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JOHNNIE WALKER CHAMPIONSHIP AT GLENEAGLESAugust 24, 2013Tommy FleetwoodGLENEAGLES, SCOTLAND STEVE TODD: Thanks for joining us, 67 there today, and obviously not quite the end that you were looking for but certainly the start and the middle‑‑ just reflect on your day out there. TOMMY FLEETWOOD: The hot start doesn't really mean anything to me. It's a tough hole and the way I hit my tee shot, I did well to get to six foot for par, and that could have been anything up to a 10 where I hit off the tee, so I had no shot really. The way I played the other 17 was fantastic really, getting myself up in that position. I have been up there a bit this year and sort of faltered a little bit, but it's just down to the way it's happened. It's nice that I've kept my good golf going for three rounds, and like I say, I putted really well today, and my irons were really good. So I gave myself lots of chances. When I did need to get up‑and‑down, I did, generally, so it's a really good round. STEVE TODD: You've been around the Top‑10 a few times now and you've obviously contended well on The Challenge Tour, how comfortable are you feeling now in this position? TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I feel very comfortable in this chair‑‑ no, I feel fine. This is what you spend hours and hours practicing for. So getting up there in golf tournaments, and obviously on The European Tour, this is what you dream about when you're a little kid and you want to play on The European Tour, and the Johnnie Walker, this is a massive event, and it's always one I used to watch. Now I'm the one sort of leading the golf tournament, and it feels very normal at the moment. Hopefully I can keep feeling this calm‑‑ I was a bit nervous out there at times and you get little trembly over 3‑ or 4‑footers downhill left‑to‑right, but I was coping really well. STEVE TODD: Go over a few of the details in the round. TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I didn't play the first that great actually. I pulled my tee shot and my second shot I pushed but it went right on to the pin. Just one of them shots you get, you push it and it ended up 15 foot way, and just holed the putt. Just one of them that you hit and it goes in, you don't really think much of it. That was a perfect start. And the second, I played great all week. I've had a 4‑footer, a 6‑footer for eagle, and then today, I eagled it again for the second time. It's just a good drive, good 4‑iron into the green, and the drop, it was a very similar putt to the first that I had, so kind of practised it. Just get the pace and go in and you're 3‑under through two, and it's the absolute dream start. Q. Can you tell us a bit more about 18, the problems you had there, please? TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, I carved my tee shot right into the trees, and once you go over there, it's anything.  I got lucky to have a chip out. If I didn't have a chip out, I don't know where I'd have dropped. I'd have had to go a hundred yards back and been trying to make a good six. But I chipped it out and I could reach and hit an okay 3‑wood. The bunker was really the best place to be. The green is just‑‑ the green's a nightmare. Mark Foster hits it straight down the middle of the fairway and pulls his second shot, and all of a sudden he's got no shot. It's such a tough green, and whether you hit a good tee shot or not, it can be a tough par, which will be good for viewing tomorrow if it's tight, but I did very well to have a 6‑footer for par. Okay, I didn't hit a great putt really. I read it well and pushed it and missed, but you know, walking off it, I didn't feel disappointed at all because I knew after the tee shot, I knew it was going to be a tough 6, even a tough 7. A 6 is fine, a tough hole, and you can make 6 from anywhere on that hole. Q. We are in Scotland; what would it mean if you could win here? TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I'd love it. I absolutely adore Scotland. Whenever I come, it has been good to me in the past. I won the Scottish Amateur and I got to the finals at the British Amateur in Turnberry when I was younger and I just always seem to feel comfortable when I come to Scotland. It's nice; my mom and dad can come here we get to bring the dog‑‑ she's been coming here for years and absolutely loves it. My parents would move here in a heartbeat if they could, and it's just a nice place that I feel comfortable in. It's nice to play well. Everybody's always very nice to me, and it just so happens that I've always kind of performed quite good in Scotland. Q. I read you were a drama student at one point; is that true? TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, I wasn't a drama student, I studied drama at school and maybe did a couple of plays back in the day, but the thought was there to get to drama school when I was leaving. It was always going to be a second option to golf and golf was always going to come first. It was an option, but I wouldn't take it very seriously. Q. Is it true you played Macbeth once? TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Years ago, yeah, I keep that quiet. Q. Just going back to The Challenge Tour, winning The Challenge Tour, that was great, and then how difficult was last year on the main tour, and how much more are you enjoying it this year? How much have you improved? TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I came off The Challenge Tour full of confidence, I go from being No. 1 amateur to winning The Challenge Tour, and it was all very‑‑ it felt very easy, really. I couldn't do much wrong. If things were going bad, it was like one missed the cut and then the next week I would play well, and it was fine and then you never really had any stress. And then turning to last year, sort of‑‑ I don't know what it was. I was still working hard but maybe I wasn't working on the right things, and I played terrible, and the more you play poor, you kind of‑‑ you know, it's easy to get into a downward spiral on this tour because it's so hard because everybody is so good. And you know, like I say, when I turned up to this tournament last year, I was‑‑ I don't know what I was on the Order of Merit, but I wasn't at the 150 mark. You know, it was horrible last year, really, for the first half, I didn't really know that many people, and yeah, I'm not crying about it, but it's just hard. That's what it's like. And that's why you don't get that many people that sort of retain their card the first year they get it. It's very difficult, and those are the sort of things you've got to look at. In all honesty, I'm not sure I would have expected to have gotten on this tour this year at this point, but I did; I ended up playing the second half of the year great, and I've carried it on. I know a lot more people this year. I get on with a lot more people really because you've played with them and you know them and you can talk to them, and you know, when you play well, you get a bit more confidence. I think my overall game is just a lot better. My long game has always kind of stood up, but if I played bad, then maybe I scored bad, sort of thing but my short game now is getting stronger and stronger. Like I said, the more you play, the better you sort of feel. This year's been great, really. It's been a great feeling to sort of get comfortable and play well and get up there and be in the relief of knowing you've got your card, even though‑‑ it wasn't really a goal this year to get my card, I was aiming a bit higher, but you've got it and it's a bit more stress‑free than it was last year, that's for sure. Q. So your short game is improving? TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, sure, my short gameis ‑‑ I played with Jamie‑‑ he's been fantastic, I have a lot of good people around me and Jamie is definitely one of them that's helped with my game. Q. Can you tell us where you're staying this week, and also how you would expect to plan your day for tomorrow? TOMMY FLEETWOOD: We're actually staying in a house at the back of the 12th hole. My mom always found somewhere in Scotland‑‑ she's very good at that. So it's very handy, really. I'll practice now for a bit and walk home. It's perfect. Tomorrow, I think it will be just a case of relaxing. I've always struggled with relaxing, really. I always want to get up and do things, and I always sort of want to practise. I think I get to Sunday and I'm knackered because I always do so much, and I love practising, I love trying to get better. But one of the things I need to do to get better is learn how to rest and relax. I'll be fine tomorrow. Just get up, lounge around and before you know it, it will be time to warm up at half‑eleven or whatever time it will be. It's better than a half‑two tee time or 3 o'clock. Q. Journalistic housekeeping, what's your mom and dad's names? TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Sarah and Pete. Easy ones. STEVE TODD: Best of luck tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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