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January 24, 2017

Tommy Fleetwood

Doha, Qatar

Q. Not quite time to celebrate, though. Straight into this week?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: A little bit tired today after the last two days, but yeah, it's very cool. Great way to start the year. It is very cool.

We tried on Sunday night but didn't get much sleep. So it's still taking its toll I think today.

Q. What was it about last week that particularly clicked?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I just did what I have been doing, but putted a little bit better. I think I didn't know what the stats were at all, but a lot of people have said I only missed six greens, and I didn't 3-putt all week.

So put those two together, law of averages say you'll be up there somewhere. Just got it going on the back nine, as well, on Sunday. Hong Kong, I was close. DP World, I was very close and both of them -- Hong Kong, I got off to a slow start on the Sunday and kind of felt myself a bit too far behind and couldn't quite catch up.

DP, I did the opposite. I started off like a rocket, got myself up there and it didn't happen on the back nine there. This week, it came together. It's been close for a little bit, and this was just -- it was about time I got one.

Q. I saw the birthday card your caddie gave you last week. What did it say?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: He calls it motivation. I just call it harsh. Don't put it down to the card.

Q. Have you had time to think about how it's going to change your season at all?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, not really. Obviously we do know it opens up a couple more tournaments now, the WGCs. It's brought us closer to the overall goal of the year to get into the Top-50 in the world and get the World Ranking up as high as we can, and be playing that sort of schedule where it's World Golf Championships and majors.

So it's put us closer, but it's just really the start. We had to do something like that to actually get anywhere near. So don't sort of take your foot off the gas. You've got to keep kicking on.

Q. Add on to this week, you had a Top-10 here last year, so great way to come into this week?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I played well here last year. I actually feel like this course suits me more than last week. A lot of the holes sort of set up better to my eye. Actually last week, even though I played well there, was a lot of tee shots that don't quite -- you always go to a course and you can't quite see everything like you want to, and that's one of them. I did all right in the end.

But this one kind of fits my eye a little bit more. We'll see how we do. My game shouldn't have gone off too much. So we'll just see how we go. Hopefully we'll carry on.

Q. It's 20 years this year for the tournament, and it's a great way to start the year, isn't it, in the desert.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, it is. It's three absolutely brilliant golf courses, brilliant tournaments. Great test of golf, really.

Abu Dhabi always hits you after you've had a month off or three weeks off. They hit you but they are great tournaments and you always great, great fields and great players, because they are such good standard of courses and good events, and everybody enjoys coming.

Q. And just lastly, the course itself, I know you haven't had a chance to get out yet this year, but what are the hardest parts of this course?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: The wind plays a massive factor. The wind always blows. You very rarely get a calm day. It's long, and the greens; the greens are massive. They are generally quite grainy, quite slopey.

Put that together with wind and it makes it tough. The greens are massive protection for the course, but again it is a course where generally you get sort of long-ish drivers and good drivers of the golf ball that win the tournament.

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