By Martin Dempster - The Scotsman
In-form Englishman up to third in world after landing RBC Heritage for a second time
In-form
Matt Fitzpatrick said he was “spurred on” by Ryder Cup-style chanting
in beating Scottie Scheffler to land a second PGA Tour win in three
starts.
Fitzpatrick
became a two-time RBC Heritage winner after making a birdie at the
first extra hole in play-off with world No 1 Scheffler at Harbour Town
Golf Links in South Carolina.
The Signature Event win came hot on the heels of Fitzpatrick also
landing the Valspar Championship while, in between, the Sheffield man
finished in the top 20 in the Masters.
Having also finished second in the Players Championship last month, the
hot run of form has lifted Fitzpatrick to third in the Official World
Golf Ranking behind Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.
As
was the case in the Players Championship, fans chanted “USA, USA” as
Fitzpatrick found himself battling it out with an American player and,
on this occasion, it was the man at the top of the global rankings.
Asked
if it had got out of line at any point, Fitzpatrick insisted it hadn’t.
“No, it didn't get out of line in terms of no one was shouting on
backswings or anything like that, which was great,” he said.
“I'm all for it. I love the people - they're supporting Scottie; that's
great. You want golf to have an atmosphere in my opinion. I grew up
watching football. I'm paid so much money to be out there in front of
those crowds, having them chanting at you every week, it's a great
feeling.
“However,
there's no better feeling than coming out on top against that. There
isn't a better feeling. To describe it in my terms, it's kind of winning
away against your biggest rival.
‘It was loud but never crossed the line’
“Nothing
to do with Scottie or the players; it's the fans that have sort of
spurred me on there. It was nice to obviously win, but it never crossed
the line. It was just loud.”
Fitzpatrick,
who was sitting 79th in the world rankings this time last year, was
asked if he felt as though he was the best golfer in the world right
now.
“No,
I don't,” he declared. “I feel like I can still improve. There's areas
that I want to get better at. I feel like I'm playing very well right
now and definitely high confidence for sure.
“The
ball is obviously going where I intend it to go. It felt like my putter
had let me down a little bit at Augusta. I didn't putt anything like I
know I can. You never know what would have happened. This week, the
first two rounds, even Saturday, putted fantastic, made everything I
looked at. I just really felt comfortable.
Matt Fitzpatrick and Scottie Scheffler fought out a thrilling last-round
duel before being involved in a sudden-death play-off in the PGA Tour’s
latest Signature Event | Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
“I
know there's still areas that I want to improve on. I know it's cliche,
but I know there's things that can still improve in certain areas. So
that's obviously exciting, given the results I've achieved so far and
what's to come.”
On
this sort of form, Fitzpatrick is a certainty for another Ryder Cup
appearance at Adare Manor in Ireland next September and he’s braced for
more “USA, USA” chants at PGA Tour events between now and then.
Insisting
he’s happy for that to be the case, the former US Open champion said:
“Americans are incredibly patriotic, and I think that was amazing. I
guess the only issue is they just have shorter memories because we won
in October (smiling).”
After
a closing 73 - his worst round of the week - Bob MacIntyre finished
joint-42nd in South Carolina and is now heading home for a break after
playing three weeks in a row.
