Matt Fitzpatrick is confident that he is playing better than he did when he won the US Open in 2022, insisting that his irons have become a strength for the very first time.
Fitzpatrick has had an incredible year on the PGA Tour. The Englishman has won three times, including at the RBC Heritage where he beat Scottie Scheffler in a playoff at Harbour Town.
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Tom Kim, Johnny Keefer, and Michael Thorbjornsen all finished inside the top 10 at the Scottish Open
Fitzpatrick put himself in the mix to win the Scottish Open this past week at The Renaissance Club. He went on to register his third top five finish in his last four starts.
That bodes extremely well ahead of The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. The 31-year-old – who finished tied for 44th the last time Southport hosted the event in 2018 – is going to be one of the favourites in the eyes of many over the coming days.
Matt Fitzpatrick in no doubt about whether he is a better golfer than he was in 2022
It is remarkable to think that Fitzpatrick was facing a fight just to make Europe’s Ryder Cup team around this time last year. His rise has been rapid, and he has not looked back since being one of Luke Donald’s best performers in New York.
He has arguably never been better placed to win a second major. And Fitzpatrick agreed with the media’s suggestion ahead of Thursday’s opening round that he is even better now than he was heading into Brookline four years ago.
“Yeah, definitely playing better. Different style of play, I would say. That’s the big thing. Hopefully I’ve not peaked yet obviously, but I just think I’m doing a lot of good stuff this year. Short game’s been really, really good, and so has my irons,” he said.
“That’s a first for me. My irons have never really been a strength. I’ve had good seasons but never really taken advantage of that, I don’t feel like; whereas now I feel like I’ve got that.
“I think sort of the level of experience and maturity I have, I guess, with playing and being in these situations is obviously much better now, even than before 2022. So I think that’s obviously a big help as well.
“Yeah, I think there’s always room for improvement. There’s areas, I’m looking at last week, why didn’t I do that? Why didn’t I do this? You’re always trying to find those small gains.”
Matt Fitzpatrick’s remarkable improvement with his approach play in recent years
No one has been able to touch Scottie Scheffler when it comes to strokes gained approach in recent years. The world number one has been nearly flawless with his irons.
However, Scheffler has stumbled this year. And no one has capitalised more than Fitzpatrick, with the Englishman now leading the way on the PGA Tour.
He had previously spent several years outside the top 100 for strokes gained approach. Even in 2022, he was only just inside the top 50.
| Season | Matt Fitzpatrick’s strokes gained rank on the PGA Tour |
| 2022 | 48th |
| 2023 | 116th |
| 2024 | 127th |
| 2025 | 76th |
| 2026 | 1st |
His challenge now will be to sustain this run over a much longer period. Fitzpatrick has seen how quickly you can be knocked off that elite level having gone nearly three years without a PGA Tour win before this season.
He will be hoping to prove that he is very much here to stay.
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