THE MODERATOR: 6-under today, what was the difference between yesterday and today.
ALEX FITZPATRICK: Having no wind for a while always helps. But, no, I played great today. I think I hit 14 fairways and 17 greens. I think the one green I missed I chipped in. It was a pretty solid day of ball striking. I kind of went to the range last night, I didn't hit my irons particularly well yesterday, so I made a few tweaks. And it showed today that for the positive. Yeah, happy with today and looking forward to the weekend.
Q. I know you talked a lot since Sunday, but it's a happy topic so I don't think you'll mind. Are you caught up on text messages and e-mails and return calls and everything else? Has it subsided a little, I guess.
ALEX FITZPATRICK: No, not at all, in all honesty. The text messages and stuff has slowed down, but the overwhelming feeling of like Jay and happiness is yet to go away. So I think for me this year it's going to be a whirlwind and no matter what happens it will be a success. I can't believe how many people have come up to me and congratulated me and players and caddies and staff, it's been incredible. So yeah they really made me feel welcome, and that was really nice.
Q. I'm sure you've day dreamed and thought about what something like this would have been like. Did the dreams match the reality, did the reality exceed what you thought this would be like?
ALEX FITZPATRICK: It far -- I mean, I don't know how it would have felt winning by myself. I'm sure that would have been an amazing feeling. But winning with my brother kind of far exceeded any expectations I ever had. I can't quite describe the feeling I had tapping in and looking over at my brother on 18. It's impossible to try and translate into word. But, yeah, I'm sure the rest of this year you'll see me with a mile on my face no matter what.
Q. Have you caught up on sleep and all those things?
ALEX FITZPATRICK: Yeah, I didn't go out on Sunday night. We ended up flying back to Florida. So my sleep's actually not been that bad. But there's been the excitement every day of coming out her and practicing and competing. Yeah, happy to play some half decent golf today.
Q. No matter what happens this afternoon you're going to show up tomorrow in a pretty good position to win at a historic place and pretty big tournament. I know it's been a good few days for you, but just the fact you're in this position, what does that mean?
ALEX FITZPATRICK: It means a lot. I think the nice thing is it feels like I'm doing the right things with my golf game. I'm working towards the right things. Yeah, it's exciting. I feel like my game has been good for a while now. I think for a few months it didn't really translate on the golf course how I would have liked, but it's really taken a turn the past two months. I feel in control of my ball, which is nice. So hopefully I keep hitting fairways and hitting greens and yeah, we'll see what happens this weekend.
Q. Obviously you want to do as well as you can every week, but I'm curious, are you playing freer this week having the win in your pocket?
ALEX FITZPATRICK: That's a good question. I would say no. I still have, there's still loads of expectations that I put on myself. It was unbelievable to win, but then you come out here and you're expected to compete and you expect to play well and there's always that that you want to try and perform every week. For me everything's a bonus at this stage, which does help, but I'm still a golfer at the end of the day and I'm sure I'll hit bad shots and I'll still get annoyed. But, yeah, when you take a step back, I'm sure that after this week or any week it will be, you know, I probably might have played a little freer than I would normally. But, yeah, still a golfer, so...
Q. Also, at the top you mentioned one of the things about today was no wind. Maybe this is too much of a generalization, but don't British players play well in the wind?
ALEX FITZPATRICK: I would say -- well, yeah, the stereotype is that we do, but we're not playing like a normal parkland golf course that is 6500 yards. This course is a, well it's included in the name, but it's a monster. When it's windy it does not give you anything. And you got to drive the ball well and hit good iron shots and putt well and there isn't any part of your game that it doesn't challenge. So yesterday teeing off later it was definitely hard coming in. That's just how it is. So it was nice to get a bunch of holes out of the way and play well on them holes with no wind. Yeah, the back nine was always going to be a little tougher when it's gusty.
Q. Being in the weekend mix or for a week after you win, how important is that to you?
ALEX FITZPATRICK: It is important, but it's also not important. I think there's bigger things in life than golf, and as much as it was amazing to win this week, I'm just trying to enjoy it. That's the big thing for me. If I can go out there and enjoy myself, doesn't matter what happens, I'll be okay.
Q. How do you describe 18, because if you're not hitting it like 330, then the fairway probably looks about a foot and a half wide from the tee box. How do you see it?
ALEX FITZPATRICK: I watched Nicolai Højgaard all day who hits it, I can't even fathom how far he hits it, but he was like 30 past the water in the middle of the fairway, and the rest of us normal people have to hit into the 20 yard-wide fairway. So it's just a really strong hole. Arguably the hardest tee shot we'll hit all year, or I will hit all year. Yeah, there's no bail out, it's water or trees. You got to step up and hit a good and luckily for me I'm 2-2 so far, so hopefully the next two are okay.
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