THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Tommy Fleetwood tote interview room, making his fifth career start at the TOUR Championship entering the week ranked fifth in the FedExCup standings.
Tommy, can we get some thoughts about your return to East Lake?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I think it's always -- I think the playoffs are a great time of year. I think to have made it this far is great, and obviously there's always opportunity ahead in these three weeks, and I always just think this is always a really cool atmosphere of a tournament.
I think it's a great achievement to make it here, and I think it keeps getting harder and harder. I think the standard keeps getting higher.
For me as a PGA TOUR player, to make it through to the last event of the year, I'm always very happy with.
Q. You're coming off of T4 and T3 finishes in the first two playoff events. Can you share a little bit about the strength of your game going into this week?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I've played well. I feel like I've played very consistently throughout the year, and as of late, I've put myself in very good positions. I've had great tournaments.
It's funny really; you walk off the course on Sunday last week and I was happier with a fourth-place finish than I was with a third in Memphis. It's a strange game that way. But just very happy with the consistency of my golf and the level I've been playing at.
Golf is a crazy game. You never know what you're going to turn up with week in and week out, but this year has been a very good year, and the last few weeks have been good as well.
Q. You've played many years on the European Tour and more recently here on the PGA TOUR. Can you give us an idea of the change or if there's a degree of difficulty one versus the other in terms of golf? And what kinds of adjustments you had to make when you came over here.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I think there's definitely a different style of play, if you like. The European Tour, DP World Tour, which I sort of first turned pro and got my card, I think you played all over the world.
But when I came on the PGA TOUR, I think the firmness of the golf courses, thickness of Bermuda rough at times, there was definitely certain things that I had to learn.
So I think it's a different style of golf, if you like, and I definitely had to learn some things around that.
I think it's probably an obvious one. The majority of the best golfers in the world are playing on the PGA TOUR right now. There's always that element to it as well.
But I think for me, my first years on TOUR, 2017, 2018, as well as I was playing around that time, I think there was definitely elements that probably held me back that I had to improve through the next few years.
I think just not growing up on that just took me some time, but that was definitely the biggest thing for me.
Q. What's the balance between the consistency you've shown that you spoke about on the PGA TOUR and the fact that you haven't got that win and the fact that it gets mentioned, the likes of me questioning you about it, is that a fine line mentally for you?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I think I do -- I work really hard on making sure that I make it all into a positive. Of course, I'm not going to feed you lies and say, oh, Memphis I thought I did everything great, or Travelers I didn't do anything wrong. Of course I got things wrong down the stretch and it didn't happen for me.
But you just learn from those experiences, and I think the overriding, I guess, emotions are a lot of positives. I would rather you be questioning me about not finishing tournaments off than not questioning me at all about anything. So I've obviously shown a lot of really good stuff and put myself in great positions.
I've said every single time that I just want to put myself there again. I want to give myself another chance. I'll finish it off at some point. I'll get it right and I'll get it right more than once. But being there is actually the hard part in a way.
I think there's so many -- I don't feel like I have to rattle off all the good stuff about it, I just need to be aware of it, know that I'm doing the right things, and know that there's still things that I can get better.
You use them both in a good way. I would use the disappointments as motivation, and I would use the good stuff as confidence boosting for me.
Again, best case scenario coming down the stretch at East Lake with a chance to win, whether I get it right or not, whether it happens or not, whether someone plays better or not, I'll talk about that at the time, but I would love to get there and give myself that chance again.
Q. You always seem completely on the level and calm. You never appear much different when we see you. Is there a moment where you kick a cart or smash a window or whatever you might do? Does that exist?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Not really. I get disappointed and I get angry, but I don't think anything ever good has come from -- I've thrown the odd club in the water or something when I'm out there and maybe feel a bit better for a while. But I'm not that great at being angry. It just doesn't suit me.
I just kind of let it go. I work really hard on letting things go, moving on. Not that much great comes from those moments of anger, if you like.
But like I say, like anybody, I get disappointed. I get frustrated. I get angry. I doubt myself. Of course I do.
But it's all part of being a professional athlete and part of trying to chase your dreams and accomplish great things about unbelievable golfers. I also enjoy working at that part as well.
Q. You come in here ranked fifth in the FedExCup standings, but it really doesn't matter anymore. Everybody is starting at zero. I didn't know if you liked that much better than the staggered start and if maybe you didn't quite, what would you do with this event?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I don't know, to the second question. I think it's really difficult. I guess the question is what is the FedExCup or what are the FedExCup playoffs, and I'm definitely not one to answer that. I just want to keep playing and competing. I think it's great being here, and I think -- I'm sure everybody aside from Scottie Scheffler loves the fact that we're all starting on a level playing field. You win this week and you're holding two trophies or whatever that is.
In all honesty, I didn't know until today or yesterday what the -- obviously I knew it was a normal tournament, but I didn't know everything evolving around it, what the circumstances were or what -- I try not to get sort of carried away looking into those things.
I think it's exciting. It's probably more exciting for the players to come here, everybody on a level field, knowing it's an unbelievable opportunity to have a great week, win the tournament and obviously leave here unbelievably happy. I think staggered start, for guys that are here, I think you would probably -- I'm thinking, I made it last year -- I finished sixth in the BMW to make it here. Obviously I'm starting at level par or something, or 1-under, just trying to have a great week. You know that -- you also know even though it was a staggered start, you also know that there's the background of the tournament where the scores do count for things like world ranking and things like that. So there's always that.
The honest answer is I don't know. I love that I have a chance to win this week. What would you do different? I'm not so sure.
Q. You did talk about the best thing for this week would have a chance to win. Other than maybe a major, is this the ultimate place to have your first win?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: That's a tough question. I think different tournaments have different meanings to you. There's so many unbelievable tournaments. I'm not going to be picky about which one I choose to have as the first one. This one would be a good one. I think there's a bunch. I really, really do. Putting emphasis on one is pretty hard. But I think it would be pretty funny if I won this week and then got the FedExCup as well. I think that would be funny.
No, I'm not going to be picky.
Q. Question about the course: Have you played the back nine out there this week?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah.
Q. I believe the 15th hole has that longer tee box now. Could you describe the difficulty of that hole and your mindset going into that one?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I played it today. I'm not sure if they'll put it off that back tee. I mean, they might. I hit two great shots today and couldn't hit the green. I don't know, maybe everybody else can and it's me that's struggling. But that back tee -- if the wind is in a particular direction, I think it's just a bit harsh that you're on a par-3 hitting a great shot and can't hit the green.
It'll be interesting really. Yeah, it's a very tough hole. It's a better hole with a short iron in your hand, in my opinion. But whatever they do, I'll stand up and try and hit a good shot.
Q. You're a very strong par-70 player, whether you know that or not. Does your mindset change at all when there's less par-5s? Is there something about your practice habits that make you so good -- this is your third week of a par-70 in a row, and there's a par-70 in about a month I'm sure you're interested in. So I'm just curious.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I don't know. I probably wouldn't consider myself a birdie machine, so maybe if there's less chances of birdies, it helps me. I'm not sure. Maybe certain holes that are supposed to be a par-5 and they're a par-4 require a bit more patience or something like that, different -- I don't know. It's probably a nice thing to have that I'm good at a par-70. I'm really not sure. Don't know.
Q. Do you get more nervous at things like last week or the Ryder Cup?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Oh, the Ryder Cup. The Ryder Cup for sure.
Q. The schedule was announced today for next year, and they've added a ninth Signature Event, which means from April to July there's five Signature Events and four major championships. While the positives are obvious in having another big event to play, are there negatives in having so many big events packed into that part of the schedule right before the playoffs?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I think you can -- you can obviously pick apart anything in any way you want. I think the schedule will be condensed. I think the schedule was condensed this year, but that's what we've got put in front of us. I think we all have an option to play or not play whatever we want, so you can schedule it however you want. If you want to play all of them, what an amazing stretch of opportunities for you in terms of big events. Great thing about golf is all of those weeks can completely change your year and change your career.
Yeah, it'll be tough and it'll be busy. But again, we all have the option of scheduling it however we want in terms of what we play, what we don't play, how we feel like our bodies will cope with it, how we feel like we'll mentally cope with it.
But yeah, for us that have the opportunity to play in those Signature Events and the majors, I just think I would much rather go into it with the mindset of huge events, great opportunities, try and do everything I possibly can to play well and see where we're at.
Q. On that note, it's going to go Masters, Hilton Head, New Orleans, and then Doral Signature Event, Quail Hollow and PGA Championship. Do you see yourself playing all five of those?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, I don't know. You've got to let me think about it first, or look at it.
Q. Take your time.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Probably. Probably. It would be a great time to be playing well, wouldn't it. It would be a great time to come into form.
It's likely, yeah. I think it would be really good.
Obviously for me, somebody who doesn't live in America, I have to look at that sort of differently as well to a lot of people. I've got to look at ways of getting home and being with family and things like that and how that works out best. But obviously when you rattle it off like that, my first instinct would be to play everything.
Q. As long as you've been here observing the sports culture, do you have any sense why it's taken America -- I'm not talking about players or even us, but taken America so long to accept that Europe is actually better than the U.S. at the Ryder Cup?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, we have a better record recently, that's for sure. But I guess none of that actually matters in a month's time, so I guess our focus will be to try and continue that streak and try and see if we can win an away Ryder Cup.
It's nice to hear something like that from a European team's perspective. We'll just try and continue that going forward.
Q. Recognizing that you haven't had a whole lot of time to think about the schedule stuff, and you're on the inside, obviously, being in the Signature Events, but it's one less regular event now for the guys who are not and one more already for the guys who are. Do you see any potential issues with that?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Again, it's a tough one to answer. I think I am in the obviously beautiful position of being able to play everything that I want to. I'm always very aware of -- I'm really lucky that I have those opportunities, and definitely there will be plenty of players that don't.
It's a tough one. I'm sure the people that are in charge of the scheduling and how it works will address that. I'm sure they've thought about that. What they do after that, I don't know. But obviously as one of the lucky people or the guys that have had the opportunity in these events and played well this year and have a full schedule to look forward to next year, I just feel very lucky that I get to play in them all.
Q. One more thing on schedule, which is after this, are you planning on playing anything other than Wentworth before the Ryder Cup?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No, Wentworth will be my only one, so I think there's two weeks between this and Wentworth. I'll be flying back to Dubai and putting the little one in school and doing some normal things for a couple of weeks and getting ready for the next stretch.
Q. On the subject of the Ryder Cup, if a great captain is someone who's adept at reading people and their personalities in service of drawing good performances out of their players, can you tell us about a time where a captain read something about you personally that helped you play better golf?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I think the Ryder Cups that I have played, I would say I know no different, but I've been very comfort with Thomas, Padraig and Luke in terms of them knowing me very well, being very close to me.
Yeah, the job of the captain, I guess, is to give us the best platform for us to play, like, with confidence and with freedom. I think I've been lucky in the captains that I've had that I've had great relationships with them before any of their captaincies have come along, and they've sort of understood me as a person.
Like I said in the last Ryder Cup, I didn't particularly want to go out No. 11 in a way. It was just late on, we were ahead, and I just didn't feel like that was a spot that I wanted to be in, but Luke obviously told me -- he actually told me afterwards why he wanted me there, and that was a great thing, and in the end I was very grateful for the opportunity.
But I think just been lucky with the guys that know me very well and know how to read me and how to get the most out of me.
Q. There's been so much speculation about whether Keegan is going to be a playing captain at the Ryder Cup. Are you guys on your side as interested to see what he does as we are?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Probably not as interested as you are, no. Like I'm not not interested. Obviously it's the Ryder Cup coming up, and I think it's a big story. But you know, he's obviously got a lot on his hands right now. He's got big decisions to make.
I think whatever Keegan and the U.S. Team decide to do is not something that is at all in our control or something that we'll sort of be thinking too much about. I think focus on our team, look forward to opportunity to play whoever the 12 players are on that team.
It's nothing to do with us. It's nothing to do with Europe. As a competitor and as a sort of peer, I wish him all the best in whatever decisions he does make. I think it's going to be an amazing time for him either way, and whatever happens, I hope he -- I just wish him the best and look forward to playing against him.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports