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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2017

June 18, 2017

Tommy Fleetwood

Erin, Wisconsin

Q. Tommy, what impressed you most about Brooks?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Down the stretch he was brilliant. I mean, he played great early on. He wasn't missing shots, and it's obviously the conditions.

And from 13 onwards, he holed up par on 13 for par, which was a great putt.

14, a fantastic bunker shot.

15 he hit -- 15 was the best shot I thought he hit all day. I think it might have been a little late flying into that back right pin. I can't tell you how hard that shot is. I think that was the best shot he hit all day. He just cruised and he played great. It was very good to watch.

Q. What was your takeaway from this? You played this tournament so well, and you were right up there at the top of the leaderboard.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I think the biggest thing is when you haven't -- I've never contended for a major before. So when you get to Saturday and Sunday, you've got to see how you react and how you feel.

I felt yesterday I played great. Today my game wasn't quite there, but still got it run level par. I scrapped a little bit for it, and it was a bit soft today. But I felt fine. I felt comfortable. I enjoyed playing late on Saturday and Sunday, and then next time, whenever that comes, and I'll play well enough to get myself in contention. I know that inside myself I feel fine and I can -- whether I play well or not that's a different story, but I feel fine.

Q. You talked yesterday and indeed on Friday about the pleasure of walking up with your caddie as your mate. Just carry on that theme? Was it as much pleasure today with him?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Kind of. I was scrapping a bit for me life on 18, so it was a bit more stressful than I liked. But, yeah, he actually started caddying for me a year ago next week, so this was a year anniversary, I feel like. It was a year caddying. And when he started, I couldn't hit it and I was missing cuts for fun. So a year running we were late on a Sunday in a major, so that's a nice way to cap it off.

Q. (Inaudible) as a caddy?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Awful. He's a handicap, that's what he is. No, no, he's brilliant. I think, obviously, he'd never really done that before when he started coming on my bag. But I think what was underestimated was how well he knew me, how well he knew my game.

He loves golf himself. He's a good golfer himself. And all of those things put together makes him a great caddie for me. I can't fault him. I can't fault his work ethic, which is a massive part of it for me. You know, he's a happy man. But we have good times and bad times, but he's a great caddie for me.

Q. Was he a pro?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: He's a pro.

Q. They aired your putting stats on the telecast over and over, which I don't have to tell you. But what clicked this week? Was it the greens? Was it your stroke? You seemed to putt with a lot of confidence on the greens throughout the week?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I don't know what the stats were.

Q. (Inaudible)?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I've been working on it recently. I had a couple of weeks where I putted poorly. I wasn't quite reading greens very well, and then -- I mean, my stroke's generally fine. And sometimes when you're not seeing the ball go in the hole, it gets harder and it's easy to lose faith a little bit. But I've been working on it very hard.

Then this week, I mean, Phil Kenyon, he's my putting coach, he's meticulous in his preparation, and he makes a massive difference with how he prepares on the greens and everything. All that kind of things have helped. I feel like I've been stroking it well for a while, but just not getting it in the hole, which is the key ingredient, really, when you're putting. And this week I felt good on the greens.

Q. When an American, basically a kid, leaves his homeland like Brooks did to learn the pro craft on the Challenge Tour like that, what's that show you? What does that show you as a guy who is from Europe?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, yeah, not a lot to it. Challenge Tour's a great TOUR. It's actually very tough. It gives you a good grounding, I think. Obviously Brooks dealt with it amazingly. He came and kicked everybody's ass over there, didn't he? Then, you know, a few years on he's been in the U.S. Open. But he's proven for a long time how good he is. Now he's done it in a major. But he's a fantastic player. Obviously he's had that built up over years where he started that in Europe, and then won over in America, and now he's won a major.

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