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PORTUGAL MASTERS

October 18, 2015

Andy Sullivan

Vilamoura, Portugal

PAUL SYMES: Congratulations, you've just won the Portugal Masters, must feel pretty special.

ANDY SULLIVAN: Yeah, you know, just absolutely incredible. To lead from day one right through the final day, just, yeah, incredible. Something that I've never experienced before going down with such a big lead.

It's a lot harder than it seems, I'm pretty sure. I feel a bit, you know, I need to keep going, keep pushing, keep staying ahead. Felt like I never really got to relax over that second shot on 18, even though I knew I had a big lead. Golf's a funny game. You never know what can happen. Just incredible, to share it with my family and friends, as well, it's been an incredible week and one I'll cherish for the rest of my life, for sure.

PAUL SYMES: Third European Tour win of the season; that must be beyond your wildest dreams, as well.

ANDY SULLIVAN: At the start of the season, I never thought, you know, you think about winning once and then to win three times, it's incredible. It seemed like a long time since those two wins, still in the same year but it felt like a long time ago. I'll definitely make sure I'll cherish this moment a little bit more now.

PAUL SYMES: Take the next week off and then onto The Final Series, final push and Race to Dubai?

ANDY SULLIVAN: Yeah, definitely. Next week off and then back at it, the Final Four events. Looking forward to it even more now going in with a lot more confidence. It will be interesting. I'm really looking forward to it.

Q. How does it feel -- your first European title in Europe so far.
ANDY SULLIVAN: Yeah, definitely. I think just in terms of winning in Continental Europe is big for me. I think winning to for me in South Africa, don't get me wrong, it was unbelievable, my first win, I'll remember it forever. But there's always questions marks: Can you do it in Europe. Just glad to put them question marks to bed now, and to win a prestigious event like this, it's been incredible.

Q. You've played the Portugal Masters before, but never like this year; what changed?
ANDY SULLIVAN: Biggest thing, the rough, putting that rough up. Hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens. When the rough got up it sort of definitely played into my hands. I knew if I played well this week, I was going to have a lot of birdie chances and I managed to take a lot of them. Putter got really hot in rounds one or two and I just carried that on into three and four.

Q. The forecast for the weekend, did you think, I have to play really well the first two rounds because who knows what can happen?
ANDY SULLIVAN: Yeah, me and my caddie identified that. Obviously with the weather forecast, it didn't look like we was going to get a weekend. We thought, especially after Thursday, we went out in the morning on the Friday and just said, let's try to put as big a gap between us and the rest of the field and managed to separate us.

Thankfully we got to play three and four, and carried on separating ourselves, which is incredible again.

Q. Do you have any special connections with Portugal? Normally people come here for vacation, or people play here as an amateur?
ANDY SULLIVAN: Funny, I've only ever been to this event and this part of the world sort of thing down here. It's always an event I look forward to on the calendar and I really enjoy. It's great to bring my family, relaxing week and weather is normally great. It's definitely a week that I enjoy playing.

Q. What is your routine --
ANDY SULLIVAN: Just literally 50 minutes before my tee off, go and hit balls for probably 30 minutes and chip, putt for 20 minutes. I don't do anything superstitious or anything like that. Just really simple stuff. Just what I do, simple, just try to keep it as simple as possible. I think golf is as hard enough as it is, got to try and keep it --

Q. A game plan?
ANDY SULLIVAN: That can change week-to-week. That can be just dependent on the courses and stuff. This week was a bit aggressive from the get-go and I think we achieved that on the first two days. Obviously today we didn't have to be that aggressive with a big lead but we were trying to be as aggressive as possible on the course.

Q. How about the greens?
ANDY SULLIVAN: Well, the greens, it was difficult, because obviously at the start of the week, they were really quick. And then obviously they couldn't cut them on the Saturday, so it began to get really slow, and obviously it rained overnight and became even slower.

I think it was quite tough for a lot of players to get the putts to the hole, especially when the put the pins on the high point. So you always seemed to be putting uphill to the flags, and I found it particularly difficult today to get the ball to the hole. But I managed to get through it in the end.

Q. With your achievements, are you thinking, where can I go?
ANDY SULLIVAN: Yeah, I think there's a lot of avenues for me to press onto now. I want to achieve as much as I can in the game, and you know, the start of the year, I didn't think I had win once and I've won three times. Never know what I can achieve. Just keep doing what I'm doing. I've got a really good team around me. I know what I need to improve on and I just keep improving hopefully.

Q. Your family was here with you?
ANDY SULLIVAN: My mum and dad was here with you, a few aunts and uncles and stuff, and about 20 guys from the golf club. So quite a big following this week, which was nice. Every time a putt went in, they were just screaming their heads off. It's been nice, because most times you win and you've probably got one or two people to share it with, but it was great to have that many people to share it with. It's a great feeling.

Q. Which golf club is that?
ANDY SULLIVAN: Nuneaton Golf Club.

Q. You smiled all the way, is that normal for you? Do you normally play happy?
ANDY SULLIVAN: All the time. I love the game of golf. It's something that playing on The European Tour and winning on The European Tour is something I've dreamed about ever since I was a little boy.

To be actually living it and achieving what I'm doing, it's incredible. It's just hard not to smile; I'm my dreams. I'm just enjoying every moment of it.

PAUL SYMES: Congratulations again and enjoy the celebrations.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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