Matt Fitzpatrick wasn’t going to let the lead slip away this time.
Fitzpatrick, after nearly blowing a three-shot lead to the top-ranked golfer in the world, held on late on Sunday afternoon at Harbour Town in South Carolina. Fitzpatrick posted a simple 1-under 70 in his final round and birdied the first playoff hole to put Scottie Scheffler away and officially claim the RBC Heritage.
Advertisement
Though he bogeyed the 18th in regulation, which is what set up the playoff in the first place, Fitzpatrick landed his approach just past the pin in the playoff to set up a 13-foot birdie putt to secure his win on the 73rd hole of the tournament.
Fitzpatrick has now won twice in his last three PGA Tour starts, doubling up his career win total. He is just the second two-time winner on Tour this season, joining Chris Gotterup, who won both the Sony Open in Hawaii and the WM Phoenix Open. The win on Sunday also earned Fitzpatrick a $3.6 million check, part of a $20 million purse at the signature event.
Fitzpatrick carried a three-shot lead into the final round, thanks to a 3-under 68 on Saturday that was only possible after he sank a birdie putt from off the green and then chipped in for eagle on the following hole. Scheffler, however, was close behind after he once again jumped into contention on Moving Day. Scheffler went 7-under on Saturday after he started the day with five birdies in his first six holes.
Advertisement
Fitzpatrick jumped out to a great start on Sunday, too. He birdied two of his first three holes, which pushed his lead to four briefly, before rattling off 14 consecutive pars. He kept that streak alive at the 11th, too, with what was perhaps his best putt of the day from more than 16 feet out.
Eventually, though, Scheffler cut the lead back to a single stroke after he drilled in a birdie putt, his second straight, at the 16th. Scheffler went to the final tee box trailing by just one shot, and Fitzpatrick missed the green in regulation after his drive landed in the sand off to the right of the fairway.
Scheffler, despite landing in the center of the fairway, also missed the green with his approach. But he went up-and-down with a tap-in par. While that made things very clear for Fitzpatrick, he seemed to rush his chip and left himself more than 20 feet from the cup. He bogeyed instead, ending his par streak and setting up the playoff.
Scheffler finished with a bogey-free 67. He only had three bogeys on the week, two of which came in the opening round. Scheffler has now finished second in back-to-back weeks on Tour. He climbed back into contention at the Masters last week, but ended up finishing alone in second behind Rory McIlroy at Augusta National.
Advertisement
Si Woo Kim finished alone in third at 16-under on the week. Collin Morikawa, Harris English and Ludvig Åberg tied for fourth, though they were five shots back of Fitzpatrick and Scheffler.
The win is the fourth of Fitzpatrick’s PGA Tour career and his second of the season. He won the Valspar Championship last month, thanks to a huge birdie putt at the final hole, to give him a one-shot victory at the Copperhead Course. Fitzpatrick, who entered this week at No. 7 in the Official World Golf Rankings, nearly won The Players Championship this season, too, but he fell apart on the final hole and opened the door for Cameron Young to steal the tournament instead.
Advertisement
Clearly, with a win over Scheffler now in the books, Fitzpatrick has more than put that slip at TPC Sawgrass behind him. The 31-year-old, who will jump to No. 3 in the OWGR on Monday, looks very capable of making a run at another major championship in the near future.
