	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

ABU DHABI HSBC CHAMPIONSHIP

January 15, 2020

Tommy Fleetwood

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

BRIONY CARLYON: I'm delighted to welcome back Tommy Fleetwood here to the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA.

Tommy, you must love coming back to Abu Dhabi, past champion here two years running, but how much do you enjoy this event?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I mean, a lot. I think the first few years I came here, I actually struggled. I always felt like I played pretty well, but I think I missed the cut for the first four years I played it.

But I think as an event, you know, when so many people are starting the year out, it is pretty much the best way to start the year. I've always enjoyed it. I've always think it throws you in at the deep end, a really tough test. If you've been home for a few months and you come out here, hotel is amazing, you feel great, and I've been -- you know, any time you win, there's always a bit of luck involved.

So I've been lucky enough to have a couple of really good years here, and I think it's started, those two years, in particular, the ones that I did win here, sort of catapulted me on for the rest of the year.

BRIONY CARLYON: You finished 2019 in Dubai and stayed on in the family and had a bit of a break. What did you get up to in your time off?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Not a lot, really. It was great in a way because I finished the year so strong, so it was nice to be able to do nothing and know that you had finished the year with a lot of satisfaction. Let your mind rest, really.

It can go the other way where you know you're going to have five, six, seven weeks without a tournament, and if I hadn't finished so well at the end of the season, it might play on your mind and you might overwork perhaps.

I didn't feel like doing anything until the kids said I don't play enough golf with them, so eventually I had to get the clubs out and start messing around a bit.

Q. What's your goals for the year? World domination?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I can't tell you that. I think as -- I think in general, I think people like to set goals for the year. Of course, there's targets to do with results. I think everybody always automatically assumes that the obvious ones are to win tournaments or to win majors or to compete in majors, and of course they are there.

There's other things I'd like to do. Of course I want to get to the Olympics. I think that's on my radar. The Ryder Cup is in September. There's clear goals and clear things that I want to be part of and that don't involve -- they don't necessarily involve, like I'm not just saying, look, I want to win Olympic Gold or I want to win The Ryder Cup. They are obvious but I would really like to be part of them to start with.

And then, you know, just clear signs of improvement. There are certain part of my game that I want to improve. Certain things about myself that I want to do better and places that I want to go.

So there's a lot of things. I like the new year because it always seems like a fresh start, not just for me but for everyone. You know, it's always nice starting out again.

Q. You mentioned about a win here, how it catapulted you forward. We saw it again with Shane last year and we've seen it with other players before. What is it about a victory in January that's sort of helped so much?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I think momentum. You know, from my two personal experiences, 2017, I had been in a slump for most of 2015 and 2016 and I felt like by the end of 2016, I was playing really well.

2017, I felt very ready to have a really good year. Felt very ready to win a tournament again, and it just so happened again that it was this one, and I think it just proved to myself that I was sort of back where I wanted to be and I think that gave me a lot of confidence.

Fast forward a year, I think I've had the best year of my life, and 2018 was just proof that it wasn't going to like not happen again. I was continuing my good form.

Those were those two years. You've had a break, and you always come into this week with a little bit of an unknown. I people have played already like a week before, which is actually a really good idea.

But I think when you've had that break, that's always a little bit of unknown when you start this week. No matter how much practice you've done, you haven't played a tournament, and you don't know how it's going to go, and if it goes well, then I think it's just clarity. It's clarity in people's minds, and I think it's just a step forward, like a big one.

So winning, there's not really a better way to start the year than winning, so I think that's a big part of it.

Q. You said last year you were hoping to cut one or two events from your schedule moving forward. How practical is that going to be in such a congested year, and is Race to Dubai on the radar, or is that one where you've already got the tee shirt?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I would like to cut a couple of events, but I would like to play as many as possible when it's the Olympics, Ryder Cup, the FedExCup, get all the way through that and Race to Dubai, get all the way through that. You want to play every event possible in that respect.

I just feel like I've had two or three years where I've played a lot. I've been playing both tours, and I've done really well. But I would love more of a chance to have a bit of time off, a bit more time with the family or a bit more time developing my game instead of actually preparing for a tournament.

So that is something that I'm looking to do moving forward, including this year, and I just think the summer period can get very, very busy but I would love it to be that way. You know, Race to Dubai is always going to be something that we strive for. I think playing sort of both sides, PGA and European Tour, you know straightaway that the only way you can win The Race to Dubai is by competing in the biggest events and doing well in those events.

So that's what I've got to do. I'd love to get, you know, the last three years, come into that last event with a chance of winning it all, I think is very special. It's something that I've been very grateful for and I've loved every minute of it when it gets to the last event. So fingers crossed, work hard, play well and do it again.

Q. When you finish a season like you did last year, how easy is it to make the decision that you are going to put your clubs in the garage and let it rest for four, five weeks?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Very. Like I say, it would have been harder if I had not played well. Last year had been so good in a lot of ways, but disappointing in others. I've learned from it for sure. You put so much emphasis on what you don't have, and I hadn't won a tournament for however long it had been. It was like a weight off my shoulders but I knew it shouldn't have been in a way.

I had done so many good things, but at times people had played better than me, or maybe a couple times I may have given it away, and that played a big part in winning because I had learned from the bad experiences.

You know, I was satisfied again, at the end of the year. DP World I played great but just so happened that Jon who has played amazing for a few years played better, and he was the guy that deserved to win that week and win The Race to Dubai.

I felt good. I felt like I had earned the time off and I had worked really hard. I was very, very happy to sit off and do nothing and just, you know, sit with my family and enjoy it.

Q. Can you give us your thoughts on the changes to the 11th hole in the golf course?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, actually funnily enough, I always sort of planned the practice rounds and what I want to do, and I wrote down to see how far right you can go. Because I always feel like people can go so far right off that tee normally end and up with a little pitch, and I got there, and I was like, not very far right. It's just a straight shot.

It definitely makes it a harder hole because you know, you can't carry that right side. So the right bunkers are in play, which are actually okay. But again, if you pull it, you're going to be in the rough. I just think that little bit they have added makes a big difference to the hole and same on 16, really. 16 is only ten yards longer.

But all of a sudden that corner is, you know, if it's into the wind or a crosswind, that corner, you can't carry it, and it makes it from the potential of having a short iron, you've now got a mid- to long-iron. I think those two changes on those holes are very good.

Q. You said just now that there are things about yourself that you want to improve. What are they? Surely you're perfect, aren't you?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, well, far from it. Just like everybody, really. Certain things you want to do. I'd love to spend more time with friends this year. You know, I wrote that one down. There's always things that I either want to read, I either want to watch, I either want to go and see somewhere that I haven't seen before. You know, but I guess the rest of me is pretty perfect, yeah, so there's only small things (laughter).

Q. Shane was in here a moment ago, and what's the thing about Shane?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: What's the thing about Shane? Like, sexually or? (Laughter).

Q. If you want to but that wasn't exactly what I had in mind. As a person. As a golfer.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I think one thing I've always -- Shane's one of my closest people out on Tour, and I think one thing I've always admired about him is how sort of freely he plays, especially when he's playing well. I love the flow to his swing. I think he's got one of the best short games in world golf, and I think when he matches that up with hitting it well, he's obviously very hard to beat.

I think, you know, last year was such a great year for him. I think he was so happy to win again here. I actually remember playing with him in Canada the year before, and you know, we chatted a lot on the way around and he had not been playing anywhere near what he'd like to, and he wasn't happy with it, but he was working hard. I just think, you know, getting that confidence from this win helped him a lot.

And the way he handled himself in The Open in difficult circumstances, really. He was in front of a home crowd; he had the lead; it was tough conditions. I just thought, as annoying as it was because I was the one that finished second, I thought he handled himself very well and he played great and he did everything on that Sunday in the right way.

I think he knows when he plays well, he's got a lot of confidence about him and he knows he can compete with anybody. At the end the day, he's won a World Golf Championships, he's won a major, and he knows how to do it.

BRIONY CARLYON: We wish you all the best for this week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297