Atlanta Drive GC 6, Los Angeles Golf Club 5 (OT)
THE MODERATOR: What was it like out there? Obviously, not the win you wanted but about as good as you could have performed and still not ended up with a victory.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I think it's not the result that we wanted. I think we played great. It was a great match to be a part of.
Look, I think in the bigger picture, I think we've had a great start to the league, but the two matches have gone our way, like, quite well. So it was good to get into that situation today.
Yeah, it didn't go our way, but I think there's a lot of positives for being in that situation, having played in overtime now, and yeah, like I say, I think we played great. We worked well as a team, and it just didn't go our way at the end. But I think we can hold our heads high, happy with the performance and be positive about what comes from it the.
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, obviously, exactly what Tommy said there. I think we did hit a lot of quality shots. We built that lead. I think obviously the adjustment in rules I think affected the game today but in a positive light, probably for the casual viewer for sure. It was a good adjustment by the league there.
Atlanta took their opportunity there. We kind of knew the story with three holes to play, that with especially on the double hammer hole, had to sort of carve that hole really and the match was over.
So they won the hole at the right time with the blind hammer, and that obviously ended up costing us.
But Tommy hit some incredible shots, some hole-outs, Patrick hitting it tight with the wedge on the 14th hole. Second-to-last hole, Tommy draining the putt. The match had everything.
No one really deserved to lose that match, and it obviously always comes down just to the finest of margins.
But fun to be a part of. First defeat that we've tasted, don't like it, but I think the team did really well.
Q. Sahith, we talked a little bit out there, but with the overtime loss, you still get a point. You guys are still looking well for a chance at the Playoffs.
SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, we are. I mean, just reiterating what these guys said, I think we have an unbelievable team, and I feel like we get along really well. These guys played awesome today, and we fought.
Like Tommy said, it was good to be in a little bit of a different environment. We were up big the first couple of matches, and it gets intense when it gets close like this.
And again, the rule change was great to make it close and allow them to come back. And overtime, it ended up coming to the last chip this time, which was awesome. But yeah it's a bummer to not get this one, but that overtime loss is actually a pretty big deal. I think getting one point for our troubles today was nice.
But yeah, we're pumped for the next few matches. I don't know. I love this team. I have so much fun being out here. This is the most fun golf I've played in a really long time. So just fires me up to be with these guys, and I'm already looking forward to the next one.
Q. All right.
Gentlemen, so it seems like when Collin is on stage, he talks a lot about the strategy, and it seems to me like he's maybe a thinker in the bunch. Does somebody here in the group have to sort of step up and take that role? Does it happen naturally? Or do you guys sort of have game-play strategy built in and it doesn't evolve week by week?
JUSTIN ROSE: That's a great question, I think. I mean, Collin is just solid at everything. I think he's a great competitor. He's ice cool. Probably does think about things clearly. But I think today we made a lot of good decisions, I think, out there for the most part and hit a lot of great golf shots. I mean I could could hear even over the mic, that some of our stats out there, the fact that we were dominating some of those drivable holes, eagle putts, yeah, we really did a lot of good stuff today.
But I think we're a four-strong team, and yeah, for Collin to be taking this one out, and I'm sure he'll be coming back even more motivated now, as well.
Q. We're about halfway through the season. I'm curious you guys' thoughts are on how things have gone so far and if there are any other changes, like the hammer that we used today, that you guys would like to see in the future.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Oh, go back to the old hammer rule.
SAHITH THEEGALA: No, the hammer rule, as a fan, I bet that was really entertaining to know that three holes left, if we had the hammer in possession, it was basically game over. We tie one hole and we win.
But yeah, with that hole being worth two points, is definitely more interesting.
I think me personally, I need some practice in the bunkers. Didn't hit my best bunker shots today.
But the sand, I felt like -- I don't know if they changed anything, but it felt good, a little more sand in there. I felt like before, it was easy to kind of not really spin it out of there.
But yeah, even the chipping around the greens and -- I know that just a few matches ago, but visually moving that front box for 70 yards and in instead of 125 and in was big because I feel like hitting a wedge shot when you're that close to the screen, kind of made me feel like I had to squeeze it in there. And I think some of the other guys kind of shared that view. I thought that was great.
It's just awesome that this is such a fluid thing that we've got going on, week to week, whatever makes the fan experience better, whatever makes the player experience better, we were able to change that pretty quickly.
And I'm going to watch the next couple and see if I have any comments on those. But it's cool to be a part of that.
Q. You guys have all been in the mix throughout your career on a Sunday afternoon; how does that compare, or does it at all, to what you just went through over the last couple holes and in overtime in this match?
JUSTIN ROSE: I mean, yeah, listen, it compares. I think your heart rate's elevated and you're trying to focus upm and you've got the responsibility of your teammates. And you've got guys like Billy Horschel, Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay, who are three tough competitors that you don't want to lose to, as well.
So it's got all the elements, all the ingredients that make championship golf.
Well, yeah, just that. Everything is in place for us not to want to lose and to want to give our best account of ourselves, and that's all you can ask for.
Q. We've seen guys actually blow that putt buy. What was your thought, just send it and hope it goes in because you know it's going to be hard to keep close?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I'd hit a bunch of them in practice this morning, and I actually said to the guys when we got up there, I'd hit that putt a lot for whatever reason this morning, which goes back to the preparation. I think we can be proud of the work that we've put in over the times that we've played, and it was one of those I knew it came back left at the end. I'd missed it high. I'd missed it low.
It was one of those putts, like I say, there's only you that can kind of hit it because there's about six different lines going down that hit that you can hit. But I felt pretty confident about it. I felt like I had a good visual of what it was going to do, and of course when you're hitting it down the hill, it's always a bit of hit-and-hope because you just set it off and hope it goes in, but it looked good all the way.
Q. How about the chip in overtime, the pitch?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, I had no idea where that was going to finish up. So it was nice to see. I think with about two seconds to go I knew it was going to be closer, so that was the good part of it, and then going in it was just a bonus.
Like I say, it was a great match to be a part of. I'm happy that I played well for the boys. You always feel good about that. I just felt like we played great as a team, and how many times out of 100 would we lose that match. Probably not many. It just didn't go our way today, but I really don't think we did anything wrong. That's just the way it goes.
But it goes back to it. I think we should be very grateful that we were in that situation today and had those experiences moving forward.
JUSTIN ROSE: Maybe rule change, if you hole it in the overtime, it's a walk-off win the whole team.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: So many rules going against us. It's like everybody has got propaganda against us.
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FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports