BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

October 7, 2020

Tommy Fleetwood

Wentworth Golf Club

Press Conference

BRIONY CARLYON: Tommy delighted to have you back at the BMW PGA Championship once again. Give us a sense of how nice it is to be back playing at home and at a course that you truly love.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, it is always lovely coming back to this one. I think normally with it comes like the atmosphere of home fans and I always think it's one of the best ones to play in front of.

I think the first tee is always a really nice feeling when you walk to the first tee, and how much they support you. The 18th is always a great finish. It's different. We have had some bad weather in the past, so not really a time of year that makes a difference, but the course seems to be playing quite different. But it is lovely, great hotel, English, parkland course. Still lots of good with it.

Q. How was the sulking on the journey home on Sunday night?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, Aston Villa put an end to the sulking pretty much quite rapidly. I didn't really process it much. I didn't really think about it much too. At the end of the day, there's certain things that happen, and while I did think about it for a couple of minutes, I thought, I did everything right, really. I missed a few putts early in the week. I missed one particular putt, I had a bad putt -- I didn't feel like I let myself down in any other way other than hitting that one putt and that was it. I hit a great putt to get into the playoff.

Lordy said a nice thing on Monday night, "Got to be here to cock it up," so I thought that was a good way of putting it. I quite liked that and it was absolutely fine. Aston Villa made the day better.

Q. Listening on the radio?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, had it going in the passenger seat. I was trying to watch it and it was unbelievable, really.

Q. Can I just take you back a few years, I think this was the scene of one of your worst, darkest moments this, course. I just wonder when you come back, does it remind you of how far you have travelled?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I think there's always, I guess, nice little moments, sure. I remember it very, very well. The course seems very different or certain shots feel very different like that first tee. And yeah, you know, like you say, I've spoke about that before and this was the event where -- it's funny, really, because I had just started working with Tommo again, and I was shocking, and we sat down, talking about it. I was in a pretty dark place. Finno had come to watch, he wasn't caddying at the time, and he was the one I said to in the car, he said, he said, "How are you doing?"

"Well, might not play to be honest. Driving it terrible." He didn't understand because he hadn't seen me for a bit. It's funny I have people with me that were part of that, as well. But I tend not to look back too much. It's always there, but sometimes it's a nice little reminder if I do happen to play poorly or not have the week I want, it's a nice reminder to think how far I've come along since then. That was end of 2016. Made the cut.

Q. Being a multiple winner of The Race to Dubai, high on the agenda?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, it's nice to have that there throughout last few years. Like I've gone to Dubai the last three years and I've said like it's a privilege, really, to get to that event and coming on Sunday to The Race to Dubai and I've been in the group on Thursday a few times, so you start off the week and you're in the top two of The Race to Dubai, playing on that Sunday, and I absolutely loved coming down the stretch last year with a chance.

Didn't quite happen, and first, third, second last three years, and then this year, I want to keep that spell going and it's something that I'm kind of proud of, the consistency of being that high up and I've played well in the right tournaments for the last few years now.

So yeah, I'd absolutely love that. There's some amazing names that have won it once and there's some amazing names that won it multiple times. So I'd love to be one of them.

Q. This is probably the last chance to make a big move before Dubai, as well?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: There's the Masters. There's a tournament called the Masters that makes a difference. There is a couple big events left, and like you say, where you can make a big move in.

Q. Unrelated, the Olympics next year, how much is that on your sort of agenda?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, it's a goal, absolutely. I would love to do it. I think when we all watched it last time -- I think just the fact golf is in the Olympics; I find the Olympics such an inspiring, however long it lasts for, three weeks, four weeks, however long it lasts for, I find it such an amazing thing to watch and inspiring, and you see people that have chased an Olympic medal their whole careers and I love the whole atmosphere to do it. I would love to get there and compete for a medal, 100 percent. I would love to wear the Great Britain badge. I've definitely got that in mind and I would love to be one of the guys that represents our nations.

Q. Very competitive?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, we're in one of those countries where there's a lot of good players but that's part of it, and I think there are certain things that will take care of that. I know the Top 15 in the world get in automatically, so I think again it's one of those goals where you really just have to focus day-to-day on what you're doing as a player to get to where you want to be. I just want to keep doing that.

But I always look at that as something to keep me pressing forward, the chance of being in the Olympics.

Q. There's a lot of talk about getting fans back into sport, the last few days, particularly. Have you saw any reason why you couldn't have a limited spectator or limited crowd here this week?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: It's very difficult and very complicated at the moment. There's so much going on, I think it's just very difficult, and I think everybody has -- to be honest, I don't know how to answer that question. Because yeah, of course we'd love to play in front of fans and I'd love people to have the chance to do something they enjoy and watch some golf. But you know, who knows what the right thing to do is and how it should go.

I think the whole thing at the moment is it is like you have to look at the worst-case scenario, I guess and what's the worst that can happen. It's a question that I think so many people would struggle to answer. I don't know what's right, and I don't know what's wrong either. It would be lovely, of course it would. Like I say, I really don't know.

Q. You mentioned that the course is playing differently at this time of year. Do you think it's playing differently in a way that's going to work to your advantage this week?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I would say that even if I didn't think that anyway. I do I think it's playing softer. It's playing longer. Like I played a few holes last night, and I hit a driver and 5-iron to the first where, last couple of years, I thought, I'll smash a drive down the tee and if it gets down to the bottom, I'll flick in like a sand iron.

Third, I hit drive and a 3-iron to. That's never happened before. So I think this year, the length of it is different. I don't know what the wind is going to be like, but it's been strong the last two days. It's been so tricky in the trees the way it plays. I think it's definitely played different.

Having said that, I always sort of thought of some tough shots and tough holes and Danny Willett will go and shoot 20-under around a golf course which I don't see at all. There's always people that play well and shoot good scores, but I do think it's playing a bit more difficult and probably the softer it is, the better it is for me.

Q. Last week in Scotland, you seem to play as well as you have done for quite some time. In terms of the venue, would you be in favor of The Scottish Open staying at Renaissance, putting it around again, if they sign a new contract?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Very, very good question. I think it was a great venue. I definitely can't like -- there's a lot of amazing courses in Scotland and I don't think it would ever go wrong moving around. But I think that last week was a fantastic venue. I thought the course was great. I think it was a fantastic challenge and you know, we stayed on site. I was ten yards from the putting green. I was on practice ground. Walked to the first tee and it was like amazing hospitality while we were there, and all that I absolutely loved. I did have a fantastic week.

So I would be, like I say, if it moved anywhere in Scotland, I think it's very easy to get it right and there's some fantastic courses, and I think -- I do think whenever we play links courses, the players love. It they love the different challenge. They love some of the golf holes and it always seems to go really, really well, but Renaissance would be a fantastic venue for sure.

Q. You've got a good grouping first two days, Danny and Shane, what are your thoughts playing alongside Shane, probably none, but any extra incentive with the Open Champion?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No, there was extra incentive when I was playing with him in The Open in the final round. No, it will be a lovely three ball. Again, it never really makes that much difference who you play with, but also when you're comfortable with people, and there's like a similar pace to how people play or you play with them a lot, and you know them really well, I think it does make a minor difference.

And it's nice, you can have two long days with people you get on well with and people you know. I think that would be lovely. I think, you know, Rolex event, BMW, PGA, I think all of that is plenty of incentive and just get cracking and play. We'll all be doing our own thing. It is nice when you get a comfortable grouping, like the last round on Sunday with rocky, I really enjoyed. I saw rocky before, I said, I really loved Sunday by the way. Said it was good, wasn't it. It is nice when you get people you enjoy playing with.