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THE 148TH OPEN

July 21, 2019

Tommy Fleetwood

Portrush, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

OLIVIA McMILLAN: It's my great pleasure to welcome the runner-up of The Open Championship, Tommy Fleetwood to the Media Centre.

Can you describe to us the day and how you're feeling at the conclusion of the Championship.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, obviously disappointed and a bit low. I look at it now, six shots back, but the last three or four holes were kind of a bit of a procession for Shane, and he did great.

I felt like if I could have -- I hit two great shots on 1. I didn't convert 2. I hit a good shot in after a pulled tee shot on 3, missed a short one on that. Them first few holes, when you start four back, pretty crucial. I didn't do a good enough job of sort of pressing at that point.

Struggled in the middle and four back with six to go still in it. 14 was killer. I know six shots is a long way behind in the end, but it always feels closer when you're playing.

And, yeah, it's not great now. I'm happy for Shane, don't get me wrong.

Q. Was there a point in that round where you thought I've lost my chance to catch him now? Was there a specific point?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: 14, I think. Especially -- definitely 15. I think 14 was just a bit of a killer blow, really. I hit a really good tee shot. After struggling through the middle of the round with my game, and when the weather came in, I missed a short putt on 10. I played 11 great, 12 great, 13 I hit an okay shot, it's hard to hold that green, good chip and putt on 14. Then you end up in the bunker, and you have to push something. Like a poor second shot out of the bunker.

Such a difficult hole if you're out of position that one, and clearly made a mess. Once that hole was over that was pretty much -- you never want to think like that, and you obviously carry on, but that was pretty much it.

Q. You're obviously low and it says a great deal you come in and face this lot after a day at the office. What do you take out of that? There must be a lot of positives out of it. It makes you say, I want to go one better and get one of these at least in my career?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I think first and foremost, whatever happened today was going to be an experience and you were going to take things from it. That's the first time I've played in the last group of a major on a Sunday.

You learn things as you go. You learn things about yourself. I watched Shane in The Open. I watched how he conducted himself and how he played. And for four rounds of golf I was the second-best player in the event, which is a great achievement. You have to look at it like that. I'm sure in a few hours or a couple of days I might see that.

But I'll reflect, I think I played a lot of very, very good golf this week. I think for me personally it was nice to play more like I feel like how I should play again. And of course in a major, it's my second runner-up in a major, which is great and I'm trending in the right way. I just hope my time will come eventually.

Q. There was no one in the afternoon under par. Can you talk about how difficult it was out there with those conditions.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I think when we got on the 8, 9, 10, just shocking, shocking weather. It was really, really difficult. I made a par on 9 that felt like a birdie.

It was just tough. I think everybody would have got to a point and start going backwards, they played really, really difficult. When the winds are like that on a links course, it plays hard, that's just the way it is. You've got to do your bit. I think that makes Shane's round of 1-over even more impressive, controlling the day like he did.

But it was just brutal. That is part of the Open generally, that's what it's supposed to be like. It was rough at times. I think the course played really, really difficult.

Q. I know the scores and the conditions were wildly contrasting, how does this feel different to Shinnecock?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Shinnecock I felt great that week. I had that rough Saturday. And Sunday turned up and it was -- if I had shot 78 on the Sunday, I would have finished top-20 at Shinnecock and it would have been fine. Shinnecock has a little piece of history, I shot 63 and it felt great. It was never my tournament.

Today was much more in the mix. I've had a really good feeling all weekend.

The other part of it is I'm not putting down the U.S. Open, but if I could pick one event it would be The Open. It's my dream, and it always will be. And you're teeing off in the last group on Sunday with a very, very good chance.

So it feels a lot rougher finishing when you feel like you've come so close to what you've dreamt as a kid. So that one just feels different.

Q. When you said you watched how he conducted himself, what did you see? He had been in this position before.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Played really well. Hit the right shots. Didn't always hit great shots. It was very difficult out there. Never lost control of himself. He made some key putts at key times, even down to the first hole, you know. The first hole, if you look at it, I have six or seven feet for birdie, six or seven feet for bogey, I hole, he misses, and we've got a one-shot gap, and that's only after one hole.

He did better in those moments than I did today. I just didn't convert the putts at time. And my errant shots, I didn't do a great job of fixing them.

But to lead by four at the start of the day and to keep that and to just control, he literally controlled the tournament from the start of today until the end, and that's a very, very impressive thing to do.

Q. You obviously understandably are disappointed now. But in a few days' time can you take the positives from finding your form that you'd been looking for in majors this season?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Gosh, you're starting asking questions about why my major performances are so bad this year.

Yeah, it's been a great week. My game hasn't been where I wanted it for a few weeks, and neither has my overall mindset. But that always happens when you're not playing that great, you're obviously not going to feel as confident.

This week I turned up and just had a good feeling, carried through. And, yeah, I'm going to look at this, I'm going to learn things, I can write things down on reflection, how I felt last night, this morning, on the golf course, what I could have done better, what I did do great and what I need to repeat next time.

You can reflect all you want when you finish 30th or 40th, but it's these kind of results that you look at and you know that you can find more in. Hopefully I'll put myself in position again, numerous times, and hopefully I can make it up. And eventually, we have a long way now until the next major. It will be difficult to come down for a few days but you've got to get back on it and start again.

Q. You mentioned it's 263 days or maybe 262 to the Masters, is that strange? Does it feel like that's going to be a really long time?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: It is a really long time. And the schedule has been -- the schedule has been tough this year. And I think part of that, if you're not playing great you actually don't have time this year to develop your game because you don't have that time to take periods off, really. You're constantly playing and you always have to turn up and perform with the way that it goes.

But it's a long time until the next major, but there's a lot to play for in between that time. That's what we do, we're professional golfers. Looking forward to getting back on it and practicing and hopefully improving.

OLIVIA McMILLAN: Thanks for all your time this week.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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