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Lee Westwood does his homework to pulish the accuracy of his irons yardage.

Lee Westwood of England plays their second shot on the 2nd hole during Day Two of the 2021 Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club.

The FedexCup Playoffs have been very intense, full of emotions and great golf. The englishman Lee Westwood classified for the first event, known as the Northern Trust. This tournament was played at the Liberty National Golf Course, in New Jersey, where he shot a total of 9-under par for a T27. Westwood fell into the Top 70 players that moved forward into the BMW Championship, the second event of the PlayOffs. It was held at the Caves Valley Golf Club, in Owings Mills, MD.

Performance at the BMW Championship
Westwood showed some consistency off the fairway with a 79.2% of accuracy in greens in regulation. However, his final statistics showed a total of 50% of sand saves. This means that, he would have only saved one out of two pars after missing the green, and that translated into few more bogeys on his scorecard than expected.
Although the englishman completed the BMW Championship with an average of 1.6 putts, he signed a final score of 11-under par, for a T34, falling out of the Top 30 that would sneak into the TOUR Championship, the last event of the FedexCup Playoffs.

Lee Westwood keeps up the good work and shares it with his fans.
Westwood wants to make sure that he gets to know his yardage to improve his performance in the upcoming tournaments. He shares his work on and off the course through his social media, and here there is a video of him putting the effort in the driving range. Westwood is taking notes on his irons yardage with the help of the trackman.

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Knowledge PGA Tour Team UK Top Tours

Justin Rose is named the 2021 recipient of the Payne Stewart Award

Justin Rose named recipient of the 2021 Payne Stewart Award

Justin Rose, the englishman golfer who is a 11-time PGA winner, as well as the 2013 U.S. Open winner and 2016 Olympic gold medalist in Rio, was named the 2021 recipient of the Payne Stewart Award, which is presented annually by the PGA Tour to the golfer who best exemplifies character, charity and sportsmanship.

Stewart, a three-time major champion, perished in a 1999 plane crash as the reigning U.S. Open champion. A year after that fatal date, the PGA created this award to honor his name and character.
Rose, turned professional in ’98, a year before Payne died, and was able to have a few brief interactions with Payne long before Rose held a trophy in his honor. The 2021 recipient definitely remembers the kind words that Steward had with him at The Open Championship in ’98, when Rose was just hitting balls on the range and Payne stopped by to compliment his swing: “Oh, that’s how it’s done.”

The Payne Stewart Award is specially meaninful because it goes beyond the golfing skills, but instead this prize recognizes the characteristics that define a great role model for the rest of the world, without any descriminations.
Some of the most recognizable players have won this Award in the past as well, such as Ernie Els (2015), Gary Player (2006), Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer both in (2000).
It is a chance for the recipient to bring the world matters back to the spotlight and to create awarness through their actions or foundations. Justin Rose and his wife founded The Kate & Justin Rose Foundation in Florida, which helps members of the community with lack of sources and money to fulfill their plates and to enrich their minds, raising more than $3 million and providing “500,000 hunger-free weekends” and 300,000 books.

“Justin Rose embodies everything the Payne Stewart Award represents,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said. “Like Payne, he has been one of the premier players of his generation while using his platform to better the lives of those around him.”

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Lee Westwood named 2020 Seve Ballesteros Award winner as Players’ Player of the Year

Lee Westwood recieves Seve Ballesteros award. (Photo: Getty)
Lee Westwood recieves Seve Ballesteros award. (Photo: Getty)

Lee Westwood has been named the winner of the Seve Ballesteros Award as the 2020 European Tour Players’ Player of the Year following a remarkable season which culminated in the 48-year-old topping the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex and being crowned European Tour Number One for the third time in his storied career.

The announcement coincides with the ten year anniversary of the passing of the Spanish legend Ballesteros, who died on May 7, 2011 following a battle with cancer. Westwood’s first of ten Ryder Cup appearances came in 1997 under Ballesteros, who captained Europe to a famous win at Valderrama.

The Englishman had long ago secured his status alongside the late Ballesteros as one of the European Tour’s greatest ever players, but a memorable 2020 campaign has earned him another accolade after his fellow European Tour Members voted him the Players’ Player of the Year.

It was a season bookended by two of his most impressive performances. In his first appearance of the season, Westwood claimed his second Rolex Series title at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, overcoming his fellow Englishmen Matt Fitzpatrick and Tommy Fleetwood as well as France’s Victor Perez.

He capped off his season on a high too, his runner-up finish behind Fitzpatrick at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai earning him the title of 2020 Race to Dubai Champion.

In a disrupted campaign due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Westwood’s consistency was something to behold – in 15 appearances he missed just one cut and produced eight top 20 finishes.

On top of that, Westwood continued to give back to the game and to the European Tour through hosting the 2020 Betfred British Masters at Close House, which marked the first of six events in the UK Swing and was won by Italian Renato Paratore.

“It means a lot that it is voted for by my fellow players, the guys I play with week-in week-out,” said Westwood. “Awards like this are always very special because I feel like they as players know what you have to go through.

“I played a lot of good golf under pressure when I needed to in 2020. The win in Abu Dhabi at the start of the year and then to have a chance to play so well in the final event at the DP World in Dubai, I was really pleased with those two tournaments, but I was also consistent and that was important to me. It was a very difficult year with the pandemic for everyone, and we were very fortunate to play golf during this time.

“Seve was an icon of the game, and still is. When I started playing golf, I was looking at the Europeans and Seve’s name was at the top of that list as somebody to aspire to. The first tournaments I ever went to watch were Ryder Cups in 1989 and 1993, and Seve’s name is synonymous with the Ryder Cup.

“I remember looking at these guys like Seve and Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie, Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosnam wanting to be like them. Then in 1997 I am in a Ryder Cup team captained by Seve Ballesteros, so it was a very short gap between looking and watching and learning from my heroes to actually being amongst them trying to win points in a Ryder Cup. That for me was really one of those pinch yourself moments, like is this really happening to me. Seve was a huge part of that and inspirational in the team room, and just a phenomenal and very calming presence.”

Keith Pelley, Chief Executive Officer at the European Tour, said: “I don’t think it is any surprise that Lee Westwood has won the Seve Ballesteros Award after such a tremendous season. At 48 years of age he is an icon, a former World Number One, our most recent Race to Dubai winner and like Seve, Lee is a true champion. He has an unwavering will to succeed, and he has proven that over and over again in his career.

“Lee is one of the few remaining European Tour players to have competed alongside Seve and to have had the honour to call him a friend. They are two players who will be long remembered in the pantheon of European Tour and Ryder Cup greats.”

Javier Ballesteros, Seve’s oldest son, added: “I am personally very happy Lee Westwood is the winner of the Seve Ballesteros Award for his incredible season. Lee is playing some great golf, I think he is physically in great shape and when you enjoy not only golf but life away from the game, things go well for you, and that has shown in how he has played not only last year but over the past few years around the world.”

David Howell, European Tour Tournament Committee Chairman, said: “It’s obviously not the first time Lee has won the Race to Dubai, and last year was of course a strange year, but it seems fitting that whenever something slightly different comes along Lee Westwood is there to remind us that things are normal.

“Whilst Seve was a worldwide player, a Major winner and one of the biggest stars in the game, you always felt that his heart was with the European Tour. I think that came out with his Ryder Cup heroics and you just knew Seve cared deeply about the growth of the European Tour, and similarly with Lee, while he has been at the top of the tree for many years you just know his heart is with us and he has always supported the European Tour where possible. He has been one of the biggest names for over two decades now and it is great to see someone so loyal to our Tour coming up trumps again last year.”

(Text: European Tour)

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Team UK

PGA Tour: Last Week’s Winner Tyrell Hatton Speaks With The Media Prior to Making Fourth Start at The Players Championship

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA - MARCH 11: Tyrrell Hatton of England smiles during a practice round prior to The PLAYERS Championship on The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on March 11, 2020 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

PGA Tour professional and last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational winner Tyrrell Hatton speaks with the media before the 2020 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

PGA Tour: Tyrell Hatton recaps maiden tour victory celebration and previews The Players Championship

JOHN BUSH: We would like to welcome Tyrrell Hatton into the interview room. He is making his fourth career start at THE PLAYERS Championship, and he’s coming off his first PGA TOUR victory last week at Arnold Palmer Invitational. Tyrrell, first of all, if we can get some comments on being back here at PLAYERS.

TYRELL HATTON: Yeah, it’s obviously good to be back. Unfortunately it’s a tournament that I haven’t done too well at in the past, but I’m hoping that changes this week. Obviously nice week last week and a few days to recover before we get going tomorrow.

JOHN BUSH: Talk a little bit about getting the win last week, extremely tough conditions there at Bay Hill. Just talk about finally stepping into the winner’s circle on the TOUR.

TYRELL HATTON: Yeah, obviously extremely tough week. You know what they say about the rough, that’s where the four-leaf clovers are. So I was in there a lot and it was kind to me.

JOHN BUSH: Let’s go right into questions.

Q. You said that you weren’t sure you would be right until Wednesday with the celebrating that was planned. Was it all that you had hoped for, and what did you do exactly?
TYRELL HATTON: Yeah, I’m still feeling — I’m still quite tired, to be honest. But I was cuddling the toilet by 5:00 in the morning, so it was a good night.

Q. And then just real quickly, I don’t know how I can follow that, but so obviously that was extremely difficult golf. This place is known for being pretty difficult golf. What do you think a 12-handicapper would shoot in tournament conditions on this course?
TYRELL HATTON: 12-handicapper. I don’t think that they — they wouldn’t break 90. I think they would probably — I would like to think they might break 100, but if the crowds are out there, there’s a different type of pressure that they wouldn’t normally be used to, so it would be a long day.

Q. What was the celebration like on Sunday night? Who was there? Can you say how many glasses of red you had? But also probably more importantly, what’s been the reception since your victory? What’s the text messages and all that sort of stuff you received?
TYRELL HATTON: Yeah, I’ve had a lot of messages, which has been really nice. The guys obviously out on TOUR, everyone’s kind of stopped and said congratulations, which is nice. Sunday night celebration, there was a lot of red wine and then unfortunately I think the finisher was the drinking the vodka and tequila out of the bottle, which never kind of ends well. And, yeah, I fell victim of that, definitely.

Q. Can you describe your emotions coming down the stretch last week?
TYRELL HATTON: Just obviously a little bit nervous, like anyone would be, but I was just trying to do the best I could, try and — the only bit I can control is obviously myself and try to not kind of make any mistakes. Although I was trying my best down 16 to make a few of those. No, just trying to keep calm. Obviously I’ve won in Europe before, so obviously I know I can get over the line and thankfully it just kind of worked out for me last week and it was my time.

Q. Are there any text messages or congratulatory things that particularly meant something for you that you can share with us?
TYRELL HATTON: Honestly, I’ve still got around a hundred unopened WhatsApp messages. The reception has been incredible, so it’s just — I just really appreciate the amount of people that have kind of messaged me to say well done, and I know for like my family and stuff, it was quite nail-biting to watch, it was difficult to watch, but yeah, I don’t know.

Q. Has the Ryder Cup captain been in touch, and is it too early to know how your schedule will alter because of this victory?
TYRELL HATTON: Well, like I say, I’ve still got a hundred WhatsApp messages unopened, so I haven’t — I don’t know exactly like who has messaged in that sense. But my schedule at the moment isn’t, hasn’t changed, that’s something that me and my manager, Danny, we are yet to kind of sit down and talk about, but obviously I would like to be on the Ryder Cup team in September and I’ve had a good start to the points race again, which is nice, and hopefully I can kind of continue pushing on this year and make that team.

Q. Can you please specify the surgery that you had and why you needed it, as well as why you think your body responded so well and so quickly to it?
TYRELL HATTON: Well it was keyhole surgery in my right wrist, and the initial injury was back in 2017 when I fell over at the Masters during the par-3 tournament. It was canceled due to a storm that came through. I just slipped on the pine straw, and over time the wrist just got progressively worse with a build-up of kind of scar tissue and my range of movement was nonexistent and I just had basically a lot of pain kind of coming in to try and make contact with the golf ball, especially with the wedges because you naturally come into the ground a little bit steeper so there was more sort of, it was anything in that kind of movement that was uncomfortable. I had had three steroid injections in 18 months. They all lasted sort of pain-free between four and five-and-a-half months. But obviously that’s not kind of sustainable to just keep having injections. So we decided that the time was to properly fix it would be to have surgery.

The surgery obviously went well but the recovery time was much longer than we had all hoped for. I mean, initially we thought it would be four weeks and I would be back kind of hitting balls again. I was hoping to start my season in mid January, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and I wasn’t even hitting chip shots by then. So obviously these kind of things you can’t rush, and Mexico was a great place for me to start my season because I was guaranteed a full tournament week. There’s no pressure, no cut, you just kind of play and see how the body feels and it was absolutely fine. I had no issues, which is nice, because the first event back you’re not quite sure how it could go.

Q. You mentioned Sunday at Bay Hill that you were pretty nervous over that final putt, that your putter was shaking little bit. And I’m wondering, I know it’s only been a few days, but what you have learned, what your takeaway has been, not only for your game but about yourself, given that tough test on the back nine Sunday that you’ll be bringing to THE PLAYERS this week?
TYRELL HATTON: Well I think throughout the whole week at Bay Hill I managed myself pretty well, which is always one of the hardest things for me. So that was obviously something that I would like to continue, and obviously I’m human so I’m going to make mistakes along the way, and yeah, there’s probably going to be weeks where I’ll have some blowups but hopefully that’s kind of few and far between. So, yeah, hopefully I can kind of stay cool, and I’ve got my dad out with me this week, so to have him there to kind of get back on point with my swing, because playing in those kind of conditions where you’re constantly trying to flight the ball and your weight’s in a different place than it normally would be, it can kind of knock your swing out. So it’s good to have my dad here, and hopefully we can have another good week here.

Q. This may be because I’m American, but I’ve never seen your name spelled the way it is in the first name with two R’s, and I was wondering if there’s a story behind that at all and my apologies if you’ve been asked this three thousand times before.
TYRELL HATTON: Well, it’s my granddad’s middle name is kind of where it comes from. My parents that play golf, they like the liked the film Caddyshack and obviously the guy was, I think was it Ty, I think, so that’s how they kind of got my name. But in terms of the spelling, over here it would be normally Ty-rell, wouldn’t it? But I ain’t no Ty-rell, so yeah.

Q. Why do you feel like you were able to learn from your past trips here to THE PLAYERS Championship that you feel like you can build on for this week?
TYRELL HATTON: Well, this week’s not normally been a good tournament for me. I actually had, I mean last year it was kind of typical me, where I was one shot away from like one shot outside the cut line with five holes to go and I had a blowup, snapped my 3-wood and basically started hitting shots on the run, and I think we missed the cut by five or something like that.

So it kind of just goes back to making sure can I kind of control myself, and that’s normally the first step to me having a decent week.

Q. Gambling is becoming much more normalized in sports, especially golf now. I’m wondering if you’re aware of your odds each week and if you’re aware of your odds this week.
TYRELL HATTON: To be honest, I have no idea with my odds in terms of golf tournaments. I don’t mind putting bets on the football back home, but obviously we are — we’re not allowed to do any betting or anything like that in golf, and yeah, so sort of I’ve got no interest in that kind of thing. It makes no difference to how I go about my week, but I can tell you that I’m not very good at betting the on the football. I’m quite good at losing money each Saturday.

The Players Championship Full Leaderboard

Q. You said you were playing Xbox and drinking red wine during your time off. Do you have a particular go-to Xbox game?
TYRELL HATTON: Yeah, Call of Duty. So I’m actually devastated that the new War Zone game’s come out. It was released yesterday, and I’m not going to get to play it for another few weeks. So that’s cut me deep.

JOHN BUSH: Tyrrell, we appreciate your time. Congratulations once again on getting the win last week. Best of luck this week.

TYRELL HATTON: Thank you.

Ponte Vedra Beach, FL

March 11, 2020

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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PGA Tour: Matthew Fitzpatrick Recaps Top 10 Finish at The Arnold Palmer Invitational

ORLANDO, FLORIDA - MARCH 05: Matthew Fitzpatrick of England lines up a putt on the sixth green during the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by MasterCard at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge on March 05, 2020 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick addresses the media following his top 10 finish at the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational about his thoughts on his performance as well as 2020 Players Championship preparations

PGA Tour: Matthew Fitzpatrick finishes top 10 at 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational

Q. (No microphone.)
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Glad to be in. But for today like the first seven holes I had it on a string and then all of a sudden I just seemed to lose every feeling I had in my irons. So it was then it was just a grind, as Billy tells me just to batten down the hatches. And just try and, literally, it felt like, just get it around, just advance the ball and then get it closer and then try and hole a putt.

Q. (No Microphone.)
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: I don’t know. It was tougher, like it was also tougher, to be honest. Once we got to 8, well, once we got to 6 as well, it started picking up. And then 8 was sort of howling across and then down a little and into a little, it was in between. And, yeah, it was just tough around sort of the middle, really.

2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational Leaderboard

Q. Did you think after 16, though, the birdie at 16 did you think about a number?
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Yeah, well, I mean, I thought if I could just, I knew I needed to par 17 and then obviously if I could sneak a putt on 18. But I mean, I felt if I’m 2-under might have a chance, obviously a distant chance, but, yeah, anyway.

Q. Can you compare this weekend to anything that you’ve been through outside of perhaps the Majors?
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Oh, not outside the Majors, I was going to say Shinnecock. But it was — yeah, I can’t think of anywhere else that was sort of played like as hard as this, really. But I mean, like I was speaking to Derek all the time, I’m all for it like this. Like I would so much rather play it like this every week where it’s a battle and you got to go work hard and grind instead of wide open fairways, no wind and just, 65, you move down as well, you know.

Q. Do you need to do any work before the start of the PLAYERS?
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: A lot, yeah (laughing.) No, no, my driving feels great, putting was miles better today, short game was solid. Just if I can start just giving myself a few more chances and, yeah, I think — but, I mean, from where I was after two rounds and three rounds, I’m delighted with where I am. So, yeah, overall looking at the result it’s a fantastic week, obviously the process of getting there wasn’t ideal, but, yeah, great week overall.

Orlando, Florida

March 9, 2020

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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Team UK

PGA Tour: 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational Winner Tyrell Hatton Speaks to the Media

ORLANDO, FLORIDA - MARCH 08: Tyrrell Hatton of England celebrates with the trophy after winning during the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by MasterCard at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge on March 08, 2020 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

Englishman Tyrell Hatton addresses the media following his first PGA Tour victory at the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational after finishing with a one stroke lead over Marc Leishman

PGA Tour: Tyrell Hatton speaks on first PGA Tour victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational

JOHN BUSH: We would like to welcome our 2020 winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, Tyrell Hatton.

Tyrell, challenging week overall. Congratulations on your first PGA TOUR victory. If we can get some comments, please.

TYRELL HATTON: Thank you. Well, firstly, it’s an incredible feeling to win on the PGA TOUR and to do it at such an iconic venue that, I’ve grown up watching this event as a kid on TV and to be sitting here next to the trophy now is an amazing feeling and very thankful I managed to hold on at the end.

JOHN BUSH: Before we open up to questions, you move up to number 14 in the FedExCup standings. Talk a little bit about how this sets you up for the rest of the season now.

TYRELL HATTON: Yeah, that’s a big jump for me. Coming into this week I didn’t have any exemptions, so when the season starts you are kind of just playing to keep your status for the following year. Obviously, I’m trying to juggle both tours, which is never easy and I’m normally playing around 16, 17 events, so that makes things certainly a little bit tougher to try and keep your status over here where most of the guys will probably be doing mid-20s. So to wrap that up and — how long is it?

JOHN BUSH: A three-year exemption.

TYRELL HATTON: A three year exemption? Wow. That’s amazing. So obviously I kind of know where I’m at now for awhile, which is great and hopefully I can push on and keep climbing the FedExCup.

John Bush: All right. Let’s go right into questions.

Q. For a guy who looks like he’s on edge a lot of the times, on a golf course that keeps you on edge for all the four hours you’re out there, how did you do it?
TYRELL HATTON: Yeah, the setup was extremely tough. And I said yesterday the hardest thing for me will be to manage myself. And over the course of this week I feel like I did a decent job of that.

2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational Leaderboard

It was so tough and obviously everyone’s dropping shots quite easily. And after the double on 11, which was pretty tough to take, I’m happy with, I kind of — I feel like I could easily have blown up after that, and managed to kind of keep my head a little bit, although I did get a bit frustrated. That’s always going to happen with me. And as long as it’s not kind of keeping on over to the next shot, then I’ll be okay. And I’m just happy that I’ve managed myself well enough this week to be sitting here.

Q. A lot of us know Mick as a kind of colorful guy and a good time guy. But obviously he’s a very positive influence on you. Can you speak about how he’s done that and especially on a day like today when it’s really tough out there.
TYRELL HATTON: Yeah, me and Mick have been working together since the British Masters in May of last year, and I’ve loved working with him. He’s a national treasure, I think (Laughing). He’s so funny. He’s, he keeps — he’s good at talking to me on the course and we have had some really good results and he’s played a huge part in my success recently — or our success, I should say.

Q. Some players say that the tougher the challenge, the better they like it. Are you one of those players or have you come to become one of those today?
TYRELL HATTON: I think players kind of would look back at this week and it’s nice to play something different. Most weeks it’s not target golf, but the scores are super low. And this ended up sort of feeling like a Major with the setup and how firm the greens were and it was just, it was hard to hit it close. I don’t think there was, there was only a handful, not even a handful of guys that were under par for the weekend.

Q. Can I get you to comment just on a few shots in particular today, please? The putt on 11 for double was pretty big. The one out of the rough on 13, that was, looked very difficult. And then the 17th hole.
TYRELL HATTON: Yeah, so the, obviously, the putt for double on 11 isn’t, is never ideal to have a 6-footer with more than a cup right-to-left break. It was, I hit a terrible first putt. I kind of, I didn’t trust my line and I was worried about it coming out a bit soft and I end up rip pulling it and then you’re left with a really smelly putt. Thankfully that managed to go in.

The 8-iron on 13? Yeah, obviously, terrible tee shot to end up there. I kind of struggled with flighting the ball as low as I normally would like to and obviously I had just come out of it and with a spinny fade. But we didn’t, we actually had a decent lie in the rough over there. Although, I imagine I was the only person in the field to be over there this week. It came out perfectly. And the wind didn’t gust too much, although I think we only had 140 yards, we knew it was all carry.

And then the 5-iron into 17. It’s amazing the thoughts that you can have upon impact, because at impact I genuinely thought I had hit a spinny cut into the water. So to look up and see it having a little baby draw into the pin is, obviously, I was quite relieved at that.

Q. Well done, again. This time last week we were sitting here and there was a bit of controversy in relation to comments made of Tommy Fleetwood and Lee Westwood. Now, you winning here on the PGA TOUR for the first time, can this be a reflection and a statement that European Tour players are good players and they can win on the PGA TOUR, without getting to controversial?
TYRELL HATTON: No, I don’t think it’s a statement. I think whatever TOUR you play on it’s extremely hard to win golf tournaments and we’re all trying to do that each week. And more often than not, I guess things maybe don’t go your way and you end up not winning. So like I say, it’s tough to win and I’m sure, obviously, everyone’s time comes and thankfully my time was this week.

Q. When you came off 11 you made a pretty animated gesture back at the hole as you were heading to 12. I just wonder what was going on in your mind at that moment and how long did it take to you kind of flush that as you got back to 12.
TYRELL HATTON: Yeah, well, I was just annoyed because my third shot in was actually one of the best swings I made all day. We had, the run out on the TV tower, which was my line, we had 193 and I’ve hit a 5-iron at my target and the wind just completely dropped. So that kind of went against us on that hole and I was just having a little moan, like it’s the grass’s fault and the wind’s fault. It’s never my fault. But this is, like going back to a question about Mick, he was really good. Obviously, he just told me to kind of get focused again, it’s done, move on, and have a few practice swings and just kind of get some good feelings again. And I stood on the 12th tee and that was probably one of the best tee shots, certainly, that I hit today.

Q. You spoke of Mick’s influence, but why do you think you’re better equipped now to handle those potentially blow-up situations than you were maybe three or four years ago?
TYRELL HATTON: I guess it just comes with experience. This is my — well, third year on the PGA TOUR, my seventh season on the European Tour. You get yourself in, if you play well enough, often you get, you give yourself opportunities, and I guess you learn things, and I guess I was a little bit more comfortable out there today. And also, this is only my second event back from wrist surgery. So it might sound daft, but my expectations maybe aren’t as high as they would be in a middle of the season if I was, been playing quite a bit. But this is still kind of part of the comeback for me and maybe that helped.

Q. I remember a couple years ago at Honda you talked about living in this town probably at about age 20 or so, you had a few roommates, trying to play the Hooter’s Tour, scratch out a living. At the time did you have a lot of belief in yourself or did this seem a far, far ways away?
TYRELL HATTON: I think you have to believe in yourself, otherwise you’ve got no chance. So obviously the goal was to, at that time, to be playing the European Tour and hopefully eventually PGA TOUR as well. And I think this was 2012, I think that we were out here playing Hooter’s Winter Series. I’ve got good memories from that time and we’ve, me and Emily, my fiance’, we have rented a place here in Orlando now, so it kind of feels like home away from home, which is nice to have. And that’s one of the reasons we come back.

Q. When your wrist injury was taking longer than you hoped, your recovery, did the thoughts of events like this one help sustain you? And also, living in this area, has your appreciation of who Arnold Palmer and what he meant, has it grown?
TYRELL HATTON: Well, at the time, obviously, the surgery took longer to recover from, but as it became more apparent that the, that I was kind of getting back into golf, I knew that I was going to be starting my season in Mexico and I was going to have two weeks in Orlando before then. And we were actually really excited to come out, come back out here, and obviously, we feel very comfortable here and that’s why we have kind of made it our second home. And to, I guess to have your own, to sleep in your own bed on a tournament week is something that we don’t get to experience too often. And home comforts, I think maybe helped keep me a little bit more relaxed as well.

Q. No Englishman has won next week. Just with your form and Tommy, do you think it’s as good a chance as any to break that drought?
TYRELL HATTON: Time will tell. It’s hard to kind of think about next week at the moment with the sort of potential celebrations we have got later today. I don’t think I’ll be in any fit state but, at least until Wednesday. But yeah, I think we’ll savor this one quit a bit. But next week’s going to be, it will be interesting and hopefully an Englishman can finally win that trophy.

Q. Curious, how frustrating was it today to sort of be grinding the way you did? And given, if there was a level of frustration, how rewarding is it to battle through that?
TYRELL HATTON: Yeah, it was really tough out there and obviously I was getting frustrated at times, but nowhere near the blowups that I am capable of. And it’s just one of those days where you just got to stick in there, and patience is one of the hardest things with me. To think that I’ve shot, what was it? 3-over for the weekend and ended up winning the tournament. If you told me that on Friday night I wouldn’t have believed you. But it just shows how tough it was. And obviously, like I said earlier, I’m very thankful to sit next to this trophy.

Q. But does that in some way make it more rewarding, I guess, when you have to battle through that, not only the challenge of the golf shots, but battling yourself?
TYRELL HATTON: Yeah, I think this is, it was, it’s such a tough week and to come out on top is a great feeling and you certainly feel like you’ve played a lot more than 72 holes by the end of it.

Q. I got two for you. The first being, do you have, what do you think you’ll do with the red cardigan?
TYRELL HATTON: Well, I don’t want to ruin it and with the celebrations that will occur tonight I think it’s best to put on a coat hanger. But it’s very special to have this and it will take quite a place in the wardrobe.

Q. The other thing is, in the broadcast David Feherty made this comment, he said that you’re nice to everyone but yourself. Do you agree with that?
TYRELL HATTON: That’s probably a good thing to say, actually. Yeah, like I’m a shy person, but I feel like I’ll be, I’m nice but obviously to myself I give myself a hard time and that’s one thing that I should probably get better at.

Q. I don’t think you came over here until, U.S. membership until about 2017 or so. But even from your days in the Hooters Winter Series, have you ever had any occasion to either come over here or meet Arnold?
TYRELL HATTON: No, I never sort of had the opportunity to. Yeah, sorry. Yeah.

Q. A quick one. You were saying at the start of the week that this event is the first of seven over eight weeks. Do you think that may change now, the sort of schedule over this sort of part of the season that includes the Masters as well?
TYRELL HATTON: Potentially. That’s something that I’ll sit down and talk to my management company about and we’ll kind of go from there. Obviously, like I said, the immediate thought is to kind of get celebrating, so I’m sure the relevant conversations will be had, but obviously I want to be playing golf, give myself a good run into the Masters and so we’ll see what happens.

JOHN BUSH: All right, congratulations once again to our 2020 champion, Tyrell Hatton.

TYRELL HATTON: Thank you.

Orlando, Florida

March 8, 2020

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PGA Tour: Tommy Fleetwood Recaps Final Hole Collapse at 2020 Honda Classic

PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA - MARCH 01: Tommy Fleetwood of England reacts to his birdie on the 17th green during the final round of the Honda Classic at PGA National Resort and Spa Champion course on March 01, 2020 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

PGA Tour and European Tour professional Tommy Fleetwood speaks to the media after finding the water on the 72nd hole at the 2020 Honda Classic and eventually losing the tournament.

PGA Tour: Tommy Fleetwood still searching for first career PGA Tour victory after coming up short at the Honda Classic

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Then playing the last I still had a chance. It’s fine margins in this game.

Q. When you have a sense that it’s that kind of a day that you just described, what’s the main thing you focus in on to hang around and have that chance on 18.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: It’s important not to misjudge the finish line. You never know what’s going to happen. Didn’t have much going, but I was always there or thereabouts. I was in the lead for most of the day. So you just stay in and then you never know what’s going to happen in the end. Just keep going, just keep playing. I had a lovely look at birdie on 12 that didn’t go in and then made a mess of 13, but stuck in there — and that’s just a case of being patient. That’s all you can do. I didn’t do that much wrong really. It comes down to fine margins, like I said. It’s disappointing, but it was close.

2020 Honda Classic Full Leaderboard

Q. You said a win is important but it’s not the end of the world, you’ll see your family tomorrow, but how do you process coming so close?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, the shot on 18, it wasn’t a good feeling for the next 10 minutes when I was messing around trying to hit my wedge shot. It’s just disappointing. I feel fine right now. I think it’s important to make sure that you’re positive about it. You have enough people that will critique what you’ve done so. I’m going to do the same. I’m going to go back and look at what I could’ve done better. There are certain shots that I hit. At the end of the day, I felt like I was really good mentally, hung in there until the end and gave myself a chance at the last. But when the margins are small, that’s OK. I just said that I don’t feel like I’m getting worse at golf. I’ve just got to keep pushing. Absolutely I want to be a regular winner, but there’s no point in moaning and groaning about it now. It didn’t happen. There’s a lot of amazing players on the TOUR trying to win, and it’s not given, so I’ve just got to keep going and if I keep getting this close, it’ll happen.

Q. First of all, talk about that shot on 18; what was going through your mind? Did you ever think about a different shot, laying up?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No, it was a tough one really. I had to hit a 4-iron which was clocking away, it was always going to be left, or I take the 5-wood on, which was like a really big cut, and that’s what you do, isn’t it, you play the shot. That’s all you can do. I hit a bad shot. Could have been a great shot, but actually as bad as it was, it could have landed three yards left and been on the edge of the green and I’d have had a chance. It is what it is. I was really enjoying the moment coming down there with a chance to win. I still had a chance to actually eagle it or birdie it and get in a playoff, and it just didn’t happen. But one bad shot, and that’s it.

Q. What was the conversation with Ian as you guys were getting ready?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, you look at the number, it was an awkward number yesterday. It was a slightly different wind, and I cut a 5-wood that pitched like 238. I had 239 to the pin today, but the wind was off the right. I felt like it was playing shorter, wasn’t hurting today. But there was only one shot really. Honestly, maybe at the time, you think, I had the world left and could have got up-and-down, but playing for that, I could have easily bailed left, not got up-and-down and then said, why did I bail out left. So you pick your shot and you hit it, and that’s it.

I think we picked the right shot 100 percent, I just didn’t pull it off.

Q. How good did you feel after the birdie-birdie start? Looked like everything was trending.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, yeah, I was going well. My swing wasn’t there today, like all day it wasn’t like a comfortable day in terms of shots that I stood over and I felt really good over, these look great. Examples are like 16 is like an ideal shot for me normally, and things weren’t quite there, but I hung in there. I still hit enough good golf shots and I still had enough chances. Just that was it really.

But like I say, I started off great, had chances, and I felt like I did a good job all day even when I made a couple bogeys. I was always hanging around. I never really got overly frustrated, never thought, oh, I’ve made bogey there or I’ve made bogey there, just moved on and kept doing a good job, and even without my game feeling as comfortable as it was I got to the end with a chance.

Q. There’s obviously a language barrier for a lot of guys in this game. Do you know Sungjae at all?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, we always say hello and talk. Well, I say talk, we never had like massively long conversations, but I always say hi. He’s always a guy that I would acknowledge. Not that we’ve had many conversations about technicalities of the game, but he seems like a nice guy.

Q. How long will this take you get over?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I’m disappointed now. Sungjae — somebody shot a better score than me. I tried my hardest, got close, getting closer, getting better, and — yeah, it’s disappointing and I’ll be thinking about it. Little things will come into your mind like what if or what if that, but it is what it is. We’ve got amazing events coming up, and my game is in good shape where I actually feel like I can hit it better, as well. I don’t feel like this week I’ve been absolutely — I’ve played some absolutely fantastic golf, but I still feel like my game could have felt better at times, and I think that’s something to look at and go away and work on. I feel like I can get sharper and keep playing better. It’s not to say I will, but I’m going to try.

Q. Along those lines, obviously very hard courses, very hard tournaments coming up this year. You have to feel like you’re in form for the bigger tests that are coming up?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I’ll absolutely look forward to them and keep working. And that’s the thing, with the way golf is now, just because I’ve made bogey on the last here, you don’t have time to go away and sit and sulk about it. Players are coming up next week, they want to win that tournament and if you’re playing well, make the most of it and hopefully I can do that next week.

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

March 1, 2020

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PGA Tour: Tyrrell Hatton Speaks With Media Following First Round -2 under 69 at the WGC Mexico Championship

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - FEBRUARY 20: Tyrrell Hatton of England reacts on the 18th green during the first round of the World Golf Championships Mexico Championship at Club de Golf Chapultepec on February 20, 2020 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)

Tyrell Hatton recaps his opening round 69 at the WGC Mexico Championship, 4 shots off the lead.

Q. What was your assessment of today?
TYRRELL HATTON: Overall, pretty happy with that. I’ve only been back hitting balls for the last three and a half weeks, so it was a long layoff. I’m quite happy. Obviously I’ve done well here in the past, so I know the course pretty well, and yeah, it was just good to kind of get back out there and play competitive golf again.

Q. You’ve had three top 20s here. What is it you like about this place?
TYRRELL HATTON: I kind of always enjoy short, kind of fiddly golf courses, I guess, and this is certainly up there with the best of them. And I guess it’s funny because you need patience around here, and that’s something that I don’t really have. For some reason the course has kind of been fairly kind to me, and hopefully it continues this week.

Q. Give us a sense of the conditions out there. The wind seemed to be picking up later on in the round.
TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, the wind picked up a lot. We noticed it probably from the 7th. Definitely windier than how I remember it in previous years. You can kind of see from the scoring, it’s not really that low. But obviously there’s a few challenges this week with the altitude and the wind obviously swirling around now, so that makes it quite tough for club selection.

2020 WGC Mexico Championship Full Leaderboard

Q. Bogeys on 13 and 15, so that was a nice way to finish, wasn’t it?
TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, I kind of struggled with the putter all day, actually. I gave myself lots of chances, but I was leaving a lot of putts short, and then that one on the last, I kind of — when I stood up over it, I didn’t feel too comfortable, so I kind of just stepped back a little bit, gave myself a tiny bit more room, and it was the best stroke I made all day, and it was nice to see that one go in.

Q. How is the wrist?
TYRRELL HATTON: It’s still not 100 percent, to be perfectly honest. I’ve still got a little twinge there, but I’m hoping that obviously now I’m back playing, kind of it’ll ease up. It is just going to take time. The recovery was a bit longer than we thought it would be. Obviously I was hoping to start my season in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, but this week is a good test for it, give myself four competitive rounds and see how I feel at the end of it. So I don’t want to kind of push it too much if it’s a little bit sensitive at the end of the week, but I don’t think it will be. It’s just a case of kind of getting back out and playing again.

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European Tour: Tom Lewis Speaks on Valiant Final Round Effort at The Omega Dubai Desert Classic

Tom Lewis of England plays a shot during the final day of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club in Dubai on January 26, 2020. (Photo by KARIM SAHIB / AFP) (Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

European Tour professional Tom Lewis speaks with the media following a final round 74 which led to a third place finish at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

European Tour: Tom Lewis addresses the media after coming up just short at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic

Q. Given everything down the stretch, a brave put at 16 to keep the dream alive but you’ve come up short. Reflect on the day?
TOM LEWIS: It was always going to be a difficult day. Found the wind was down out of the left, a lot of time I was struggling with that wind, and I think around here you can’t miss greens. Around here, it’s going to be difficult. The greens look so fast and I think when that rain came in, it slowed it up and I think that’s why you see a lot of my putts came up short coming in.

It’s a shame, but I gave it a go and when I holed that one on 16, I thought, here we go, might get a couple of birdies, but just didn’t happen.

Q. Obviously the 68 shot by Christian and Lucas, tremendous scores. Put them into context for us, because they played in the worst of the weather?
TOM LEWIS: Yeah, I don’t see that out there. I thought anything around par, maybe 1-under, would be an amazing score. To be able to shoot 3- or 4-under par around here today, it’s hard to see, but I think Lucas has had a good night the night before, so I might have a word with him to see what he’s doing.

Full Leaderboard: Omega Dubai Desert Classic 2020

Q. Tied for third position takes you around 50th in the world. Will depend on results in America tonight, but certainly you’re closer to the dream of playing potentially in the Masters in April. Is that a particular goal?
TOM LEWIS: Top-50?

Q. You’ll be around Top-50?
TOM LEWIS: Well, that holds me up a little bit. I don’t know. I really don’t know how the World Rankings work. I just know that it would be lovely to go to the Masters. To keep missing out on that every year, especially with the start of the career I’ve had, I’ve never been there, and hopefully I can keep playing well, play well next week and see what happens over in America, try to get into some events, maybe they will let me play a few, and maybe I can get in the Masters.

January 26, 2020

Dubai, UAE

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European Tour: Tommy Fleetwood Speaks on Huge Bounce Back Second Round at Omega Dubai Desert Classic

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - JANUARY 24: Tommy Fleetwood of England plays his third shot on the third hole during Day Two of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club on January 24, 2020 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

European Tour: Tommy Fleetwood speaks with the media following round two of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in which he shot a score of 65 to rebound from his first round 75 to make it inside the cutline.

European Tour: Tommy Fleetwood speaks with the media following round two of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic

Q. 75 yesterday, 65 today. Just tell us about that from your point of view. 10 shots in one day.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, it’s a good change. Yesterday was disappointing, I actually felt like I played okay, I had a real shocker on the greens. At the end of the day those bad days have to get better. But the positive is we practiced for a bit yesterday, I came out this morning, practiced my putting again, felt like I had a better idea of what I was doing. And that just — it doesn’t always work out like that, but just lucky that the bit of work that I did put in paid off today. Really felt like I, at times, I didn’t need hit it that great, but at times I did hit it really well today, and I just made putts, made up-and-downs and that makes a big big difference when you’re playing golf.

Q. Putting itself obviously improved significantly. Once you were out there and you sort of got your self through the cut line in terms of, I’m probably safe now, is it then about narrowing the gap to the top and does that change your mindset?
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I think you never really want to think about the cut, but obviously when you start off at 3-over the first priority is to make sure that you made the cut and play for the weekend. I think that’s, I mean that is the first priority every time you peg it up week-to-week as professional golfers is to make cuts and make money. So, yeah, like that, first and foremost is try and get your self in the cut line. I feel like I navigated the front nine really well and the course has played so much harder this so you can’t take anything for granted, but I felt like once I got through the front nine, the back nine with three par-5s, feels like there was more chances on the back nine. So I felt very comfortable walking to the 10th tee. And just — but at no point was it trying get your self up the leaderboard, try and make the cut, it was just about doing my best, really. I’m not going to go through all the process stuff, but it was all that and at the end of the day it was a very, very good day and I was just happy that I got some momentum building. And like you say, not out of it yet.

Full Leaderboard: Omega Dubai Desert Classic 2020

Q. There was some attention obviously because you’ve got this record cut run going, people are discussing it saying 2018 43 tournaments, now makes 44. Even you must be impressed with that, it’s pretty darn good stuff.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, it’s something that I’m very proud of. I think that — I said before, I would like some more wins possibly as well, but to play week-in week-out and there’s always, it’s so easy to I think make excuses that, I wasn’t putting well this week or, like yesterday, I could have easily said, I’m putting terrible this week, just put it down to that and let’s get on with next week. And yeah, to have played that consistently over that course of time is something that I’m proud of and I think it shows a lot about how I go about things, about the people that I work with and the preparation that we put in, because I’m not going to have played well all those weeks and the standard of golf’s getting higher and higher, so something I’m very proud of, I’m sure it’s going to come to an end at some point, but for now just happy that I’m still here for the weekend.

January 24,2020

Dubai, UAE

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