Men’s Olympic Golf Competition

Saturday, 31 July 2021

Saitama City, Saitama, Japan

Kasumigaseki Country Club

Tommy Fleetwood

Quick Quotes


Q. Does it feel like you have support out there? Because there's no fans, but there are a lot of Japanese volunteers, I saw them claming for you after that par on 17 but then you also have the Nigels. Does it feel like you have support out there?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: It does. I think the week as a whole we have support, because we leave in the morning and the guys from Great Britain kind of will say good luck, whatever, and you get back and people want to know how it went, who you feel going into tomorrow. So there's support all around in that way. Again, very lucky that the Japanese volunteers have been very nice for me and clapped me on, which feels really, really good. And the team, the two Nigels that have been around the whole week have been great. So it is quiet, different environment without crowds, but the task remains the same and I guess you just draw on what you have got. And like I say, as a whole at the games I feel like we got a good support. We do have a great nation behind us.

Q. The Nigels were hugging each other after that putt on 18.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: That would have been a sweaty hug.

Q. You obviously knew you needed around look that but how pleasing to come out and shoot 7-under?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well it is and like I've been struggling for momentum a lot recently, like I feel like my game has been coming back and it's just about getting those good rounds under your belt. That's the lowest round I've had for a very long time, really, and I think sort of got to take that back with me and think about that and draw on that. It was just nice. Not much changed from the first two days. Obviously I left the golf course and felt awful because I doubled the last and I 3-putted the last and you feel way, way, way worse about the day than like that, like holing one from a long distance. Just got on a run and that was great and it was nice to come down the stretch feeling like constantly giving myself chances and moving up the board. We all know what, like what places matter this week, so it's nice to actually be wherever I am within touching distance wherever I am.

Q. It can you talk through the 17th.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I was trying to make the front left of the green and snap hooked it. Heard a bang. So then we found it had a buggy or a cart and then hit the cart path and was not in a place that I practiced from in the practice rounds basically. Yeah, I suppose -- as unlucky as it was, like it can drop anywhere around those trees and I can be chipping onto the green. I got lucky to have some kind of gap. And so then again the next shot is a bit hit and hope, get it under the trees, came out pretty well and 2-putted. Holes like that are so important. To not drop one there was massive. Again, you gain one on the last, it's like gaining two shots almost rather than the other way around, which is huge.

Q. Are you and Paul bouncing notes off each other this week?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No, we haven't seen loads of each other. The way the tee times have worked and then by the time you get back and especially when the tournament starts you're on your own schedule and you are doing your own thing. We're in the apartment together and chatting and see each other when we can. Get on great with Paul, so it's been a nice sort of guy to be with as Team GB this week. But, yeah, like once the tournament starts it's really weird, you sort of, we're like two hours different in a way and we just sort of not seeing each other that much.

Q. Can you talk about his enthusiasm. He has really embraced this.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, we both have. Like from the day we were flying out we were both so excited coming over. I think it was -- there's so much to take from the Olympics. I love sport, I love the people that put everything into everyday life to try and be here and they get one shot every four years, five years, this Olympics, and it's just been really, really good. Like I say, we spend, I play a lots, I play 30 weeks a year and it is -- every tournament's different, but it's the same people and everybody is on, they're on their journey, but they're doing the same things. They're like trying to get better at golf, working on the putting, working on the long game. And that is what I love, that's what I chose to do in my life and I absolutely love it. But actually being around -- how many different sports are here this week?

Q. 33.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: 33. And GB got 375 athletes, two of us are golfers, four of us are golfers. And being around so much like variety and the difference has been amazing and I think people's attitudes are amazing and I think that's what we love about it.

Q. Curious of Paul at 44 years old, he's made this his journey for five years. Is it kind of infectious?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Paul can be infectious, yes. (Laughing).

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
110927-1-1044 2021-07-31 05:37:00 GMT

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