BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

October 10, 2020

Tommy Fleetwood

Wentworth Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. A round of 67, sounded like it was full of incident, some great shots into the green, missed putts, in the water at the last. What's your reflections on it?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: It was a good day. I played really well. I had a lot of chances that most of the time I didn't take. Hit great iron shots into 15, 16. Yeah, hit it into the water. Actually had a very, very good shot. It just spun up. Still a pretty good shot. Got up-and-down.

Q. Let's take a through look through some of the highlights. You made an albatross on four a few years ago.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, it was on its way. Just a great shot. It was on its way. Someone actually said to me -- where did you hit the albatross? It was this hole and that pin.

Q. You had to be patient because you were missing some opportunities and you needed to make up ground on the leaders and the spark came on 15 on this shot which setup a birdie.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Right about now, I said, "Go in." It was that kind of day. I needed something to happen. I just need to hit it close, really, to make a birdie, really, after 14 and 11.

Q. You mentioned the putt on the last?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, it was funny, really, because haven't holed your fair share or anything like that, not necessarily the pressure but it just seems to build on it and they become more and more important really.

It was a really good day, nice to build some momentum on the back nine, and today was all about, for me, staying very present and doing what I could do, playing my game, and I had to play very, very well. All the guys ahead are extremely good players.

It's easy to get frustrated when you are missing chances and you know you might have had a chance to catch up, but just keep hitting golf shot after golf shot and see where we end up at the end of the day.

Q. Areas of frustrations on the front nine?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, seems a couple people said that already. It's obvious I had plenty of chances that maybe weren't going in. It is easy to guess frustrated at that point because you know you've started the day quite a few behind and you need to try and play catch up a little bit but for me it was trying to stay very present and keep hitting golf shots and see what happened at the end of the day and it was nice to get a little momentum going down the stretch.

Q. We saw a lot of missed putts all over the field today.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: That's good to hear.

Q. Did you find anything different?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No. To be honest, I'm working hard on my putting, and you know, at the moment, it's just about going out there and trusting it, seeing what happens, and yeah, I didn't -- putts didn't go in for me today. I guess it is always nice to hear that other people may have struggled, as well, on the green, so maybe there's something you can be a bit kinder to yourself if it's been that way.

But the greens have been pretty pure. Hard to imagine many places in the U.K. with greens like this in -- what month are we in, October? Yeah, so it's getting later on in the year and the greens are holding up amazingly well.

Q. The difference in scoring on the front nine and back nine, will that play into any strategy tomorrow?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: We'll see. We'll see. Just do the same as the last couple of days. Obviously I had a terrible start to this tournament, so to even be talking to you now on a Saturday and in with any kind of chance is great. I've been playing very, very well, so just try and keep that up and see if putts drop.

Q. Really solid stuff in terms of scoring, put yourself right up there. How do you reflect on it as a whole?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Just happy, really. Happy that I've played well. Did a lot of things well. Got a nice bit of momentum on the back nine and finished the day better than I started it, really. That's all you can ask for on Saturday.

Nice to just sort of hit great shots and like build confidence, and that was it for me today. Good, solid stuff and can relax now for a bit.

Q. 18, a little concerned when the shot went into the water that that run might come to an end?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: That's a funny one, it was in the semi rough and the grain was against me and had 216 to the front, and in a way, if you trust your game, it's worth going for it. I actually hit a very, very good shot. So only just left it at the pin but spun up a lot and goes in the water and could drop it close to the green and just trust yourself to get it up-and-down which I did.

That putt on last, for all the putts that maybe don't go in in the day that could be frustrating; that one on the last feels really, really good, and it's one of those that of course you expect it to hole, like pros hole the majority of those putts, but it's still an important one to end the day.

Q. When you look at where you were after nine holes on Thursday, to be standing here now, where you are in the leaderboard, it must feel pretty good.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, it does. You know, you just have to keep playing all the time. That's your job and that's all you can ever do, and it's nice to, like you say, stood here now, people are talking, giving me interviews like I'm in some sort of contention. I'm not that far off. Hopefully it's a good message to the kids, just keep going because you never know what's going to happen in golf. I might not win this week or I might not come close tomorrow, but at the end of the day, I've got here to this point on Saturday after a really bad start, and without changing much, as well. It wasn't as if I flipped a switch or whatever. I just kept going. Here we are.

So hopefully I can carry on the good play that's been whatever it is for the last 40-odd holes.

Q. Close in Portugal and very close last week in Scotland. How do you feel going into what could be a very nice Sunday for you?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Better about my game than I did a month or two ago. I came home from America, was struggling. Got back to work, and I've played -- feel like my game has been progressing really, really well and I'm playing some really good stuff. I'd have loved to have converted some more birdies but that's golf. When you put it all together, those are the weeks where you really do finish out on top.

For me, I feel like I'm doing a lot of very good stuff and I feel good about my game, and any time you're in contention, and you're playing on Sunday, it's a privilege and it's just -- you should always like give yourself -- the way you're doing it is the right stuff and you're right at where every single player at the start of the week wants to be. Just go out tomorrow and do the same thing, and lucky to be competing.