	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

SKY SPORTS BRITISH MASTERS

October 10, 2018

Tommy Fleetwood

Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Q. Thank you very much for joining us. You now have two little Frankies in your life.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I don't know which one is smaller.

Q. But you've had a couple of days at home, a bit of time with the family?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, just a little bit. Frankie and Clare came last week, so it was nice. It was kind of weird at the Ryder Cup because Frankie is around but you don't really get to see him at all, apart from his birthday, which is great, but nice to just be home. I had Monday and Tuesday -- yeah, Monday and Tuesday at home last week, and Monday and a bit of Tuesday at home this week, so it's just nice to get like a few hours in and just rest, and then off next week. But at the moment, like the grind keeps going.

Q. Well you're grinding pretty well. Are you still feeling somewhat fresh?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I'm starting to jade a little bit. I felt absolutely fine last week, didn't feel tired at all. Felt really motivated. I was working on stuff in my swing, and I felt like really ready to go, and then Monday I was a little bit tired. But I'm absolutely fine. Like I'm enjoying -- I think after the Ryder Cup, I'm enjoying it as that was a goal that I achieved that was a massive goal throughout the year, not only to be on the team but to be on a winning Ryder Cup team. And then it's nice to have done that and have so many like amazing memories and something to look back on and now kind of press on for the rest of the year.

There's plenty of work to do. Like I practiced on Monday, so I finished the tournament Sunday, I practiced at home on Monday, so I'm like trying to take over and still trying to work on things and get better. So far, so good really. It was kind of frustrating to finish just one short last week but still keep things in perspective. It was a good week.

Q. Being European No. 1 going into the Race to Dubai, how much of a motivation is that?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Last week got me close. I'm a long way behind, but it's kind of the opposite of last year in the sense that I led all year last year, and this year now for the final few events -- I mean, I might get nowhere near, but at the same time, I might get close, and now I'm kind of chasing it now. It's completely different. It's a stretch as a goal to think about it, but I'd love to sort of play Dubai with a chance. If it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. It's kind of in Fran's hands a little bit, as well. Just at the moment keep working on improving. I'd love to get in contention again in a couple of events towards the end of the year and maybe win one. That would be great.

There's plenty of things to look at, World Ranking, tournaments, Race to Dubai. There's a lot going on really, so it's not time to rest now.

Q. (No microphone.)
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: There's probably like people I would prefer to like be, but either way, like if it was me and Fran that it came down to, somebody else could always come into the mix, but if it was me and Fran it came down to, either way I'm going to be more than happy, whichever way that would turn on. I think we won't hold it against him. With the year he's having, I think he might deserve it.

Q. What's your schedule the rest of the season?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I think this week, China, Turkey and Dubai, I think that's what it's looking like. I think that's pretty set now.

Q. (No microphone.)
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, not really. I think -- like I look after myself pretty well, so I eat well. I'm physically pretty good. I generally don't stress out too much, so I think mental energy, I'm not -- I don't get too tired. You always get to a stage where you need a week off, and I think the most exhausted I've been through the year this year was Germany and France this year after the U.S. Open. I think that was where I pretty much -- I had crashed at that point.

But it's knowing when your cutoff point is and knowing when that's coming, either having the whereabouts to pull out, or if you're not going to play, not worry too much about your form and read too much into it. But at the moment, I feel absolutely fine, but like I'm getting close to that point where I need a week off again.

Q. The congratulations messages you've had since the Ryder Cup, what have those meant to you?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No, I mean, the ones that mean the most are always your family or your friends that are there. They mean the most. I think it was -- the nicest thing for me -- I mean, once you get past the team, winning as a team was the best part of it by a mile, but having my mom and dad watching, you know, it's a long time for parents, and they've watched you for a long time, so I think them watching me in the Ryder Cup and me having a couple of moments to be very proud of I think was nice, and then Clare and the kids I think just -- I'm a stepfather and a father, but Frankie doesn't really have a clue at the moment, but the other two that are 10 and 12, when you're a role model for children at that age, I think it was a nice thing to have, sort of did something special to look back on, so that was probably the best bit.

Q. (No microphone.)
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, I definitely need one, and yeah, I need a win probably throughout -- if you can get to Dubai with a chance, you never know what's going to happen. I mean, look, I'm not -- it's something that's there, but there's very few tournaments left, and the number one -- I'm not going to win unless I do certain things right. I'm not going to win the Race to Dubai unless I win. You've got to keep working day by day really and take it as it comes. But it's nice being the chaser. So I've been about there, and it would be amazing if I had a chance if I did it, but if I don't, it's not going to be something I'm too upset about, whereas last year I held on to it like all year and then it was out of my hands and I had nowhere else to play, so it's a completely different scenario this year. But yeah, it's going to take at least one.

Q. Do you think you and Fran playing together this week (indiscernible)?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: It's interesting, isn't it. Probably not. We'll wait and see about the trash talk. It'll be interesting. It'll be nice to play together. Like of course the draw was completely random, so we got lucky to play together. (Laughter.)

But it'll be nice. We've texted a little bit, and we're playing together. We're going to be -- we'll eat together like a couple of times this week and stuff, so we're going to be spending a lot of time together it seems.

Q. What's one thing that you look forward to when you have time off?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I look forward to like having a lie-in or waking up with nothing to do. I look forward to football on the TV at home. Don't really get to watch it when you go away. I like doing things that I like typically like British or like a home thing, like it's just things that we don't get to do all the time. So I just like crashing out and doing nothing. That's like pretty much it if you've only got a little bit of time.

Q. (No microphone.)
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I don't know. We'll see how it works out. I'd like to, but it always seems like on a Saturday I either end up watching under-11s football and then just watching the football on the TV at home and I never get a chance to go to a game, but we'll try, I think. It would be a nice time to go.

Q. (No microphone.)
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, but last time they had me on with the Open, they put the sprinklers on when I went on, and I didn't bring my jacket. It put me off.

Q. In 2014 you'd have been one of the guys on the range congratulating the winning team. Do you remember doing that? Do you remember what happened on that situation for you at Dunhill or maybe this week?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I think it's great doing it for the Tour, so all the players that you see out here, you're playing for them as well, really, you're playing for the European Tour, and everybody was great and everybody says, well done. The biggest difference is when you're at home and you're sort of walking down the street, there's people that probably don't watch golf normally that watch the Ryder Cup and that are part of like Europe, and they congratulate you and say, well done. That's probably the biggest difference.

As a player, I think part of it is similar to if you've done well in an event people say well done anyway, so it's not too dissimilar getting those congratulations, it's just that you've been playing for the whole Tour, so it's like a very special time. But I don't really remember that much from four years ago. I remember watching it and thinking, I want to be in the next one. But then I remember watching the next one thinking, I'm never going to be in it. So this one was very cool, yeah.

Q. (No microphone.)
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Who knows. I think it's a shame really. Whatever has happened, I don't really know what's happened. I think the Patrick Reed scenario, I think both were justified. Jordan and Justin Thomas was a justified pairing; they won three games out of four. And Patrick has done great, and there's obviously a reason why him and Jordan might not have played together when you think they were odds on.

It's difficult to read too much into it, and who knows what's going on. I mean, they're an immensely talented group of players, and everybody thought, most people thought that it was going to be a USA's Ryder Cup for a while. I mean, we played better, but that's golf basically. You've got three days of golf, and we happened to play better on those three days.

Whether people look at it as there was problems or fallouts, who knows. But everything seemed to be going all right when they were 3-0 up in the morning. They weren't falling out then, were they. Who knows. It might just be a media thing or they might genuinely have problems, but it's looking like the same players are going to be in that team for a long time. Who knows.

Q. (No microphone.)
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: A tough one. I think coming up now over the next few years, you've got some really good players that are due the captaincy, and it would be a shame for them to miss. There's no reason why not. Guys that have done a great job could have it again. It is a massive thing. When you're part of it and you see how much it means, you obviously know how big it is, but when you're actually in that team room or you're in that environment, you know how much and how important it is.

If people or the board or whatever it is decides that it's better, it's a better thing to have a captain come back, do it, but at the same time, I think there's some tremendous like captains coming up now that I don't think can miss.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297