Q. Were you aware of how the others were struggling?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Well, I saw how Simon and Molinari that I played with, they didn't look too bad, but they were over par the whole round. Obviously it was difficult and a couple times on the leaderboard, I didn't know I was running away with any low scores, and Louis (Oosthuizen) was up there with a pretty good start. You can get a good start on the back nine the way it was set up.
So I wasn't too -- I didn't think it was going to be this bad scoring but there's not going to be too many 64s, anyway, on a day like today.

Q. So a pleasant surprise when you got into the scoring hut?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Yes it was. It was a pleasant surprise that I shot 68 today and that's what I'm going to keep building on and doesn't really matter what the other guys are doing. Obviously it's easier for me to go out tomorrow six shots or so inside the cut line and not have to worry about that.
SCOTT CROCKETT: Robert, thanks very much.

End of FastScripts

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