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SKY SPORTS BRITISH MASTERS

October 11, 2018

Tommy Fleetwood

Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Q. 5-under par 67, tied for the lead. Good way to start the British Masters.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Very. It was tough today, and then by the first few holes, felt so hard, into the wind, that you actually could -- you looked at the scores, there was 5-unders and 4-unders in there, you thought, it must be quite a difficult course or something. It felt really, really tough. But overall I hit a ton of good shots. I putted very well. I holed out well. But the greens actually, the pace of the greens are not easy. You can get a lot of putts where it's very difficult to get the pace, and you can end up with a lot of three-, four-, five-footers, so did that well, and nice to finish off the round with a birdie. Always makes it feel better.

Q. Did you expect to drive the green there at the 7th?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No. I thought -- I mean, I just thought with the pin where it was, if I'd have hit it in the left rough it would have been fine, and I probably would have gotten somewhere else, and actually went through it. That was a surprise, that one. Sorry to the guys that stood on the green as I was hitting.

Q. After the birdie at 11, a few missed chances. How important was it to stay patient and plot your way around and close obviously with a birdie?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, a couple of missed chances, but when it's that windy, you're almost -- you are trying to hole the putts because that's the idea, but I think as long as you've got tap-ins and you're making it as stress-free as you can, doubt fly the round will take over and one or two will come off. I had a good round going. If you don't do anything daft, like I say, the pace you can get without really concentrating on it. All it takes is a split second of trying to do something -- being aggressive, and then you have a four-footer coming back in the wind, and those aren't easy. It was just when you've got a good round going, just stay patient and don't push it too hard, and hopefully things will come to you.

Q. The 17th, that was slightly unusual. Has that ever happened to you before on the golf course?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Not really. I'm still not sure how I got there. I'm not sure if there's footage of how I got there. It wasn't my finest approach shot to a par-3, but that was something different for sure. Luckily it didn't go in the beer because it would have been ruined a drink and the golf ball. But bogey there is fine. It's not -- like I say, bad shots, you don't have to be that far off. It wasn't a great shot, but bogey was fine. It's not something you get too angry about around here today.

Q. Playing with two of your winning Ryder Cup teammates. How has that been?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Great. It's the first time a few of the team have been back, and three of us played together, so it was nice to have like a warm reception, especially on to the greens and on to the first tee and coming down the last, just for the team really. Still kind of fresh, isn't it, really. Feels like a long time ago right now, but it's still quite fresh. It was nice just to be back together and playing. It's a very different -- it's a bit of a grind really today with the weather, but still, it's great all being back together.

Q. Very, very satisfying given the conditions and everything that kind of goes into it, rather than being a particularly spectacular low one if you know what I mean?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Oh, today was a great round of golf, really. From a ball-striking perspective I hit it great, and the course -- today I hit the fairways, but especially with a lot of cross-winds going on, it's not easy to hit the fairways. Holed out very well, did a lot of good things, and 5-under today was -- it was unexpected to be honest. If I shot under par today, I'd have been very, very happy.

Q. Lovely to maintain momentum. It was a decent week, obviously, in Scotland last week. We all know what happened the week before. You must be feeling very good about your game at the moment?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: It is in good nick. I turned up here on Wednesday, and I spent a bit of time with my coach on Monday afternoon, and like it's important to keep things ticking, and I'm like -- I'm by no means the freshest I've ever been, so it's just keeping things ticking up and make sure you keep working. I do have quite a good mindset at the moment. I'm trying to improve. I'm trying to just keep moving up in every department of my game and World Rankings, Race to Dubai, whatever is on there. Just try to do my best and keep moving forward, and as long as you have that sort of hunger, I'm going to be tired eventually. I am feeling it a little bit, and it's just a case of keep going. Try and sort of be easy on yourself really because when you do get tight, it seems to get ratty and you might not hit the golf shots you want to, but it's just having the wherewithal and trying to be nice to yourself a little bit.

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