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VOLVO GOLF CHAMPIONSJanuary 20, 2012Thomas AikenGEORGE, SOUTH AFRICA MIKE GREEN: Your opening nine and you were very consistent on the back nine. THOMAS AIKEN: Yeah, I mean, started off ‑‑ had a birdie had a disappointing 3‑putt on 4 for a bogey but came back very nicely, and so very pleased with the front nine. Back nine was not as good as I would have hoped. Hit quite a few wayward tee shots and managed to salvage par on quite a few holes and gave myself quite a few birdie opportunities but unfortunately didn't sink any. And then the last hole, I hit it really well to get up in two, hit it in the bush, but hit a great shot out of the bush. Hit it on to the green and hit a fantastic first putt. MIKE GREEN: The other point is you're still in there. THOMAS AIKEN: Well, a lot of golf left. It's a brutal golf course, and you know, you never know what the weather is going to do. We are only at the halfway stage. There's plenty of golf left to play, and I'm very happy with the position that I'm in and looking forward for the weekend. MIKE GREEN: What weather would you like? THOMAS AIKEN: Come what may, you know. If the wind comes up, still have to hit good golf shots. If the wind doesn't blow, you still have to hit good golf shots. I'm not going to worry about what happens weather‑wise. You can't predict it. No point in really thinking about it. Take it as it comes and each hole as it comes. Q. On that back nine, you mentioned the shot in the bush on 18, but you scrambled very well on 12, you hit an amazing shot. THOMAS AIKEN: Yeah, 12 is another hole I hit in the bush. I hit in the bush twice today, on 12 and 18. Just hit it out there and I had about 115 yards for my third shot, and I hit a really nice pitching wedge to half a foot, had a good recovery. Q. 18, the driver‑‑ THOMAS AIKEN: Yeah, I think the faceis ‑‑ it's going about 20 yards further than my 3‑wood. I can't see any cracks, but I think it's definitely gone. Going to see if I can find another one for the next few days. Q. Is it different with Branden having a four‑shot lead, knowing how you know the course‑‑ THOMAS AIKEN: No. All of the guys are fantastic players and Branden has some good knowledge of the golf course and he's playing fantastic golf. But there's still 36 holes left. You know, this golf course doesn't take a bad shot. If he can play 36 holes without a bad shot, hats off to them, they have done very well but there's a lot of golf left. Q. It looked like the pin placements were quite a lot harder today. THOMAS AIKEN: I don't know. They were fair. The greens are extremely fair, a lot of slopes. There are not too many places that they can put a pin. If you get really tough pin placements‑‑ I know you can get one on 17. Thank goodness it wasn't there today. But yeah, anything on the back of that green is tough, but at least it's not as bouncy as it was for the 2006 Open, so you can still hold it. I couldn't say that they are unfair. If you hit it to the wrong side of the hole, you had some tricky putts. Ones that I can think of on the fifth hole, the par5, if you hit it above the right of that hole, you had a huge mound in front of you. But if you hit it left of it, you were fine. I think it all just depends where you hit it on the green. But I don't think they were tougher than yesterday. Q. You struggledthe back nine on the first two days; is that something you'll be focusing to improve? THOMAS AIKEN: No, you really just take one shot as it comes. The key to the back nine is playing the par 5s well. The other holes are as tough as the front nine. I mean, if you can birdie the three par 5s, then you are off to a great start. I just unfortunately hit three bad drives on the par 5s and I ended up bogeying one of them. I didn't capitalise on those holes and hopefully will on the weekend. Q. Your driver‑‑ THOMAS AIKEN: Yeah, I hit driver on the first two, and one went left into the bunker and only flew about 240 yards and the other one went right into the semi‑rough and also about 250 yards. I didn't want to hit it on 18 because I didn't know where the hell it was going to go, so ended up hitting 3‑wood and just tried to force it a bit too hard. Hopefully I can find something to use on the weekend. MIKE GREEN:  Thanks so much for coming in. Good luck for the weekend. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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