THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE

July 19, 2020

Matthew Fitzpatrick

Muirfield Village

Quick Quotes

Q. Low round of the day by two; how were you able to pick apart a course that was playing that tough today?

MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Just hitting a lot of fairways. You know, I think I hit 11 fairways for the day, so that just allowed me to control the ball into the greens. The fact that it's playing so firm, you've really got to pick your spots, pick your targets. I'd say aggressive to conservative targets, and yeah, I think we sort of did that really well.

Q. How did the Bones experience help you this week?

MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Definitely. I mean, he's seen conditions like this plenty of times, and to have him on the bag was brilliant. I definitely learned a couple things off him, and I'll be picking his brain to see what I can improve on.

Q. But your normal caddie, to be clear, is coming back?

MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Billy is coming back, yeah. Billy is going to be back at Memphis.

Q. And 16, it seemed like you were almost playing for that right bunker. Walk us through that shot.

MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Yeah, we took a little longer than normal for that one. The wind was so strong. We knew we couldn't physically stop it on the green, so we just said, listen, just hit it in the bunker, try and make up-and-down, and fortunately did that, played a good bunker shot and made the putt.

Q. You shot 75 on Thursday; how did you kind of regroup? Did you make any adjustments after that?

MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: No, not really. I mean, I played decently over the weekend last week and I felt like my game was in decent enough shape. I wasn't too happy after Thursday's round. I didn't feel too comfortable. But then just something clicked, I guess. I just sort of felt a little bit more comfortable with the shots I was hitting and sort of my irons I just felt a little bit more comfortable over them. I felt like it was driving it well, and I sort of just continued that over the weekend.

Q. To finish top 5 certainly and maybe as high as second, what would that mean to you?

MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Amazing. You know, amazing. From where I was after Thursday, yeah, it wasn't highly expected; I'm going to be honest. Yeah, to be in the clubhouse now with 4-under is fantastic.

Q. You're probably just thinking, make the cut, right?

MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: I was, yeah. I was on Friday morning, Friday afternoon. Yeah, to finish where I have been, it's great. I felt like the weekend sort of played into my hands a little bit. The golf course really, really firmed up. It was really, really tough. I love it when it's like that. I sort of just got a little bit fed up the first few weeks of playing target golf, so to play around this place where you've got to think a little bit more, hit different shots, it's way better for me.

Q. The tougher the better for you?

MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Yeah, the way -- yeah, in my opinion, yeah. I much prefer it when it's tough. Guys aren't necessarily too happy when it's tough and level par can move you up spots, which is what I like. You've got to grind, and I'd rather stick in rather than just being sort of relaxed and going at every pin. I don't like that type of golf.