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THE 148TH OPEN

July 15, 2019

Tommy Fleetwood

Portrush, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

MODERATOR: I'd like to say a very big welcome to Tommy Fleetwood, and thank you for joining us in the interview room today. Obviously the leadup to The Open this year has been a lot of excitement about our return to Royal Portrush. Is that something as a player you felt out there among the atmosphere?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, the last two days have for sure been pretty eye-opening. I don't think it will be 70-some-odd years again. But playing yesterday the crowds that turned up for a Sunday before a major were great. And I just think in general the venue, the course is great, can play so many different ways depending on the wind. And I think it's just a great major venue.

So, yeah, it's been really nice to get a feel for it and look and the atmosphere is great. The fans here, it's a nice golfing heritage so it's nice to play in front of them.

Q. Obviously I know stars fly into this place in a private jet. But one of the journalists bumped into you at the airport pulling your own bag and might even have been on a low cost flight. You're obviously staying very humble.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, I try and save my hours on private jets for necessities really, if I'm going to do it. It's a flight to Belfast and a car journey on Sunday, it's not really necessary. So, no, perfectly happy. I'm not in the position yet where I'll just like fly private everywhere. But it would be nice. Ask me again in several years and we'll see.

Q. Darren Clarke was saying that Royal Portrush is a course if you hit a good shot you'll are award, but slightly off line and you're in trouble. How has this compared to Open venues that you played in the past?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, the Irish links sort of vary a little bit from England and Scotland in the fact that I feel like we play a lot in England where it's quite flat. And in front of you there's a lot more bunkers in front of you on those links courses. And these have a few more undulations and a few more blind shots.

Sure, in general if you hit a good shot there's always a bit of unpredictability on links golf. And you're going to get good breaks and bad breaks. But definitely poor shots are going to get punished. But as a good golf should be, if you play well you're going to have your chances. But I think as a major venue as a test of golf, so far we've played in pretty calm conditions. But I think it's a really good test.

Q. Last year at Carnoustie you were right in the mix there at the weekend. Your great pal Francesco Molinari won. When you see what he's doing is it a bit of a spur? You know you were so close last year, he got over the line, but it could have easily been you?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I think that particular tournament I was in -- last year the rhythm of golf I was playing, I was constantly getting myself in contention. And a lot of the time just didn't -- didn't quite play well enough at the crucial times, particularly that Sunday at Carnoustie. I 3-putted the fifth. And then six, out of bounds with my third shot and all of a sudden it made the challenge pretty difficult when it was such tough conditions. But that was pretty much what it came down to there, save two or three shots over those holes and I'm very, very close, I'm right up there again.

But it's difficult to win and you never know when the opportunity is going to come. I think these days generally the level that we all play at you're going to see people that you play with week in and week out win majors and you know if you do anything for a short time then you can do it, but you still have to put yourself up there and then get over the line when you do. But for sure it was his time and he was great. I'd love to be in that position again.

Q. You did well at the U.S. Open, as well. The Hinge last week, you got big support. You want to get a lot of support here, as well. Do you think Hinge was a good prep for the course you're facing here today?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I felt that at the time about the preparation, I thought it was a great decision to play that week in terms of the course and how it plays, definitely compared to this side. Definitely I think the Irish links courses do have a slight different character than the ones that are from our home. And I thought it was perfect preparation.

And I've been lucky, like over the years, to have really good support. I've always had a really good connection with the crowds and the friends that watch. And something that's always come pretty naturally, but something that you can never take for granted and I do love playing in front of a lot of fan support.

And obviously it's the Island of Ireland, but it's still a home Open, it's still the British Open. This is as much support as you're going to get. It has its advantages, you might be struggling, those guys are going to try and carry you, and you might be playing great and you just got to roll it out and that's the whole point of being home.

Q. Last year I think you failed to bring an umbrella. You're prepared for the elements this time?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, you never know what The Open is going to bring. Like I say, I am tying to get a 2019 Open Championship umbrella. And that will go in the bag.

Q. On a more serious note what about your -- how sort of much urgency do you attach to self, winning that first major? Is it something that you're thinking in front of your mind quite a lot or how do you handle it?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yes and no. You can't really force four tournaments a year. You can prepare as well as you possible can and then you have to play well in those weeks. I think, again, like I just mentioned, that the levels that we're playing at, and I think when you get to a certain point in like the World Rankings and World Golf when you play week in and week out with the best players in the world, every single one of the majors becomes -- it's not really an experience; it's an opportunity to win a major.

I haven't really been close this year, but I've played some consistent stuff in other events. I'm 28, your career is a long time. We're not tennis players or football players. But like at the moment I'm just about reaching what should be my peak year.

We'll see what happens. For sure every time I'm practicing or playing or prepping, majors are always going to be there and always the ones that everybody wants to win. But putting the urgency or putting too much pressure on yourself is not going to do yourself any favors. Just keep doing things as well as you possibly can. And hopefully, one, two, three majors, hopefully at least one comes along.

Q. Was there any sort of emotional comedown or left you spent at the end?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No, I mean I've played -- it's funny, a few people have mentioned that I haven't sort of played as well as I have done over the course of two years. Recently all the results haven't been there.

But you look at the year, I've had two or three opportunities to win, and some of them were big events like The PLAYERS or Bayhill. And if you knock one of those off, the year looks so, so different.

Again, people always look at majors, I guess, and look at those performances, which haven't been that great. But I just think, again, I've had two such amazing years, such great years. And this one's just been a little bit calmer and a little bit slower. But it's still been -- there's still been a high level of consistency. The results haven't been top five or top-10's all the time, but still a high level of consistency in other ways.

But, it's just not been as hot as it has been for two years. But I think that's always going to happen. If this is the worst I ever do, then I'll be just fine for the next few years. But of course you're always going to look at it and say, Look, this needs to get better, and I need to improve at this.

I've had experiences like the Ryder Cup, U.S. Open, where those are amazing experiences and things you look back on no matter what happens. But hopefully keep practicing, hopefully my form will come back to where I'd like it to be and I'll keep challenging it.

Q. Do you feel anymore expectations externally or within yourself or from other people?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Probably both. But expectation is a good thing. I think it shows you're doing a lot of good stuff. And clearly I'd rather it to be that way than people expecting it to be the other way.

It's just about managing that and about making sure you keep doing the same things or the right things over and over again. If you need to change things or just refresh things then do it.

But, no, expectation, high expectation is always going to be a good thing, just managing it the right way.

Q. I know you love doing it, what impact did hosting the British Masters have on your form? Did that take more out of you than you thought?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: You know, I don't really like making excuses, I think it probably caught up with me at the PGA, particularly Sunday, I didn't really have anything to play for at the end. I wasn't very well at the end. Frankie got a fever and I was the first one to get it. It was a tough week, but I absolutely loved doing it. I don't think it affected anything other than the second week I lost a bit of energy there. But I'll do it again in a heartbeat. But it might have affected like a couple of days play, it might not. I'm not really one to make excuses. It could have been other things, but I think it's there.

MODERATOR: Thank you so much for your time today.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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