Matt Fitzpatrick has suggested that struggling off the tee was the main reason he was unable to sustain a charge at the US Open last week, as he revealed that he has a new driver in the bag at the Travelers Championship.
Fitzpatrick was arguably one of the favourites to win the US Open at Shinnecock Hills. Not only has he won the event before, but he also has three victories to his name on the PGA Tour this season alone.
The Englishman did put himself in the final group on Saturday in Southampton. Unfortunately, he was seven over par for the weekend to finish in 22nd place.
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And speaking after his opening round at the Travelers Championship, Fitzpatrick claimed that one area of his game stood out as the root of his problems at Shinnecock Hills.
“Just struggled off the tee. You got to give yourself a chance at making some scores. Not only a chance of making birdies, but just trying to make comfortable pars,” he said.
“I think for me that’s been, that was the big thing at the weekend that I struggled with. I just, I didn’t hit my driver very well and I feel like that that was kind of what held me back most of all.”
What has changed off the tee for Matt Fitzpatrick
The US Open was only the third time this year that Fitzpatrick has lost strokes off the tee to the field, according to Data Golf.
The 31-year-old also lost shots at The American Express on his first start of the season, and the Truist Championship.
However, there were better signs at TPC River Highlands. Fitzpatrick hit 13 of 14 fairways as he posted a score of 64 on Thursday to put himself in the mix in the very early stages.
And after his round, he was asked whether he had fixed anything.
“Yeah, I have a different driver this week. That’s obviously new,” he said. “Just getting comfortable with that and I had, you know, felt like I practiced well these first three days as well and just managed to find something that I felt was working a bit better.”
Fitzpatrick reveals how difficult it has been to replace his driver
It is easy to assume that equipment issues should not be a problem for any player at the highest level of the game. They have access to everything they could possibly want, so you would imagine that Fitzpatrick switching drivers would be an easy process.
However, it turns out that he has been working for some time to find a new driver, and the work has been far from straightforward.
“Well, I think the long and short of it is basically in, I played obviously very well up until Zurich. My driver cracked on the Wednesday of Truist. Then, if you look at my off the tee from then, it’s quite telling that obviously there was something in that driver that was helping me out and I struggled to find one since,” he said.
“Through unbelievable effort from the staff at Titleist, you know, it’s nothing against those guys, but just for whatever reason there hasn’t been one that’s kind of managed to suit my eye, I guess, and kind of match my swing intentions. I think swing may have changed a little bit from January to that time as well, so maybe I was kind of making the previous one work well for me and the new one’s not having that effect.”
Fitzpatrick is second in the FedEx Cup standings. He has elevated his game to another level over the last 18 months having been a doubt for the 2025 Ryder Cup at one stage.
He will be desperate to make the most of his current form, with The Open Championship just around the corner and the FedEx Cup playoffs emerging on the horizon.
It will be a big boost if he can now put his driver struggles behind him.
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