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COMMERCIALBANK QATAR MASTERS PRESENTED BY DOLPHIN ENERGY

February 4, 2011

Thomas Aiken

DOHA, QATAR

Q. Can you tell us first of all how different were the conditions today?
THOMAS AIKEN: A little bit different. There was definitely a lot less wind. We got here very early this morning, warmed up in the dark, off at 6.40 and wind was blowing and looked like it wanted to pick up and just stayed pretty constant throughout the whole day. No gusts like yesterday to make club section a lot more difficult. So today was a lot easier to get your way around the course.

Q. Do you feel that you took full advantage of the conditions or do you even feel that you left a couple out there?
THOMAS AIKEN: Yeah, I did miss a few with my putter. I hit good putts but just didn't read them correctly.
All in all, didn't make any bogeys today, so very pleased with that. It's an extremely demanding course off the tee. If you miss fairways, you really penalize yourself in this rough.
Very happy with a 69, no bogeys, very consistent and that's the name of the game.

Q. The wind didn't blow you over today?
THOMAS AIKEN: Thank goodness. Yeah, I managed to stay on my feet today. But it's still not that easy out there. There's a fair breeze, some holes, it's about a two-club wind today. So keeps things interesting.
But played very solid. I didn't make any mistakes. The few birdies that I made, it added up, so 69 is the score.

Q. And this from a very early start. Imagine you set your alarm at something ridiculous and getting here in the dark?
THOMAS AIKEN: Got up at 4.15 this morning. It only gets light out at 6.30. So it was an early one. Felt like I was going fishing.

Q. Is there anything refreshing about playing at that hour of the morning when there's nobody around?
THOMAS AIKEN: The fact that you finish early. That's pretty much the only advantage.

Q. And you finished well.
THOMAS AIKEN: Yeah, nice to birdie the last. Just thought I was going on a dry spell there for a while. I think I made ten pars in a row or something ridiculous. Nice to get a birdie under the belt for the last hole, but all in all a consistent day and still two rounds to go.

Q. Just about everybody used the word "patience" on the opening day, but though the breeze is half the strength of the opening day, it's still a key word.
THOMAS AIKEN: Patience is a key word in any golf tournament. You can't go chasing shots. You need to let things happen. Wouldn't it be nice to have a good score tomorrow and the next day.

Q. You've been playing pretty well consistently?
THOMAS AIKEN: Yeah, I've been very consistent. I think besides Abu Dhabi, I have not been out of the Top 15 in the last three months. So it's been very consistent, and yeah, keep on going.

Q. I'm sure it's stating the obvious but it's becoming a winning mentality. You know you're capable?
THOMAS AIKEN: I've always known I'm capable of winning, winning any golf tournament, but it's just a matter of when it's a week, it's a week, and when the scores add up, and you have the lowest one, you end up winning. They are all good players out here and competition is so tough at the moment that you don't see guys winning every week or every second week for that matter. It's a different person winning every week.
It just shows the competitiveness of The European Tour at the moment having so many top players in the world; that anyone who starts in the field at the beginning of the week is capable of winning.

Q. Do you have any idea of what the score will be at the end of today and where it will hold up?
THOMAS AIKEN: It all depends on what the weather does. Doesn't really matter. Did my best and that's all you can do.

Q. Go back to the hotel and hope the wind picks up?
THOMAS AIKEN: I'll go back to the hotel and enjoy my afternoon off.

End of FastScripts

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