BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

August 25, 2024

Tommy Fleetwood

Castle Pines Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. How proud are you of the way you played this week to play your way into East Lake?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I'm very happy. I think today was a good day. I think it's always -- it's kind of a good challenge because you know that you -- you don't need to do anything, but you know you want to shoot a good score and you know it feels important. It's just a nice challenge mentally going out there and playing when you know you've got something on the line.

I was happy with that. I felt like it was tough, and yeah, I played really well and putted well.

Q. Since obviously Paris and maybe a little more, how taxing has this stretch been for you, and getting to the end, how big is that for you?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No, I feel okay. I think at this point in the year, I think you start to see so many guys starting to get frustrated, which is so easy to do. I think, again, it's important to sort of have a good sense of where you are and how you feel.

Coming towards the end of anything, you're obviously trying to push that bit more. It's always quite a long season bunched up, but again, you want to be there until the end, and I think playing in these events is always a good thing.

There's definitely times when you get frustrated and that's showing a bit of mental tiredness, if you like, but I felt pretty good, and I felt like especially this weekend, I had a good handle on things because last week in Memphis was so frustrating. I played unbelievably well, and I was last in the field in putting.

When you play like that, you want to capitalize on it, and I felt like that was very frustrating knowing where you sit in the FedExCup. This week, as well, Friday was kind of a day where I could have done better, so I felt like I just had to stay with it, and this weekend sort of got more out of it.

Q. Do you feel like you're hitting the ball as well as you've hit it all year?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No, not quite. Honestly, I never felt that comfortable at the Olympics with my game, but I played very well. Played well last week. This week I've shown a lot of good stuff.

But honestly, overall, aside from -- there was a stretch in Florida like Bay Hill and PLAYERS, I was really struggling with my game. Came back out for Valero and the Masters and played very well through that stretch, and I think even the middle of the year -- I've said a bunch of times the one thing that's been lacking, I haven't had that many amazing results. Like I had a third in the Masters and a second in the Olympics, but everything in the middle, I've played some exceptional golf I feel like and I've done so many things well. The results have been good, but just not the great ones that actually have a massive impact on things like the FedExCup and the year and things like that.

Consistently been very, very good, very solid, and yeah, just a case of being patient, I think, because there's been a lot of good stuff.

Q. What have you heard about the changes at East Lake?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Do you know, Finau just said walking down the 18th, he said there's 18 new greens, like it's a new layout. That was the first I'd heard of it. I don't know why. I probably knew at the time last year, but I haven't heard anything, so that was the first I've heard of it. Looking forward to it. It'll be a nice challenge.

Q. Apparently it's quite different, like a lot of trees are gone and some greens have been moved.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, I'm happy I get to see it, that's for sure.

Q. You seem almost underwhelmed by the fact that you have moved into the top 30. Is that because it's something you would have expected of yourself anyway to start the year?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No, I think -- it's a good question. Yeah, I think I've played well enough to be in a better position than what I was in coming into this week, but at the same time, standard of golf is incredibly high.

I think making it to East Lake -- like the difference between East Lake and not is a less of a difference than last week and this week, if you like.

I think making it to East Lake is an amazing achievement, and that's somewhere that you aim to be, and it'll be a fantastic end to the PGA season and I look forward to playing next week and trying to get the most out of it.

But in terms of difference it makes to your season, it's not huge, so I think -- when I look at it that way -- that was one of the targets, as well. As soon as you put too much pressure on yourself for something, it's the easiest thing to do in the world, now it becomes harder. I think downplaying that all week and stuff has helped me.

Yeah, look, honestly, I'm absolutely made up to have made it. I really, really am. But I think I spent that much time trying to be calm and downplay it that I'm just doing the same now.

Q. Were you looking at the chopping and changing --

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: A bit. Not loads because there's so much that can change, so much that can happen. There's so many holes that have so many variables on it. I was trying not to focus too much on it. But the leaderboards are there, and you can see.

Yeah, the closer you get down the stretch, the easier it is to focus on it, but I was trying to play my game and have a good round, and there was a point there after 11 holes where I felt like if I could get one or two more, I'm all of a sudden in contention and there was the tournament, as well, to think about.

Q. Would Rory not have been able to replace his driver, do you know?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I don't think so. I think the little -- the strong lean and snap probably took that out.