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ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

March 8, 2019

Tommy Fleetwood

Orlando, Florida

Q. Great round of golf. They say if you're going to score out here you got to take advantage of the par-5s. You did that today. Two eagles, a couple of birdies, your thoughts on the round.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Funnily enough that was, when I come off yesterday and I was in the truck with my trainer just like warming down for the day and he asked how my play was and I said I could have played the par-5s a little better, I was level par for them yesterday and made a couple up-and-downs for that. So today made a much better job of those. And you have to, on tough courses if the par-5s are, if you can score on the par-5s, you can shoot a good score and that's basically where I made all my numbers up today.

Q. Your scrambling has always been really good on the TOUR numbers, through 36 holes you're 10-11 getting up-and-down, including that sand save that you just made at 18. Just talk about your approach and how dedicated are you to that short game.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I've been a couple years ago really, especially when I started playing out in America when my game started coming back and started getting to a little bit more of a high standard where I was playing where I wanted to, the short game wasn't good enough. I had Graeme come over the last couple years and we have done some really good work on the short game. It's tough, there's so many different shots that you need, and you need a lot of -- when you come to America you need to be able to take lot of pace off the ball and you need to play with some loft as well. And I'm just constantly working on that, really. And you have a couple of good days like, I generally feel like I do a pretty good job around the greens. You have your off days like anybody else does, but it's so key out here, because you're never -- yesterday, I mean, I'm leading the tournament now, but yesterday through the first 10 holes I could have easily been out of the tournament, I was struggling, but short games keeps you in it and all of a sudden you play some good golf and you can build some momentum. There's not a golfer in the Top-5, Top-10, Top-25 in the world who doesn't have one of the best short games going, so it's pretty important.

Q. You got a real mix of equipment in that bag, I presume you can make a lot of money signing equipment deals and whatever else, but what was the thought process and how beneficial is it to you that you can use whatever you want?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well nobody wants me, basically, so... No, it's just been the way, since Nike's not really making stuff that I've gone through different stages where I wasn't going to mess around because I was trying to get my game back to where I wanted it to be. And, yeah, I've got a mixed bag and I'm fiddling around, but I think the luxury of being able to -- nothing in my bag there, I don't, there's nothing that I feel could be better. Basically, if I'm -- and if there is, like a 4-iron or a 5-wood or a 3-wood, I've got the luxury of trying everything out and I will get the one that I really like and the one that's ideal for me. So there's a lot to be said for freedom of being able to do that. And it's not really anything to worry about for me at the moment.

Q. You've had some good finishes here, what do you like about the golf course?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: It's tough, I played well here, I've had some good rounds, I've had some poor ones too. I think it can go either way around this golf course. I feel comfortable here. One of our best friends lives on the golf course, so it's nice to have sort of familiar surroundings like that. But all in all I've just, you know, at times there's a few holes where I played really well over the last couple of years, but I don't know, some courses you play well at, some courses you don't. Hopefully I can continue to play well around here. It was just nice to have a day like that and just constantly feel at ease really with hitting good golf shots.

Q. What did you have in on 6?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Driver and then I hit 4-iron, I think 210 to the front, 222 pin and I hit 4-iron to 20 foot. That was one of the best shots of the day because I mean it's so easy, you have a lot of shots out here where it's so easy to bail out, but once you bail out you're not making birdie or not making par anyway, so you better take them on. So that was one of them.

Q. What's the other one? 12?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: The eagle, yeah, 12. Just like I cut it into -- I couldn't have got a wedge as close as I actually hit it to that back right pin. So I knocked a 6-footer in there.

Q. When you're on the PGA TOUR, winning, is that the next logical step for you?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: It's got a bit -- I've done a lot of good things over the last two, three years, so, yeah, I think that's pretty clear in our minds that that would be the next logical step to win in America or win on the PGA TOUR and then see where we go from there. I feel like if we can keep improving -- I got off to a pretty slow start to the year so if I can just keep improving and keep doing the right things and focusing on myself, hopefully that will be the result of things.

Q. What would it mean to get your first win in Mr. Palmer's event?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: It would be cool, wouldn't it. It is one of those events, it's one of those special events that means a lot, that means something a little bit more and another one of those events that throws out some great winners, isn't it. So it would be very cool, if that was my first win. I can find a place for a red cardigan in my wardrobe, no worries.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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