ALFRED DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP

September 28, 2022

Matt Fitzpatrick

Press Conference

CLARE BODEL: Welcome to the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. It's always a good week, a bit different, having a team element, but for you this week, your mum is your partner. Looking forward to that?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, really looking forward to it. Said to her at the start of the year if I got my World Ranking high enough that we'd play. You know, I also realise that the criteria, you have to win a major, you pick your partner. Obviously doing that in June kind of confirmed that she could play, and I didn't need to fix the World Ranking part, so that was good. But yeah, she's looking forward to it.

I'm really concentrating on the team thing this week. I'm not bothered about the individual.

CLARE BODEL: How special does it make it that you can come and play a professional round of golf with your mum?

MATT FITZPATRICK: It's fantastic. It's really, really surreal. I was just thinking in the car on the way here that on Saturday, I'll be playing with my brother in a European event; I'll be playing with my mum on the 18th at St Andrews. It really doesn't get much more special than that. It's exciting.

Q. On that subject matter, are you going to have to watch your language a bit on the course this week?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Probably, yeah. Probably will. I'll have to be careful. But I'm always careful. I don't think my dad's too worried. There's no way he could have played in front of people; yeah, he's far too nervous for that.

We were actually thinking if my brother was drawn on another rotation, like who is he going to watch, is he going to watch him or is he going to watch us? It's worked out really well. She's playing well. She's doing all right.

Q. What's her handicap?

MATT FITZPATRICK: 21 but she's better than that. I've not played with her recently. I'm trying to think the last time I did play with her. Maybe the start of the year in Florida like March time. She's been having quite a few lessons and stuff. She's enjoying her golf.

Q. Does she tell you off or have tantrums?

MATT FITZPATRICK: She probably would but there will be none of that this week.

Q. Growing up, did you play with your Mum and your dad?

MATT FITZPATRICK: We played as a family. We would all go on holiday and been lucky enough to go to plenty of places and play golf as a family which has been nice.

Q. There's a few family affairs this week, you, Rory, Tyrrell and I think Thomas is playing with his son. How special is that for a professional sportsman to get the chance to an event like this with a family member?

MATT FITZPATRICK: It's incredible, it really. Is they are memories that will stay with you forever. To be able to do it at St Andrews and to be able to do it with my mom and to play alongside my brother, yes, it's incredibly special.

Q. Does that bring a little bit of sort of different pressure?

MATT FITZPATRICK: No, not really. I'm really just trying to enjoy it as much as possible this week. There's quite a lot of seriousness in my comment about not bothered about individual this week. I'm just going to go out there and support my mom as best I can. I want her to enjoy it more than anything. I don't want her to be nervous or worried about anything.

Q. Rory said he would swap an individual win for a team win. Would you do the same?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Oh, 100 per cent, yeah. Not even a question. It would mean the world to my mum, and I think to be able to win something together, particularly as a family is always a special feeling. It would be unbelievable if we did.

Q. How have you prepared? Have you had a couple practise rounds recently or not?

MATT FITZPATRICK: We played Carnoustie this morning. Played a few holes there. Played Kingsbarns yesterday. Obviously I've played here in the summer, so I know this one, but she might go and play a few more this afternoon.

Yeah, she's been playing a little bit recently. So yeah, she's ready to go.

Q. Back to Italy, your last appearance. The way things panned out on the 71st hole, and your thoughts on the way that worked out for you, and your thoughts on Bob winning early in the Ryder Cup campaign, what can that do for him?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, for me, it was disappointing, I'll be honest. The front nine, I think it's favorites I could have almost sort of -- obviously if I had the back nine I did have, I should have wrapped it up. I didn't make any putts on the front nine and hit it as good as I have all week.

And then obviously I was so pleased with myself for staying so patient, get it going on the back nine, and you know, that was a real big thing for me being so patient and I've learnt a lot this year on that and myself.

And getting to 17, you know, I've looked back at it since and I just didn't have enough clarity with the shot that I hit. It was all a bit kind of not rushed, just putting a swing on it and hope for the best. There wasn't enough commitment I guess to it. You know, it was disappointing there.

In terms of Ryder Cup rankings and stuff, it's still early days. You know, it's still really, really early days. A lot can change between now and September but you know, it's obviously important to get off to a good start. I think it's good for confidence going into the rest of this season and into next to have a win.

I'm sure it will put Bob in a good frame of mind going into the rest of the season.

Q. Played that playoff hole well, didn't he? Pretty impressive.

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, he played them well, definitely. (Laughter).

Q. It looked like you were put off twice on the hole by the photographers but you didn't make a great deal of it. Was it something you were able to get over pretty quickly?

MATT FITZPATRICK: It was just the first shot. It wasn't actually a photographer. It was where the tee was, the 17th green was kind of down a hill and just out of shot, basically. There's a TV tower and I don't know who it was but they were like bringing it down. They were trying to dismantle it or whatever they were doing, I don't know. They were just -- right on the backswing, they were banging and stuff, and that was for the tee shot.

After that, it was fine. I couldn't do anything about it. It was one of those things. Yeah, obviously disappointing to have that in the playoff, really.

Q. Just wondered if you watched much of the Presidents Cup last week and what you made of it? You didn't?

MATT FITZPATRICK: I saw zero of it and I couldn't have had less interest in it, yeah.

I mean, it turned out to be close in the end, apparently. I don't know what the final score was. But people were telling me that the U.S. was just destroying the Internationals to which I responded during that time when they were saying that, I was like, it feels like a bit of a non-competition. But then obviously it turned out to be close.

But yeah, I didn't watch.

Q. Was that a deliberate thing that you didn't watch?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, just no interest and I was busy.

CLARE BODEL: On that note, we'll let you go, Matt. Thank you very much.