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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 15, 2018

Tommy Fleetwood

Southampton, New York

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon. Welcome to Friday, Day 2, second round at the 2018 U.S. Open Championship at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. Really pleased to welcome this afternoon Tommy Fleetwood, who followed up a 4 -- a 5 over --

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: It was 5 over, unfortunately. I would have liked 4.

THE MODERATOR: 5 over yesterday with a brilliant 4 under 66 today. Tommy, can you talk about that swing or anything you did overnight? Just a completely new day today.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Honestly, there wasn't much.

we didn't have time anyway. We just got off the course about 7:00, and we were exhausted from getting battered by the golf course.

I did play well yesterday in tough conditions, and I just said before I got on a run on the back nine where I had a bunch of five-, six-foot putts where the greens at the end of the day, they're not at their best. They were was fast and it was windy. And I just happened to miss a few putts coming in, which was just as difficult as hitting the green with a 6 iron really, in a six-, seven-foot putt, just as it was yesterday.

So it wasn't loads different. Today felt like I played really solid. At one point, it was the middle of the round, it was just keep going and try and survive whilst the rain is there and the wind picked up. Luckily enough, I caught a few birdies at the end, and 66 was very, very good.

THE MODERATOR: Six birdies, two bogeys today. Started off with a birdie on your first hole, No. 10. Obviously, an important way to start. Does that just give you momentum, knowing that some weather was coming? How does that make you go from there?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: It did. And then I bogeyed the second hole, so that kind of put that right. I needed to just try and find something to get something going.

Yesterday, how tough it was, just the first few holes felt like it was much nicer and it was much more scorable. I basically set out with the mindset, I would have liked to have beat the course today when it was good conditions, though. It wasn't really on the agenda. When it got really bad, you're just concentrating on shot by shot.

But it was just a little bit more open for scoring early to us and then later on when we were finishing. We just had that middle patch where it was tough.

Q. Tommy, you used words like "battered" and "survived." What allows you to keep a positive mindset out there when your energy level is just getting drained by the course and it's tough?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, I think examples -- like yesterday, I was 6 over through 15 holes and really struggling. I missed a few putts, and I was on a bad run of bogeys. So I still had three holes left, and I was 6 over. Managed to grab one in the last three and then shoot 66 today, and all of a sudden, you're pretty much in contention.

It can switch like that, and I think you just have to keep that in mind that you never know what's going to happen, especially in a U.S. Open or an Open for us at home. You actually don't know what's going to happen. You don't know what's going to turn. You don't know what the weather is going to do and how difficult it's going to get.

So as long as you keep going and hang in there, something might happen or it might not.

Q. Does Ian ever play a role? Do you kind of stay and putt? Did he say anything to you or did he say anything?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: He never stops saying anything. He can't help it. He's a talker for sure. But we both know that you just have to keep going. Self-talk's important. And it is what it is.

At the end of the day, once you tee off on the first hole, you're out there for five hours, and you're playing 18 holes whether it's perfect sunshine or it's pouring down and windy and cold. You're there for the duration, so do your best.

Q. So he didn't say anything to you after 16 holes yesterday?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No, no, just the same. We were just keeping going hole by hole, and that's just the way it was. Just grabbed a birdie on 16, the par 5. It was that difficult. All you could do was keep going and keep going shot by shot.

Nobody actually knew -- when you're playing, you don't know what a good score is. All you know is what score you're on and what your next shot is. But overall, we just kept going and going and going, and you knew it was hole by hole, shot by shot.

And 5 over yesterday, it wasn't bad. It was a half decent score. Anything from 3 over or better was a fantastic score. So we did actually have a decent day.

Q. I know you must get asked this a lot, but a lot of people don't know Tommy Fleetwood. Are you a fan of the old music group Fleetwood Mac, and is there any distant relation to Mick Fleetwood?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Who doesn't know Tommy Fleetwood?

Q. I was hoping there was --
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I am a Fleetwood Mac fan. I like the albums.

Q. But there's no relation?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No. I don't have any musical talents. I didn't pick up that one. But they are a very good band.

Q. Tommy, over the next few days, which will affect whether this course is gettable more, the wind conditions or the hole locations?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Good question. Probably more likely to be wind. The hole locations -- generally, on the greens, there's only a certain like amount of green that you can put pins on. So if you actually could hit the middle of the green all the time, you would never be that far away. But the wind probably makes it difficult to do that. But having said that, you can put pins -- you saw it yesterday.

I think there was a pin on -- well, 14, you could -- I had a six-footer there that I tapped. Anything firmer, it picked up pace, that could have gone off the green. I know people put in off the green there, and there was a couple that were on slopes. So it's a very good question that I'm not sure on the answer really.

Q. Is there anything in life that tests your patience more than anything?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Traffic.

Q. Are you having trouble with that this week?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No, we're fine. We're the opposite way. It's nice watching people in traffic whilst I'm doing it. But traffic is the one thing that I can't deal with.

Q. Do you ever yell at people inside your car even though they can't hear you?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I yell, but not at people. I'm one of those people who will go any other road, make any turn just not to be in traffic. As long as I'm moving, I can handle it, but sitting still is kind of difficult for me.

Q. Tommy, can you pick out one shot today that maybe exemplified your round or was the most memorable or maybe that you were most proud of that you pulled off?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: There was a few good ones. Let me think of one. I mean, the putt on 9 was great to end the day. I think that's the one that will stick in my mind. They just always make the day feel better. But I had a couple of really good iron shots.

I hit a 5 wood into 2, the par 3, and I got lucky because I hammered the putt, but it went in. A really good iron shot into the 3rd when the wind was at its strongest and it was raining. It was 20 foot away, but it was a 5 iron that was really good. So a couple of shots around that turn, and then the putt on the last.

Q. So No. 2 could be a skin, right, today?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No. 2 will be a skin today, yeah.

Q. Tommy, your love of meditation, how often do you find yourself drawing on that and taking deep breaths as a player in the U.S. Open?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I haven't done it much recently actually, but you kind of -- I should be doing it more, but I am quite good at it. I'm a patient person, and honestly, this kind of course and conditions and tournament, they almost pull you into the present anyway as it is because you can't -- I mean, all that's going to happen is, if you start thinking ahead, is you're going to think how tough it's going to be.

Or if you do think of maybe chances that you're going to have, you're going to -- you know, the shot that you have at the time, any kind of slight loss of concentration, and you're going to make a mess.

So this, it's the same at Augusta. You can't do anything but focus on what you're doing at the time, and that just does -- it seems to have a good effect on me sometimes.

THE MODERATOR: Clearly, this is your third U.S. Open. Finished fourth a year ago, and now in this position today. It seems that you figured out the patience part of it really is key when you're playing in a U.S. Open like this.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, yeah, I can do the patience bit. You've just got the golf to do then. If you can put those two together, you do have a good combination. But I was lucky enough to have one of the best weeks of my life last year, and I've had a good round today. But two more days left to go. So hopefully, we can just keep it going.

THE MODERATOR: Tommy Fleetwood, 4 under today, great round. Thanks so much for joining us.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Thanks, guys.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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