Matt Fitzpatrick admits he is as confused as anyone about the direction golf is heading in but insists it will not affect his thinking when he begins the defence of his US Open title on Thursday.
The dust is still settling a week on from the shock announcement of the commercial merger between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF (Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund), which has been the backer of the breakaway LIV Golf.
On the face of it golf’s bitter civil war appears to be over but under the surface there are many so-far unanswered questions and residual feelings of resentment by a large section of the two main tours’ membership at how they have been treated in the whole saga.
But although several days have passed since PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan went on live network television in the United States with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan to announce the surprise deal there are very few details about how things will work, and that has led to dissent among the rank and file.
“I guess the whole thing is confusing. It was confusing last year,” said the Sheffield golfer, who swerved a question about whether those players who remained loyal to the established tours should be suitably compensated for missing out on LIV’s millions.
“I don’t think anyone knows what’s going on. Are we signing with the PIF? Are we not signing with the PIF? I have no idea.
“Even though I guess it is confusing, it’s pretty clear that nobody knows what’s going on apart from about four people in the world.”
That will not cloud his thought process when it comes to mounting a defence of his breakthrough major title from Brookline 12 months ago.
View this post on Instagram“No, I think it’s over-rated. I think you’re not going to be stood on the first tee thinking ‘Oh what’s going on in the golf world?’.“You’re thinking, ‘It’s a par four, where do I need to hit it? Where is the wind?’ That’s all you’re thinking about.”
Fitzpatrick will have plenty of things to think about at the Los Angeles Country Club, which he last saw in February on a reconnaissance mission.
That differs from Brookline, a course on which nine years earlier he had won the US Amateur.
“I seem to remember just last year just thinking about the tournament, just the US Open,” he said.
“It was obviously different because I had a tie to the golf course and the history there, so probably was easier for me to mentally focus on that and be in a better place than obviously all this confusion that’s going on this week.
“I guess in this day and age you’d like to think there might be some artificial intelligence you could use to kind of plot your way around. That’s probably something I’ll have to look into.”
Fitzpatrick admits finally getting a win over the line in a major has done wonders for his self-belief, even if a back problem has restricted him this season.
A year ago he rose to the occasion coming down the stretch, memorably hit a brilliant approach from a fairway bunker to 20 feet to save par and secure a one-shot victory over Will Zalatoris, who missed a birdie putt to force a play-off.
“It’s obviously been a huge boost. Winning last year gave me the boost that when I played my best or when I play well I can compete with anyone and I can win a major,” added the 28-year-old, who revealed he took the US Open trophy on holiday with him to Italy last summer, stopping off at Capri, Amalfi and Positano.
“I think that was the biggest thing for me to take away, (now) turning up to events knowing that (if) my game feels in good shape I’ve got a chance to win this week.
“Maybe previously I’ve almost felt like I played well and not necessarily competed in majors, whereas now I feel like it’s kind of the opposite.
“As long as my game is there or thereabouts, I feel like I can perform.”
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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