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AT&T NATIONAL

July 1, 2010

Arjun Atwal

NEWTOWN SQUARE, PENNSYLVANIA

DOUG MILNE: Arjun, thanks for joining us for a few minutes after a successful 4-under 68 in round 1 of the AT&T National. Just a few comments on the round and course conditions and just kind of how you're feeling.
ARJUN ATWAL: Oh, the golf course is perfect. It's in absolute perfect shape, tough. 4-under I think is a great score for me or anybody on this golf course, and I'll take it every day.
DOUG MILNE: How about the course and the conditions of the course?
ARJUN ATWAL: Perfect. The greens are -- well, in the practice round the greens were a lot firmer. I think the staff kind of realized that they might bake out a little bit with this weather so they watered them down a little bit for us. Pins were tough, as usual, and the rough was -- yeah, I think it was cut a little bit over like Tuesday or Wednesday, so it wasn't -- still bad, but it's not that bad.

Q. You said it was a great round. Was it a surprising round?
ARJUN ATWAL: Yeah, I didn't really know what to expect because I hit it really bad last week in Hartford. So you know, I practiced every day after the rounds over there and was trying to work on some stuff. You never know until you actually tee it up what to expect. But it was a bit of a surprise.

Q. You play a lot of practice rounds with Tiger at Isleworth. How much have you played with him since the U.S. Open and how do you measure your game when you're playing with Tiger?
ARJUN ATWAL: We played nine on Tuesday over here.

Q. Here?
ARJUN ATWAL: Yeah, practice round. I wasn't home last week, so I didn't obviously practice with him. I played a lot with him before the U.S. Open and all the practice rounds at the U.S. Open. He got better every day leading up to the U.S. Open. I know he didn't play a great final round or whatever, but he's been getting better. His ball-striking has gotten a lot, lot better.
As far as comparing myself with him, you know, I don't know. It's strange because we practice and play every day, so I've stopped doing that. Initially when I used to practice and play with him, I used to compare myself, but now it's just whatever.

Q. You guys have been playing a long time together, haven't you?
ARJUN ATWAL: Yeah.

Q. Do you remember how long? And what have you learned from him?
ARJUN ATWAL: I joined there in '05, I think, so -- and I had known Tiger from before that. Yeah, we've been practicing and playing whenever we were both home. Just everything. Just the whole work ethic to how a person who has won 71 times still works harder than any person out here when he's home. It's unbelievable.
And also just he's always helped me if I have any questions about short game or whatever it is. He's always been there.

Q. You don't gamble, do you?
ARJUN ATWAL: No comment. All I can say is I owe him a little bit right now.

Q. Can you talk about the process of getting an exemption, or do you think being a friend of Tiger helped you get in this week?
ARJUN ATWAL: Oh, yeah. I haven't got one this year. I'm on a medical, so it doesn't really -- I've got eight starts total, and it doesn't really matter if I get a sponsor's invite or not. But it's always good to play a golf course like this with a purse like this, and I need to make -- I needed to make 600 at the start of this year, and I've made half of that, I think. I've made 300 or whatever, and I've got two starts left, this one, and I'm going to play Canada after this, so I need to make two-something, 270 or something.

Q. What was the process? Did you go up to Tiger in one of your practice rounds and say, hey, let me in?
ARJUN ATWAL: No, I didn't ask him. Basically we were discussing schedules, and I said I'm playing Hartford and then I'm going to play the Deere and skip his. And he's like, Why aren't you playing mine? Because he doesn't know. So I'm like, I'm not in; it's as simple as that. He's like, Have you written for an invite? I'm like, No, I'll play whenever I get in; I'm in no rush. He's like, Well, if we get one back -- because they had given them out; I think they got one back. And then he called me last week and told me I was in, but I had to play the Monday pro-am for that, which was fine.

Q. He called you personally to let you know?
ARJUN ATWAL: Yeah.
DOUG MILNE: Thanks for your time. Congratulations on a great round.

End of FastScripts

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