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THE CELTIC MANOR WALES OPEN

June 4, 2010

Marcel Siem

NEWPORT, WALES

GORDON SIMPSON: Well, it's been a hard day for a lot of people, Marcel, and there has been a lot of jostling for position at the top of the leaderboard, and you find yourself there right at the top at the halfway stage. Can you just tell us how the first two days have gone for you?
MARCEL SIEM: Yeah, I'm really pleased with the score I am on, and yesterday was a crazy day out there, I hit six greens and made 12 times up-and-down, didn't make a bogey.
Today I played a lot better actually and hit more greens and had more birdie chances. Short game was on, as well. I think it's a really, really tough test around here and if your short game is not on, you're in deep problems. You'll have big problems here.
Yeah, been working with my coach, Lars Thiele, on my long game, and we started last year in June and it's really working out nicely. And also Mark Roe, the week before Wentworth I went to his place, and had a couple of sessions at Wentworth and this week, and it's really kicking in now. I've got a lot of confidence with the short game. I always had a pretty good short game, but it was on and off because I was really wild and now it's more consistent and really enjoying it.
And the course is really great, and it was so windy, actually not that strong a wind, but it was gusty and came from all over the place, actually. It was tough. Sometimes you felt it was downwind and next it was into. Usually it goes from downwind, it's off the left, the wind, left-to-right, but if it downwind and all of a sudden into the wind, it's a two or three-club difference. I think that was the tough thing.
GORDON SIMPSON: Is that why we saw so many double-bogeys and why 6-under leads yesterday and 6-under leads again today?
MARCEL SIEM: I think so. The pin positions we were playing for the first two rounds, are usually Sunday pins, I have to say. Well, that's good. It makes the course really tough, and it's better when we play tournaments like Wentworth where the winning score is 6-under and not 20-under. We should play like that every week. We should not have pins middle of the green. And all of the water hazards and shaved banks are coming really into play and that's what the course does. Really enjoyable to play.

Q. Do you think it will be good for The Ryder Cup?
MARCEL SIEM: Yeah, it's fantastic, because you can play around with the tee boxes a lot, which makes it every day different. I think for match play, it's a great course, because you don't have any triple-bogeys or doubles. So you just go for it, and well, you can put the pins in so many different corners; it's fantastic for match play.
Hopefully the weather is going to be all right, and I think it's going to be a fantastic Ryder Cup.

Q. How does this course rate with other inland courses in Europe?
MARCEL SIEM: Well, it's pretty new so the old boys, they can't play off the experience, and some other players, have played at Belfry or Forest of Arden, all of these places they used to play for 20 years, all of the experience guys, they know every corner. Now everybody has to play new golf courses, so I think that's the reason. And we have so many new winners on Tour the last couple of years, so I don't think -- especially this course, where we have new winners and not the old guys.

Q. Inaudible.
MARCEL SIEM: It was the setup, as well, a little bit. I think if it's soft -- it's very bouncy at the moment, so I think that's a bit tougher. It's a bit like France, I would say. You have to be really careful what you do, course management has to be all right. Some pins you can go for, some pins you shouldn't go for, unless your game is really on. And I think it's one of the toughest we play.
That's why you see the scores. It's beautiful weather, the wind is gusty, it's not the easiest wind I have to say, but 6-under after two days, there's not many times we have it on Tour. Usually it's 12-under and the cut is 3-over, I think, so that says something, in perfect weather. I think it's a really, really good test, it's really enjoyable.
GORDON SIMPSON: Are you enjoying the fact to be right in contention again going into the weekend?
MARCEL SIEM: Yeah, I played really well at Wentworth already and just had a nightmare on the 17th on Sunday and made a nine there. I just tried to -- I was in Qatar playing well already and Dubai, as well.
So actually I'm in there, it's just my mind-set for Sunday I have to change a little bit because I think the average of Sunday is 75, and I always say, okay, you haven't won for a long time, The Race to Dubai, you're not that high up, and I always try to play safe. I talk a lot to Mark this week and he said, your short game is so good, your long game is so good, it's not your game. You should go back to -- when I came on Tour, I was always thinking, only thinking about winning, and not about Top-10s. That's what I want to do again and I just want to think that I want to win, and Top-10, is great, but the only goal is going to be winning tournaments again.

Q. Mark has not been here with you this week, has he?
MARCEL SIEM: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. My new coach, we work on my long time and Mark for the short game has just been fantastic and I think the stuff I do with him on the short game gives me a lot of confidence for my long time, as well. We only work from a 100 yards, and the things I do there, they will help me a lot for my long game.

Q. Do you think your short game has improved a lot?

Yes, a bit to get confidence in it and just go for it, because if you have a new technique and you don't hit it, it doesn't make sense at all. But I practised so hard on it, and it's so much fun to work with him, as well, because he's such a funny guy and he always gives you confidence. It's changed a lot and I've got so many more options now to play shots, which is fantastic.
GORDON SIMPSON: Thank you.
MARCEL SIEM: Thank you. Nice to be here.

End of FastScripts

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