Matt Fitzpatrick Once Roamed Harbour Town as a Child, Sunday Night He Did as a Champion
Matt Fitzpatrick #MattFitzpatrick
The Englishman used to watch outside the ropes on family vacations; Sunday he defeated fan favorite Jordan Spieth for the RBC Heritage title.
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Matt Fitzpatrick didn’t become a household name until he hit a 9-iron from 160 yards out of a fairway bunker to within 18 feet on a Sunday outside of Boston.
That shot was to win the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club, a place where Fitzpatrick had history, having won the 2013 U.S. Amateur on the same composite course as the Open.
Less than a year later, Fitzpatrick used a 9-iron again, this time to seal his first win at a course he also has history with, Harbour Town Golf Links, and silence all the fans that were yelling for Jordan Spieth to repeat.
“I think I can retire now,” the 28-year-old joked after recording his first non-major PGA Tour win. “This one is the one that I’ve always wanted to win. Other than the majors, of course, there isn’t a higher one on my list than to win this one, and that’s the truth.”
The reason for his love of the area is that his family vacationed at Hilton Head over many of his formative years and young Matt would come out at times and stand on the other side of the ropes, watching the best players in the world.
Sitting at No. 8 in the world rankings, the highest in his career, Fitzpatrick is now one of those best players as he proved over the weekend, recording 10 birdies, an eagle and one lone bogey on the front nine on Sunday.
Everything about Fitzpatrick’s win was impressive, but making consecutive birdies on the 15th and 16th holes to rein in Spieth and force a playoff was maybe the most remarkable.
“I just feel like I played really well this week,“ Fitzpatrick said. “And I felt solid coming in off the weekend of last week (T10 Masters), and just took it through into the rest of the week.”
Fitzpatrick joins only one other Englishman, Nick Faldo, to have won at Hilton Head.
Faldo, the winner in 1984, cruised around Harbour Town recording only two bogeys to win by two over Tom Kite.
Fitzpatrick seemed just as methodical as Faldo in the final round, not by chasing but letting the course and the opportunities come to him.
In other words, sticking to a gameplan that he set at the beginning of the week.
“The big thing for me that I feel like I’ve learned when I play well is just having patience, just letting it happen, and just giving myself time,” Fitzpatrick said. “At the end of the day, the final round is over 18 holes.”
Fitzpatrick must have thought he was playing in a Ryder Cup match with many of the fans yelling “Spieth!” and “USA,” but Fitzpatrick had his cheering section and when his second shot on the third playoff hole rolled to within two feet, the Sheffield native looked to the crowd for assurance.
“When you’re the underdog or the person that … everyone is not rooting for, it’s obviously a little bit sweeter when you do win, yeah, there’s no doubt about that,” Fitzpatrick said. “But I felt like I had a lot of support out there myself.”
Next week it will be Fitzpatricks teamed together at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, with Matt and his younger brother Alex.
When the older Fitzpatrick won the U.S. Amateur, it was younger brother Alex who caddied.
“I’m even more excited to go now,” Fitzpatrick said. “I was really excited. That kind of was one of my thoughts going into today, just enjoy today, it’s a great challenge, great opportunity to go out and try and win, and fortunately managed to do that, and then just look forward to … my plan was to enjoy today and look forward to next week, and now I can really enjoy next week.”