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ABU DHABI HSBC CHAMPIONSHIP

January 20, 2018

Tommy Fleetwood

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Q. How do you feel you went? Did you leave a few out there or happy with what you achieved?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, whenever you hit it really well, unless you shoot 60, you're going to feel like you leave some out there. Yeah, there was a patch sort of 11, 12, 13, 14, where I could have holed a couple, but great putt on 15. Holed a really good par save on 17 and I got, you know, missed a couple greens and got up-and-down.

I guess you to look at it both ways. The main thing for me was I was really pleased how I hit it today. Had a good warmup this morning. I was a lot sharper today, swinging a lot better and just hit -- most of the time, hitting some shots that I wanted to, so that was much better.

Q. And tomorrow we have some wind about, and that abbreviated follow-through of yours, those knock-down shots might be quite groovy tomorrow. How do you feel about that?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Let's see what the weather brings. Was surprised it was pumping in on the last two. Got really caught out with that 6-iron on 17. Hit a beautiful shot there, comes up No Man's Land.

We knew the weather's coming the last two days. The course is kind of -- you know, the weather has been perfect, so the course has been there for the taking tomorrow against, if it's what the forecast shows, it will be playing a lot tougher.

Q. Last year you went into the final round to be champion one behind and tomorrow it's going to be two or three. How do you feel about is that? Are you ready to go back-to-back?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Of course I am, yeah. It's not really -- it is about how many you are behind, but I can't control what they are doing. For me, played great today, I'm going to take that into tomorrow, and it will will be very satisfying to go back-to-back.

Q. Yesterday you said you weren't too happy with 68. 67 today, what are your reflections?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: A lot better. We had a really good warmup this morning with Thommo and he saw a couple of things yesterday, he was watching on TV. And today, I was just a lot more sharp. Start lines were a lot better.

I hit a lot of good golf shots out there and then it looks like you have a lot of chances, which you do, but you're never going to hole everything. It can get frustrating at times when you feel like you have a lot of chances and you see scoring is quite low, but stayed patient, had a good finish, and it was really good, sort of solid day.

Q. Every round, you want to get off to a good start, which you did, and afterwards, went a bit par crazy. How important is it to stay focused and patient when things aren't quite going right?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Of course it is. I had great chances on 3,4,5,6. I hit good putts. The important bit is when you get greedy, just miss a shot on 9 and end up in the bunker, make bogey there, you get really hot under the collar. Made a great par save, hit two great shots, and started getting going again. Had a little spell where I kind of went off again and then I had a good finish.

When you're playing well and you have a lot of chances, you have to just remember that you are still going in the right direction, even though you're making a lot of pars, but you're not doing anything wrong and you're always going to have chances. As long as you keep a good attitude and keep focused and patient, eventually you'll pick some off.

A really good par save on 17, that was important. Things like 9 and 17 are so important in a round of golf, especially when you're playing well and you have a lot of chances.

Q. How excited are you about tomorrow's round, hopefully you're going to contend for the title tomorrow.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, being in contention on a Sunday is just where everybody wants to be. We all start preparing on the Monday, and then you want to get to six days later, seven days later, you want to be there in the back nine on Sunday in contention. That's the aim for the week, and see where it goes from there.

So far, so good. Really good place, and a couple of the guys played some unbelievable guys and you can't do anything about that. But for me, it's been a really solid week so far. Happy with my game and that's just what I've got to go out and do tomorrow. Go out with the same attitude and hopefully I'll swing it the same and have a lot more chances and we'll see what happens.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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