Matt Fitzpatrick insists he will relish the challenge of a “brute of a golf course” as he bids to claim a second major title in the US PGA Championship.
The renovated East Course at Oak Hill is set to provide the world’s best players with a severe test, with Robert MacIntyre describing it as an “absolute monster” and the toughest course he has ever played.
However, the 7,394-yard, par-70 layout – whose two par fives both measure over 600 yards – holds relatively few fears for Fitzpatrick, who played in the final group in the last round of the US PGA 12 months ago before winning his maiden major title a month later at the US Open.
“I think that final round (at Southern Hills) there was a lot of talk about me playing a little bit too fast, looking a bit rushed,” Fitzpatrick said.
“Obviously at the time you don’t see that and I only really had like a week afterwards before I was playing the next run of tournaments, so I kind of didn’t get much time to reflect on it.
“But then I think when the time came Sunday of US Open I felt like I knew exactly what to do.
“Statistically I didn’t even putt that well that week, so if I can play the same way again and putt as well as I know I can, then that’s also another level that I can kind of add to my performance.
“I think that’s kind of a big thing for myself that I feel like if I can do that, I know I can contend and win.”
Fitzpatrick was six under par in winning the US Open at Brookline and although he was 17 under before beating Jordan Spieth in a play-off at the RBC Heritage last month, a tougher test has always been his preference.
“I’ve said it multiple times, I hate it when tournaments are 25, 30 under par to win,” the world number seven said. “I don’t particularly feel like I play well in those.
“I just like it when it’s hard and you’ve got to battle and par is a good score. I just enjoy it, for whatever reason.
“From the holes that I’ve seen, there’s so many tough, tough golf holes where you have to hit just good shots. I think that’s the great thing about it, it’s a proper test.
“It’s just a brute of a golf course. It reminds me a lot of Winged Foot when we played (the 2020 US Open) just because you miss the fairways there and it was just chipping out.
“Whoever does win this week, in my opinion, will thoroughly deserve it.”
The last seven men’s majors have all been won by players in their 20s, a streak started by Jon Rahm’s US Open victory in 2021 and continued by the world number one’s Masters triumph last month.
That may be a good omen for the likes of Rahm, Fitzpatrick and Open champion Cameron Smith – who will contest the first two rounds together – and also for world number two Scottie Scheffler.
But it is less encouraging for Rory McIlroy as he bids to claim a first major title since the second of his US PGA wins in 2014, the 33-year-old having followed a dispiriting missed cut in the Masters with a tie for 47th in the Wells Fargo Championship.
Jordan Spieth, who needs to lift the Wanamaker Trophy to complete a career grand slam, looked on course to compete at Oak Hill after withdrawing from last week’s PGA Tour event due to “severe pain” from a wrist injury.
A closer look at the hot streak of world number one Scottie Scheffler
Scottie Scheffler claimed his fourth win in five events on Monday when the weather-delayed RBC Heritage concluded at Hilton Head.
That run includes a second Masters title and has seen the world number one extend his sizeable lead over Rory McIlroy at the top of the rankings.
Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the facts and figures around Scheffler’s streak and how they compare to previous runs.
What makes Scheffler’s streak so impressive?Winning any event on the PGA Tour is difficult, but Scheffler has claimed two of the biggest in the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship, a major championship at Augusta National and the RBC Heritage, which boasted a stronger than usual field after being elevated to a Signature Event this season. Victory at Sawgrass made Scheffler the first player ever to win back-to-back Players titles. His only “failure” was a tie for second in the Houston Open.
Has this been done before?Scheffler is the first player to win four times in five starts on the PGA Tour since Tiger Woods, who did so at the end of 2007 and again to start 2008. He is also the third player in the last 30 years – after Woods and Vijay Singh (2004) – to win or finish runner-up in five consecutive starts on the PGA Tour. With many players taking a break after winning a major, Scheffler is also the first to win a PGA Tour event the week after claiming a green jacket since Bernhard Langer in 1985.
How much has Scheffler earned?Scheffler has banked an average of £3.17million for each of his four victories and “only” £448,000 for his five-way tie for second behind Stephan Jaeger in the Houston Open. The total sum of £13.14m would place Scheffler 145th on the PGA Tour’s career earnings list and he is closing in on the single-season record of £17million he set last year. In comparison, Woods won nine times on the PGA Tour in 2000, including three major titles, and never finished worse than 23rd in 20 starts. His prize money totalled £7.4m.
Does the world ranking reflect Scheffler’s dominance?In a word, yes. Ahead of the Genesis Invitational in mid-February, Rory McIlroy could have become world number one by winning at Riviera with Scheffler finishing third or worse. Now, Scheffler has more than double the total and average points of McIlroy, while the average points gap between the top two (7.6493) is bigger than that between McIlroy and the players tied for 4,123st in the standings.
So is Scheffler the most dominant player in world golf?Not quite. Hours before Scheffler completed his victory in Hilton Head, fellow American Nelly Korda had wrapped up a fifth consecutive win on the LPGA Tour by claiming her second major title in the Chevron Championship. Korda’s winning streak matches that of Nancy Lopez in 1978 and Annika Sorenstam in 2004-05, although her bid for an unprecedented sixth straight win will have to wait after she cited exhaustion when pulling out of this week’s event in Los Angeles. While Scheffler has earned £13.14m from his last five events, Korda’s five wins have been worth £1.94m.
Scottie Scheffler matches Tiger Woods achievement with fourth win in five
Masters champion Scottie Scheffler hailed his mental strength after making it four wins in five starts with a rain-delayed victory at the RBC Heritage.
Scheffler returned to Hilton Head on Monday morning holding a five-stroke lead with three holes to play after a storm halted proceedings on Sunday.
The world number one dropped a shot at the last to finish 19 under par, three shots ahead of fellow American Sahith Theegala, with Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark another stroke back.
Scheffler is the first player to win a PGA Tour event the week after claiming the Green Jacket since Bernhard Langer in 1985 and the first to win four times in five starts on the US-based circuit since Tiger Woods in 2007-08.
Each of Scheffler’s last seven wins have come with at least eight of the world’s top 10 in the field and he is the third player in the last 30 years – after Woods and Vijay Singh – to win or finish runner-up in five consecutive starts on the PGA Tour.
“I was able to go home for a couple days and celebrate,” Scheffler said.
“I didn’t really put much thought into it. I had committed to playing the tournament here, it was part of the plan, so we stuck to the plan.
“I talked about it at the beginning of the week – I didn’t show up here just to have some sort of ceremony and have people tell me congratulations. I came here with a purpose, got off to a slow start but after that played some really nice golf.
“I do have fairly high expectations for myself and when I show up at tournaments, I try to do my best.
“I’ve talked a lot about kind of the preparation and what it takes for me to show up on a first tee ready to go, and I feel like I’ve been putting in the work and been playing some good golf, and it’s nice to be seeing some results for that with wins.
“On the course, I think the last month or so I’ve been as good mentally as I have in a long time and I think that’s why I am seeing some of the results.
“This week could be a good example of starting off and looking at the leaderboard on Thursday and everybody is just making birdie after birdie and I’m sitting there over par and I’ve had a shank on the day.
“I just did my best to stay patient and wait until I got hot.
“Had a nice finish to the round on Thursday and then had a really solid Friday where I felt like I played better than I scored, and then I had Saturday where I just played some really good golf.”
Rory McIlroy carded a final-round 74 to slip into a tie for 33rd.
Scottie Scheffler five strokes ahead with weather forcing a Monday finish
Scottie Scheffler has a five stroke lead with just three holes to play after rain halted play in the RBC Heritage on Sunday.
The US Open champion and world number one continued his great form at Hilton Head in South Carolina on the fourth day of the tournament, hitting an eagle and two birdies across 15 holes.
A storm stopped play for two and a half hours with darkness forcing a finish on Monday.
Fellow American Wyndham Clark had a strong day through his 18 holes, moving into second place with eight birdies and an eagle, but two bogeys and a double bogey stopped him from further encroaching on Scheffler’s lead.
Clark is tied with American’s Patrick Cantlay and J T Poston, who have one hole left to play and Sahith Theegala, who has three holes left to play.
Scheffler is looking for his fourth win in five starts.
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