BROOKLINE, Massachusetts – Matt Fitzpatrick of England is again the champion of The Country Club, this time with the biggest trophies in golf.
US Amateur Champion in 2013 US Open Champion on Sunday.
In the three-way battle of Brooklyn, which reached the wire, Fitzpatrick grabbed control with a great breakthrough and an even better shot on the 15th hole for a two-shot swing. It was just as much a clutch from the fairway bunker on the 18th, which set a face value for 2 below 68.
Victory was uncertain until Will Zalatoris, who showed incredible struggle with every mistake, fell to his knees when his 15-foot strike on the 18th’s bird just slid to the left of the cup. Zalatoris, who finished 69th, was a runner-up in the second consecutive major.
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Masters champion Scotty Scheffler never recovered from the back gods to start the back nine, which cost him the lead. He had a 25-foot chance of a bird on the 18th, which he just missed and left him alone with 67.
Along with $ 3.15 million in prize money, Fitzpatrick had a Jack Nicklaus gold medal draped around his neck, which was just right.
Fitzpatrick is the 13th man to win both the US Amateur and the US Open in his career, and the second to win both on the same court, joining Nicklaus to reverse Pebble Beach. Julie Inxter won the US Amateur Tournament and the US Women’s Open at the Prairie Dunes.
Fitzpatrick, who briefly played at Northwestern before becoming a professional, won for the eighth time in the world, and this was his first in America – at least a tournament that everyone knows about. He won a member of The Bear’s Club in Florida earlier this year, the track built by Nicklaus.
“He insulted me a little at the beginning of the year. He said, “Finally. Congratulations on the victory in the United States, “Fitzpatrick said.
And then, lifting the trophy slightly, Fitzpatrick sent a funny message to Nicklaus: “Jack, I won a second time.”
Fitzpatrick became the first player since Graham McDowell in 2010 to win his first PGA Tour victory at the US Open.
It took a good rest, a sign kick and a little courage in the end.
Fitzpatrick and Zalatoris were tied until the 15th, when the Englishman hit his shot so right that he entered the gallery and found a decent lie on the grass, which was dead and trampled. Zalatoris missed just a few yards and was buried in deep grass.
He hit a 5-iron from 220 yards to 18 feet below the hole. Zalatoris entered the front bunker, dumped 25 feet and made a plug. Fitzpatrick took the lead with two shots when his shot from the bird entered the bowl at such a perfect pace that he didn’t even touch the pin he left in the bowl.
Zalatoris bounced back again, taking a solid 16-to-7-foot par-3 pin to reduce the lead with a single blow. They both missed a 12-foot bird chance on the 17th, and then Fitzpatrick missed the fairway at the wrong time, pulling it to the left into a bunker with a steep stretch of bumps right in front of him.
The playoffs seemed exceptional – the previous three US Opens in Brooklyn were decided by a playoff – and then Fitzpatrick fearlessly struck a fading 9-iron that carried the gaping bunker in front of the green and settled 18 feet away.
He missed for a moment and could only watch Zalatoris miss his last chance.
“Matt’s shot at 18 will probably be shown until the end of US Open history,” Zalaris said. “I walked past him and thought it would be unbearable. But the fact that he took it out and even looked like a bird was just amazing.
“So hats off to him. He played great all week obviously and gave a solid round today.”
Fitzpatrick finished 6th under 134.
Matt Fitzpatrick became the second man to win the US Amateur and the US Open on the same field, joining Jack Nicklaus, who won at Pebble Beach in 1961 and 1972. Andrew Redington / Getty Images
Fitzpatrick, 27, the first Englishman since Justin Rose in 2013 to win the US Open and the youngest player in England to win a major since Tony Jacqueline at the 1970 US Open, felt his time was coming. He is careful in outlining his photos and records all of them to determine what needs work. And he has been emphasizing speed in his swing for the past two years, giving him the length and faith to compete with anyone.
That didn’t make Sunday any easier, a three-man race from the start when John Ram and Rory McIlroy backed down and never joined the mix again.
Fitzpatrick and Zalatoris, who shared a 54-hole lead, had a two-shot lead at one point.
Zalatoris, who lost in the playoffs to Justin Thomas in the PGA Championship last month, has recovered from two early gods. They were leveled when Zalatoris made an 18-foot hit with a birdie on the short par-3 11th, and Fitzpatrick made three trips for a bogey from the same range.
The 25-year-old Dallas footballer suddenly took the lead with two shots. He also couldn’t keep the ball in the fairway, and that cost him a missed shot at number 12. And then came another big turning point, with Fitzpatrick making a 50-foot bird strike through the 13th green. Zalatoris did well to make their 15-footer for face value and they headed for the tense conclusion.
Scheffler was still running for a second degree this year, but everyone else was a distant memory. Hideki Matsuyama had the lowest round of the week at 65, but he finished 3-under 277 and that would never be good enough.
Eventually, Fitzpatrick shared hugs with his family on the field, including his younger brother Alex, who was coded for him in the amateur tournament in the United States and recently became a professional.
And there was his caddy, Billy Foster, one of the most popular, longtime loopers in Europe, who had never been on a major’s bag until Sunday.
“Billy said it for a while to keep doing what you’re doing and the chance will come,” Fitzpatrick said. “That’s how it was and I used it.”
ESPN Stats & Information and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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