THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 20, 2013

Matthew Fitzpatrick

Q. (Inaudible.)
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Probably the British Boys final I played. Yeah, there was quite a few there. I think other than that, this is by far.

Q. (Inaudible.)
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: I think I was 6-under in the morning. I don't think I hit a bad shot, really. And, yeah, it gave me confidence I can do it. But in a way almost this week's given me even more confidence in that I've played good, to be honest. But I feel like I can compete with these guys, really. I'm obviously not quite near the top yet, but there's some big names that missed the cut.

Q. Does that also mean something like the English coming up (inaudible.)
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Precisely. I said to the pros I've played with so far, it's an anti-climax to go back home on Monday.

Q. The pros you're not necessarily played with but encountered, any memorable encounters the last few days?
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: All of them. All of them have just been absolutely fantastic. I'd probably say one that did stick Russell Henley. Got my ball into the deep jungle on 17, and he sprinted after it. For me that showed out how supportive he was for me. And he was just a really nice guy.

Q. Any stars in your eyes?
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Yeah, I think I've already told the story about 50 times, definitely walking past Tiger, not even knowing he was there, and then turning around and like, oh, right, it's Tiger. Dustin Johnson was just behind me. Padraig was the other side. And they're all big players, and, yeah, they were like nobody compared to Tiger just there. It was really, really cool.

Q. Considering your dislike of 18 this week, will you be able to enjoy the walk tomorrow?
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: I don't know. I think I'm going to see what position I'm in, really. I said to the caddie just coming off the last, depending on what position, I'm just going to bash driver. Because playing sensible so far hasn't seemed to do too well for me there. I'll just see how it is. Hopefully the wind will change because I think that suits me a bit better, but we'll see.

Q. What was your highlight of these rounds?
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Bunker shot on 16, probably. It was about, I don't know, about 25 yards or something in there. It ran quite a bit. It's not easy, and took it to about a foot and everyone went pretty crazy.

Q. On the practice ground the other day were you stopped?
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Well, no, I was going onto the practice ground and someone said, "Have you got any ID?" And then I was like "no." And then I remembered I had my badge, and I had to show my badge. And he was in a bit of a shock, and he said, okay.

Q. (Inaudible.)
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: That was Monday.

Q. Where are you staying this week?
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Down in Duns, about 40 minutes away.

Q. Why there?
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: The house was affordable. We looked at a few properties before, and there was a lot available, but a house -- I've got the whole family, as well, the house that sleeps eight at four grand, isn't really what we're looking for.