Nobody should ever question Matt Fitzpatrick’s competitive fortitude. A week after watching in despair as he was inched out in the final few holes of the PGA Tour’s flagship event, the Englishman produced his own clinical climax to win the Valspar Championship.
And to make the display all the more commendable was the fact that he had to put up with the distraction of a playing partner who was so slow that Fitzpatrick felt forced to bring in the referee to order Adrien Dumont de Chassart to hurry up.
It would have been hard to bear if the snail had tripped up Fitzpatrick’s charge. Yet in true Yorkshire fashion, the 31-year-old held strong and turned it on just when it was needed. His grandstand birdie on the 18th was the ultimate golfing redemption, after his Players Championship disappointment, as he left with the £1.25m first prize.
Undoubtedly the most impressive stat in his one-shot triumph over American David Lipsky was in managing to keep bogey off his scorecards over the entire weekend. At a layout as demanding as Copperhead that verges on the unthinkable. Yet it was the emotional finish he delivered that was most memorable.
The average pro would have suffered a debilitating hangover after losing to Cameron Young at the Players in the manner of Fitzpatrick. He was one clear with two left but with the US crowd booing as he stood over the ball, the 2022 US Open champion bogeyed the 18th to hand the starred-and-striped favourite the spoils.
Fitzpatrick did not mope and did not even complain at the appalling treatment he received from the Sawgrass support. Instead, he travelled south to Tampa Bay and put on a ball-striking clinic. But he also required his wand to oblige.
There was a big logjam going into the back nine, but Fitzpatrick’s major-winning quality stood out on the leaderboard. Normally a prolific marksman with the flat-stick, the putts were simply not dropping and he also had the glacial pace of the Belgian alongside with which to contend.
By the 11th, he had seen enough. Fitzpatrick hit his second shot first, even though he was closer to the pin. He proceeded to wander up to the green, where he waited for approximately three minutes before Dumont de Chassart hit his own approach. Later a referee, Orlando Pope, revealed that Fitzpatrick had spoken to an official about the issue and Dumont de Chassart was given an official warning after he was timed.
With that problem sorted, the Englishman concentrated on the matter in hand and on the 15th struck the first decisive blow. Fitzpatrick converted a swinging 30-footer down the slope on the par-three for the birdie which gave him the outright lead. With fellow Englishman Jordan Smith in the clubhouse on nine-under – the Bath man’s 66 securing third, his best result to date on the PGA Tour – it became a straight shoot-out between Fitzpatrick and Lipsky, who birdied the 14th to draw level.
But after a fine drive on the 18th and then a nerveless approach to 15 feet, Fitzpatrick holed the birdie putt for a 68 and an 11-under total. And the fist pump said it all.
“I think the big thing was I felt like I was playing well,” Fitzpatrick said, explaining how he bounced back so quickly from Sawgrass. “I was playing well going into this week, obviously wanted to continue that, and I felt like I had confidence it in myself to do so. To do that over four rounds here was very special this week.”
After his tumble outside the world’s top 80 this time last year, Fitzpatrick moves back into the top 10 and will be one of the leading candidates going into the Masters in a fortnight. It was a fine Sunday for the flag of St George with another Englishman in Marco Penge coming in a tie for fourth, alongside Xander Schauffele.