Matt Fitzpatrick broke the top 50 in the world for the first time in November 2015 and for the entire course in one week, since he settled comfortably in the elite layers of professional men’s golf.
But the 27-year-old Sheffield player is not comfortable. He pushes, pushes and pushes a little more to get every ounce out of a relatively light frame and an increasingly essential game of golf.
Now he is in the top 10. Now he has won in the United States. He is now a great champion, thanks to a brilliant victory in what will be remembered as one of the great US Opens.
“He was not happy to hang around the world for 25-18 years for two or three years,” Fitzpatrick Russell’s father told BBC Sport after his son’s triumph in Brooklyn.
This happened after the big ones in 2020. He arrived in Harding Park for this year’s US PGA Championship and sent a message to friends to say he had no chance before he even hit the ball.
The player was just tired of appearing in places where he knew he couldn’t win.
Fitzpatrick doubled with longtime coach Mike Walker, who is based in South Yorkshire and works with legendary teacher Pete Cowen, who initially revealed the player’s talents.
Cowen was a client of Fitzpatrick’s father, the bank manager. “You need a little luck. I could have worked in Portsmouth and never met Pete,” Russell said.
His son sat down with Walker to figure out how to earn the extra yards that would make all the difference.
They enlisted the help of biomechanic Sasho Mackenzie, who gave the player a speed stick called “The Stack” and a mode to transform his game.
Fitzpatrick revealed: “I do this religiously, week after week. It’s basically like going to the gym.”
Not surprisingly, he was so diligent in building strength and speed that he eventually won the US Open at the same venue in Massachusetts, where he won the 2013 US Amateur as a skinny teenager.
“In terms of discipline, he’s just so organized,” his father added. “He leaves nothing to chance.”
Caddy Billy Foster, for whom this was his first major success in 40 years as a bag manager, has a more candid way of describing his boss’s devotion.
“When I started working for him, I said he was Bernhard Langer’s lover,” Foster told me. The meticulous German is a two-time Masters winner, Ryder Cup legend and still wins adult titles at the age of 64.
“There is no one who works harder than Matt,” Foster continued. “He has an amazing work ethic and with that extra confidence of winning a big championship, it will help him move forward.”
Foster was in danger of some bitterly great defeats while working for Thomas Bjorn, Lee Westwood and Darren Clark. Fitzpatrick erased much of this heartache with his stunning performance at The Country Club.
He defeated world number one Scotty Scheffler and left behind defending champion John Ram and wrestling Rory McIlroy, as well as leading the great specialist Will Zalatoris to third runner-up in the major.
“He hit 17 of the 18 greens in the US Open,” said Foster. “It’s amazing golf.
“He is 20 yards away. Its stirring and chipping have improved a lot and it usually plays great. He hasn’t performed very well in the last few weeks, which is not like him at all.
“He will go from strength to strength and will be a real dominant player in the game.
Fitzpatrick is quietly understated, but he, perhaps more than anyone else, knows his potential. Amid the frenzy of media frenzy around Brooklyn’s 18th Green, he took a moment to consider what he had accomplished.
“I have confidence in myself,” he told BBC Sport. “I support myself. I really feel like I can compete here.
“I feel better than I’ve already achieved, I really do. I think this is such a special thing for me for the work I’ve done over the last few years to pay for it. ”
Now ranked as the 10th best player in the world, this was his eighth final in the top 10 of the PGA Tour this year. His biggest struggle is to try to express what this victory means to him.
“I can’t tell you, I honestly can’t tell you,” he smiled. “I don’t think there are many people who work harder than I do.
“I’m just trying to find 1% wherever I can. Whether it’s a dream, whether it’s a choice of photos, a course strategy, whatever.
“I’m just trying to find something that makes me a better player. I complained at the beginning of the year that the other boys are in the top 10 every week – what do I miss?
“And that’s exactly what I did this year. So I just have to keep doing what I’m doing.
“I don’t want to be complacent now. It’s very easy to win this and just disappear for a while. I just have to keep doing what I’m doing.”
It would be irresponsible to make ill-considered and ambitious predictions about the first British winner of the men’s tournament after his colleague from South Yorkshire Danny Willett at the Masters in 2016.
But Fitzpatrick’s mantra will surely serve him well. As he says, “Don’t be lazy and keep working hard and hopefully a few more will follow.”
Add Comment