Matt

Fitzpatrick

Fitzpatrick celebrated his birthday on September 1st by playing himself into contention at the Omega European Masters. Just a week later he shared the news of his engagement via social media. The Englishman had an up-and-down season but is trending well on and off the course ahead of this week’s BMW PGA Championship and upcoming Ryder Cup.

Fitzpatrick had some course experience heading into last year’s event at Brookline. He won’t have that same comfort this week but he does arrive off back-to-back top 20s. He also won the RBC Heritage in mid-April. “I seem to remember just last year just thinking about the tournament, just the U.S. Open. It was obviously different because I had the tie to the golf course and the history there, so probably was easier for me to mentally focus on that and be in a better place than obviously all this confusion that’s going on this week.” Speaking on course strategy, Fitzpatrick said he’s reached out to Edoardo Molinari for an analytical look into the routing. Fitzpatrick is starting the week as a +3500 outright betting option.

The Englishman was two shots worse than the field average on Thursday but didn’t hang his head. He battled back and then some, gaining 8.2 over the field by week’s end. Driving was the key weapon as he ranked 9th in strokes gained off-the-tee. Fitzpatrick continues his boom-or-bust relationship with Muirfield Village as he now sports a T9 and solo third finish while landing outside of the top 65 in his other three starts at the Memorial. Fitzpatrick will look to maintain momentum next week in Canada.

The Englishman is making his eighth appearance at the PGA Championship and it certainly wasn’t love at first sight. He missed the cut in three of his first five tries with finishes outside of the top 40 in the other two. He’s improved with a T23 and T5 in his last two tries. “I think just different setups... I think a lot of the PGA setups tend to reward long drivers. I think it just tests your all-around game. I feel like the two that I did well, like you said, Kiawah and last year, was probably because I just think the golf course setup was a little bit more forgiving in a way. " Adding distance to his skillset was certainly a big part of his improvement at this event. Also working in his favor, there is cold weather in the forecast which may remind him of back home. He’ll also bring some confidence to the table with a recent win on his resume (RBC Heritage), three starts ago.

Big brother Matt tallied five birdies at TPC Louisiana. Little bro Alex carded the same. So, it was asked after their 10-under 62 in the fourballs format, if they ham-and-egged it. “I hate that phrase. Ham and egg is so American, and we’re from England,” Matt said, to which Alex countered, “We dovetailed.” Next up is foursomes on Friday. “I think you’re definitely playing less aggressive,” Matt said about the alternate-shot format. “You’re plotting your way around more, fairways and greens, and just keeping the bogeys off the card is what’s going to be important tomorrow, I think if we can do that, maybe nick a few, then it’ll be a good day.”

The Englishman slept on a one-shot lead but had many notable chasers on his heels. It was his third time holding a 54-hole lead or co-lead on the PGA TOUR and he’s now won two of them (2022 PGA Championship). The other was a runner-up finish at the 2019 Arnold Palmer Invitational. Today, he just hung around with two birdies and one bogey on the opening 14 holes then surged with back-to-back birdies to find his spot atop the leaderboard. Fitzpatrick has a long history with Harbour Town including family vacations when he was growing up, once joking that he would retire if he ever won at the venue that he calls his favorite stop on TOUR. Fitzpatrick got off to a slow start this season, largely due to a neck injury but this win vaults him from 81st to 20th, putting him back on track.

The Englishman has a long history with Harbour Town, spending some vacation time in the area with his family. He’s always wanted to win this event and now he’s in a good position after day one. “I wouldn’t say it fits my game. I haven’t really had that much success here... I just like the design of the golf course. I like the area. I think it’s a really tough test. I think it’s a really fair test. If you hit the ball well tee to green, you get rewarded.” He did that today with more than a stroke gained in each of the three tee-to-green categories while his putter failed to heat up. Fitzpatrick has a trio of top 15s on his course resume to go along with three missed cuts and two finishes in between.

Last year was loaded with top-15 finishes for the Englishman but he’s landed just one in 2023 (T14 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational). A bulging disc was discovered during the West Coast Swing and it slowed his progress. “The timing of it put me straight behind the 8-ball. All of a sudden, the work I had done in the off-season just became non-existent. I wasn’t moving as well as I needed to to swing it as well as I needed to, and it’s just been kind of compounding of errors, really. Because of my neck, then I’ve not been able to swing it, and then my swing has changed, kind of compensating.” What about his chances for the future? “Slowly getting there, but you know, it’s just going to take time.” Fitzpatrick was still a great player without his 2022 speed but gamers should consider him more of a boom-or-bust option in weekly fantasy formats until he starts to find his full arsenal again.

Fitzpatrick spoke to the media today and one thing he mentioned was hurting his neck last Saturday. " I’m fine to play. I just don’t have my normal speed, which is obviously disappointing.” The Englishman is 2-for-3 at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am with his only notable finish being last year’s sixth-place finish. At press time, it doesn’t sound like he’s going to withdraw from the event but that could certainly change if his neck acts up over the next four days. He brings a lot of upside to the table but gamers will want to weigh this potential injury risk into the equation when deciding whether to invest this week.

The Englishman played his way to East Lake last season but is making his first start of the new campaign. That doesn’t mean he’ll be rusty, though, as he’s stayed active over on the DP World Tour, earning three paydays in four events since the TOUR Championship. That includes a runner-up finish at the Italian Open. His first start of the new PGA TOUR season will come at Congaree Golf Club, the site of his T10 back at the 2021 Palmetto Championship.