Matthew Fitzpatrick completed a good first round at the THE PLAYERS Championship. He shot 70. High up. Well positioned. However, the Englishman was not satisfied. The drive worked, no issues with recovery shots and more than decent with the putter. The problem was with the approach shots. That is, the irons. He discussed it with his coach Mark Blackburn and they went to work that Thursday afternoon on the practice range at TPC Sawgrass. That was where something clicked and he finished with his victory this Sunday at the Valspar Championship.
Fitzpatrick had finished the first day in 64th place in the approach-to-green statistic. He had gained a handful of hundredths over the rest of the field. Not much. It wasn’t bad, but he knew it was insufficient to give himself a chance to win. After the session with Blackburn, Fitzpatrick’s rounds have been 69, 69, 68, 68, 69, 68 and 68. Which has been effectively a steamroller on two of the most demanding courses of the year such as the Stadium course and the Copperhead. Since the second day of THE PLAYERS, Fitzpatrick has gained more than half a point on the rest of the players in approach shots, with peaks above three, and his worst position in this statistical ranking has been 37th.
The improvement may seem minimal, but it’s the difference between fighting to finish in the top 25 and giving yourself a real chance to win. “My irons are much better. More control, better with distances, more left-to-right accuracy. I’m hitting the trajectory I want to hit. Mark Blackburn and I had a great session last Thursday afternoon after the round, a really very good session that helped me a lot. It’s made a big difference in the last seven rounds I’ve played. I’ve struck my irons very well. It’s a huge difference from where I was before. I always felt the short game was good enough, that the drive had always been good enough and that the putting had been good enough. So approach play always seemed to me the missing link. It’s about sticking with it, continuing to improve as much as I can and giving myself more chances”, he says.
Curiously, Fitzpatrick hit rock bottom exactly a year ago, shortly before the Masters. “I was very lost then”, he confessed. He missed the cut at THE PLAYERS and arrived at the Masters with no expectations. However, from April he began to improve gradually, by summer he was in contention to win and he ended up sealing a victory in the Dubai Final. Therefore, at the start of this year, Fitzpatrick whispered in his caddie’s ear: “This year we’re going to win at least one”. Dan joined the Englishman’s bag last year, replacing Billy Foster.
The mental side has also played an important role. Fitzpatrick has made an effort to keep pushing after the second place at THE PLAYERS. “I’ve always had that problem, even on the DP World Tour. After a good result I tend to ease off a bit. I’m not saying I give up or settle, but it’s as if I put the autopilot on. That’s why, after finishing second at THE PLAYERS I convinced myself I had to keep intensity at maximum to give myself another chance. I’m very happy about that”, he notes.
Now, of course, it’s not the time to give up, since the Masters is just around the corner. “Yes, of course, I’m convinced I’m going to win at Augusta”, he joked when the reporter asked if he considered himself a favourite. More seriously, he added afterwards: “I have a lot of confidence in my game, that’s true, but the Majors have nothing to do with the regular PGA Tour tournaments. They’re something else. And the Masters is something else among the Majors. There’s a lot more pressure because of everything around it. My game is fine, but I’m clear that I have to improve things in these two weeks before getting to the Masters. I still need preparation.”
Golf is a sport where paradoxes are the order of the day. Fitzpatrick has played one this very week. “I felt I played quite a bit better on Sunday at THE PLAYERS than I did here at the Valspar. I finished second at Sawgrass and won here. I had several birdie chances from 5 to 11 that I didn’t take and I thought I was falling behind. When I found myself tied for the lead it surprised me and gave me a push. I hit good shots on the back nine, but for one reason or another they always ended up a metre off the green in the rough. The good thing is they were so close to the green that it was just a matter of getting the ball rolling. The second place at THE PLAYERS was very frustrating because I played very well, I think well enough to win, but another player, Cam Young, came and played better. That frustrates more, when you think you’ve done everything necessary to deserve it”, he explains.
Finally, he paid a compliment to the set-up of courses like the Copperhead. “I love courses like that. I love firm, fast, brown greens. I hate birdie fests. I like Copperhead and I like Bay Hill a lot. I like that you have to know exactly where to play on the green and not those courses where you hit it and it rolls back five metres”
