Matt Fitzpatrick Triumph Over Reigning Champion Jodan Spieth In A Playoff To Clinch Second PGA Tour Title – RBC Heritage
Matt Fitzpatrick overcame reigning champion Jordan Spieth in a tense playoff to clinch only his second PGA Tour title at the RBC Heritage.
The lead swapped between overnight leader Fitzpatrick and Spieth throughout Sunday’s final round, while their playing partner and 2022 runner-up Patrick Cantlay gradually fell out of contention and eventually finished third.
But for the second year in a row, the tournament went to a playoff with the lead duo finishing tied on 17-under-par and there was nothing to separate them over the first two extra holes either.
But a superb shot from the fairway to inches from the pin on the 18th saw the Englishman seize the advantage and with Spieth missing a 40-foot putt, Fitzpatrick stepped up to sink his for birdie and add to the US Open title he won last year.
Story of the round
Fitzpatrick became only the second English player to claim victory in this tournament, with Nick Faldo the other when he beat Tom Kite by one stroke back in 1984.
But this success resonated more on a personal level for the 28-year-old, who first visited this course at Hilton Head Island with his family at the age of six and always wanted to play.
“Of every single one on the calendar, this is the one I wanted to win the most,” Fitzpatrick told Sky Sports Golf. “I feel so far I’ve been very lucky in my career – I’ve won a major and now this.
“Obviously Jordan got off to a fast start doing Jordan Spieth things on hole No 1, so I just felt I had to be real patient. Certainly when I’ve played well, that’s a real strength of mine.
“To be a winner here, every year I’ve driven down the drive and you see the winners here and I’ve always thought ‘I want to be one of those’ – and here I am.”
Spieth had birdie putts to win the playoff on the first two holes, the 18th and then at the par-three 17th, and both missed by the slimmest of margins.
After firing an eight-under 63 on Saturday to take the 54-hole lead, Fitzpatrick closed with a 68 while playing with Spieth and Cantlay in the final threesome. Spieth held the outright lead during the back nine and finished with a 66, joining Fitzpatrick at 17-under 267.
Cantlay and Spieth were tied for the lead at 16-under when they stepped to the tee at the par-four 13th. That hole marked a two-shot swing in Spieth’s favour.
While Cantlay missed the green and wound up two-putting for bogey, Spieth dialed in his approach to three-and-a-half feet of the cup for an easy birdie.
Both Spieth and Cantlay missed the green at the par-three 14th and faced a difficult chip onto a downhill-sloping green. While Spieth’s rolled to the edge of the green, Cantlay’s dribbled further, coming to rest on a wooden post that barely kept the ball from dropping into water below.
Cantlay managed to chip it from there onto the green and saved bogey, while Spieth also took bogey. Fitzpatrick, meanwhile, kept chipping away and clawed back level to force a playoff, victory in which not only secured the title but lifted him up to No 8 in the Official World Golf Ranking too.
Cantlay birdied Nos 15 and 18 to bounce back to 16-under, while a late charge from Xander Schauffele (66 Sunday) saw him come home fourth at 15-under.
Sahith Theegala (65) and Hayden Buckley (67) tied for fifth at 14-under, and Brian Harman (67), South Korea’s Sungjae Im (67), Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo (68) and Australia’s Cam Davis (68) finished 13-under in a tie for seventh.
