Brookline [US], June 20 (ANI): Matt Fitzpatrick is a champion once again at The Country Club. The 27-year-old Englishman, who triumphed nine years ago at this iconic venue when he claimed the U.S. Amateur, became just the 13th man and the first non-American to also add the US Open Championship to his portfolio.
In winning the 122nd edition of the championship on a chilly New England Sunday by one stroke over past U.S. Junior Amateur champions Will Zalatoris and Scottie Scheffler, Fitzpatrick joined World Golf Hall of Famer and 18-time major champion Jack Nicklaus as the only golfers to have won the USGA’s two oldest championships at the same venue. Nicklaus accomplished his feat at Pebble Beach Golf Links in 1961 and 1972.
“The feeling’s out of this world. It is so cliche, but it’s stuff you dream of as a kid. I can retire a happy man tomorrow. Any time you’re sharing a record with Jack Nicklaus, it’s unbelievable. So for me to have that as well is incredible. He called me up down there just at the presentation to congratulate me. Coming from someone like that, it means the world.” said Fitzpatrick, who carded a final-round 68 for a 6-under total of 274.
Fitzpatrick put on a ball-striking clinic on Sunday, hitting 17 of 18 greens. The only miss was on the 503-yard 10th, a hole the members play as a par 5 that was statistically the championship’s toughest (4.39). Trailing Zalatoris by one, Fitzpatrick’s fortunes changed at the par-4 13th when he converted a 49-footer for a birdie.
When Fitzpatrick won the 2013 U.S. Amateur title at this venue – one of the five founding clubs of the USGA – he closed out Oliver Goss of Australia on the 15th hole, and he essentially won the U.S. Open on the same hole, making a 19-foot birdie after reaching the green with a 220-yard 5-iron from a spot in the right rough where spectators had matted the turf down.
“It was one of the best shots I hit all day. To do that and take advantage of the break I had was fantastic, ” he said.
Zalatoris, whose tee shot on No. 15 landed in thick rough, failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker. That gave Fitzpatrick a two-stroke cushion with three to play, and the cool customer from Sheffield closed with three consecutive pars. On the par-4 18th, a hole he bogeyed on Saturday, Fitzpatrick reached the putting surface from a left fairway bunker, a play some thought was risky.
Zalatoris had one final chance to force a two-hole aggregate playoff, but his 15-foot putt on the 18th green burned the left edge of the hole. It was his second consecutive runner-up finish in a major, having lost a three-hole aggregate playoff to Justin Thomas at last month’s PGA Championship.
The day began with nine players under par and within three shots of the lead. But as the afternoon wore on, it turned into a three-man race between Fitzpatrick, Scheffler and Zalatoris.
World No. 1 Scheffler, bidding to be the seventh man to win the Masters and U.S. Open in the same year, looked like he might shoot a Johnny Miller-esque final round when he birdied three of the first four holes and turned in 4-under 31. But TCC’s back nine continued to befuddle the four-time PGA Tour winner as he played the inward nine in 75 strokes on the weekend.
The 108-yard, par-3 11th was his Waterloo. A double-bogey on Saturday triggered a stretch of 5-over golf, and on Sunday, he lipped out a 5-footer for par that gave him consecutive bogeys. A 6-foot birdie chance also went awry on the par-5 14th. Despite converting a 6-footer for birdie on No. 17, it wasn’t enough to match Fitzpatrick. (ANI)
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Source: The Print
