European Tour professional Matthew Fitzpatrick speaks with the media about his hot start to the 2020 season as well as recapping his performance at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in which he finished in a tie for second place with a score of -17 under par.
European Tour: Matthew Fitzpatrick recaps Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship
Q. A final round 67 here in Abu Dhabi, and the incredible Rolex Series performances that you bring continue. How do you feel about today’s performance?
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Good, yeah. Apart from one missed putt, wouldn’t take a shot back, and to come off the golf course, that’s a great feeling, despite not enough to win, it’s been a great week.
Q. It’s very rare that we see you not have two great putting days in a row. It looked like after 2,3, and 4 we were going to see one of those days today?
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: Yeah, definitely. Front nine I felt like could I hole everything and managed to hole one putt for par, which was nice to keep a bit of momentum going.
Yeah, just on back nine, just couldn’t make a thing. It was just one of those days, but hey, that’s golf. I’m delighted. It’s a great start to the year, and sort of you’re always a little bit nervous when you come into the start of the year after taking so much time off. So to come back and play as well as I felt I have done is a positiv,e.
Q. You took a share of the lead after 4 and I’m sure would you have noticed on the leaderboard Tommy making a run today. At what point did you think things weren’t turning for you after the turn; that you might pull something or stick to the process?
MATTHEW FITZPATRICK: That Tommy Fleetwood, he’s so annoying. He just comes from everywhere, but yeah, he’s definitely one of those, I have to stick to what I was doing; and he’s probably the most disciplined golfer I’ve ever played with, just picking targets and sticking to them and not even being tempted to be greedy, really.
January 19, 2020
Abu Dhabi, UAE
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports