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ABU DHABI HSBC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPJanuary 17, 2014Craig LeeABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Q. 9‑under par for two rounds around here is terrific golf. What's been the secret to success so far? CRAIG LEE: Definitely on the greens. I think Santa has brought me a good putting stroke for Christmas. I don't know what's happening out there but I'm holing a lot of putts out there and that's definitely the difference. Q. You got a new putter towards the end of the season and you said it's been easier to line up; why is that? CRAIG LEE: They have slanted down the edges, so made it a little bit sharper, so just a little bit clearer to the eye. Just makes it a little bit easier to line up. Q. Saw you practising last week in Dubai. Did you feel coming in here that everything was clicking into place? CRAIG LEE: Not really, no. The reason I went to Dubai was because I had not had much golf back home so felt I would be a little bit rusty so out to Dubai for a couple of days to get a bit of practise and it seems to have been‑‑ sort of fitted into play quite nicely. Q. Players have been telling me for a long time, this guy is a really good player, really good ball‑striker; are you starting to believe how good you are? CRAIG LEE: Yeah, kind of ball‑striking was always one of the stronger parts of my game and short game was always the worst. So work on your weak parts and play to your strengths. Yeah, I feel a little bit more confident in what I'm doing and I feel a little bit more comfortable out on this sort of golf course, and obviously climate and things like that, so starting to feel a bit more comfortable. Q. Thomas Björn denied you a playoff in Switzerland; do you fancy taking it back this time? CRAIG LEE: Well, that would be nice. I would like to take the two of us side‑by‑side in a playoff again. No; he played well, fair and square, so I can't argue with that. But I would take that. Q. Your thoughts on backing up a terrific first round with an even better second. CRAIG LEE: I'm delighted. I played really nicely early doors and managed to hole a few putts on top of that, so that kind of got the ball rolling. Felt in a nice position and didn't play that great toward the tail end but managed to throw in a birdie at 17 and that kept the round going. Q. Was there the sense of momentum gained on the first day and keeping it going like that? CRAIG LEE: Pretty much, yeah. Obviously coming in from winter, you never know how rusty you're going to be but played well yesterday and I hit a few kind of loose shots again today but managed to get by them with holing some nice putts. Q. I appreciate you're getting more and more used to being at the top of the leaderboard, only day two, but were you aware of it and what you were achieving? CRAIG LEE: Yeah, obviously there's boards out there and I'm not one of these golfers that shies away from them. I quite like to know what's going on and who is around about me. So I knew I was in the position I was in, probably about eight or nine when the board were up and I could see it from there. Q. I'm sure the answer is obvious, but what is it about all these low scores this time around, because we thought this was going to be a tough old track and there's a good number of low scores. CRAIG LEE: Yeah, there is. I think after the first couple of practise rounds, they have cut the rough down considerably. So you can actually get a wedge onto it now, as opposed to just a sand wedge. But yeah, I mean, the greens are so good that you get the ball tracking online, you know it's going to go in. So I think it's a compliment to the greenskeepers the condition they got the course into so it makes our life a little bit easier. Q. Not bad playing in the sunshine this time of year, is it? CRAIG LEE: This is perfect. This is a nice temperature for me. If it starts to get a little bit warmer, I think my Scottish kind of starts to melt so I'm delighted with that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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