BROOKLINE, Massachusetts (AP) – The playoffs were set for Sunday at the US Open, just as always at The Country Club, when Matt Fitzpatrick judged his shot from a bunker to the left of the 18th fairway.
He had a one-shot lead over Will Zalatoris and Masters champion Scotty Scheffler. In front of him was a large patch of uneven grass, along with a gaping bunker protecting the green and a 156-yard flag. Nothing less than a US Open title was on the line.
In the rear nine, filled with moments of clutch, Fitzpatrick presented the greatest of all.
“One of the best shots I’ve ever hit,” he said.
Fitzpatrick struck a 9-iron, which began around the steep edge – “pressing fading”, as he called it – carried the front bunker and settled 18 feet from it, creating a face value of 2-under 68, making the Englishman the main champion for the first his professional victory in America.
He won the 2013 U.S. Amateur Tournament in Brooklyn, making him only the second person to win the US Amateur and the US Open on the same court. Jack Nicklaus, the name of the gold medal draped around his neck, reversed the number on Pebble Beach. Julie Inxter won the US Amateur Tournament and the US Women’s Open at the Prairie Dunes.
“The feeling is not of this world,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s such a cliché, but it’s something you dream of as a child. Yes, to achieve that, I can retire a happy person tomorrow. “
Zalatoris, with remarkable endurance during the tense battle of Brookline, had a 15-foot bird to boost the playoffs. He fell to his knees as the blow slid to the left end of the glass. He shot 69 and was runner-up for the third time in seven tournaments.
Zalatoris and Scheffler, who previously had a longer strike to catch up with Fitzpatrick, did their best. Fitzpatrick was convinced that his time was coming and grabbed him.
“Matt’s shot at 18 will probably be shown until the end of US Open history,” Zalaris said. “I walked past him and thought he was going to be rude. But the fact that he took it out and even looked like a bird was just amazing.
“So, his hat down. Apparently he played great all week and gave a solid circle today. “
The holiday seemed familiar to me. Fitzpatrick shared tearful hugs with his parents and his younger brother Alex, who shot him in the Amateur. He stayed with the same family.
The payout was $ 3.15 million and a title – the main champion – which the money could not buy.
One of the first phone calls came from Nicklaus, the four-time US Open champion. It turns out that Fitzpatrick won a membership in The Bear’s Club – the playground built by Nicklaus in South Florida – and what the Golden Bear said that day was not forgotten.
“He insulted me a little at the beginning of the year. He said, “Finally. Congratulations on the victory in the United States, “Fitzpatrick said. And then he lifted the trophy slightly, and Fitzpatrick sent a funny message to Nicklaus: “Jack, I won a second time.”
It took a good rest, a sign kick and a little courage in the end.
Fitzpatrick and Zalatoris were tied until the 15th, when the Englishman hit his shot so right that he entered the gallery and found a decent lie on the grass, which was dead and trampled. Zalatoris missed just a few yards and was buried in deep grass.
“I have the feeling that throughout the year we just had moments where I just didn’t take a break, I just didn’t have a lie, I just didn’t have a rebound. This time I get there and the ball is perfect, “said Fitzpatrick. “It was one of the best shots I took all day.
He smashed 5-iron from 220 yards to 18 feet below the hole. Zalatoris entered the front bunker, dumped 25 feet and made a plug. Fitzpatrick took the lead with two shots when his shot from the bird entered the bowl at such a perfect pace that he didn’t even touch the pin he left in the bowl.
“It was fantastic to do that and take advantage of the rest I had,” said Fitzpatrick.
Zalatoris bounced back again, taking a solid 16-to-7-foot par-3 pin to reduce the lead with a single blow. They both missed a 12-foot bird chance on the 17th, and then Fitzpatrick missed the fairway at the wrong time. The playoffs seemed to be exceptional – the previous three US Opens in Brookline were decided from a playoff – to the frame of his life.
Fitzpatrick finished 6th under 274. He became the first Englishman since Justin Rose in 2013 to win the US Open, and he felt his time was coming.
He is careful in outlining his photos and records all of them to determine what needs work. And he has been emphasizing speed in his swing for the past two years, giving him the length and faith to compete with anyone.
That didn’t make Sunday any easier, a three-man race from the start when John Ram and Rory McIlroy backed down and never joined the mix again.
Fitzpatrick and Zalatoris, who shared a 54-hole lead, had a two-shot lead at one point.
Zalatoris, who lost in the playoffs to Justin Thomas in the PGA Championship last month, has recovered from two early gods. They were leveled when Zalatoris made an 18-foot hit with a birdie on the short par-3 11th, and Fitzpatrick made three trips for a bogey from the same range.
The 25-year-old Dallas footballer suddenly took the lead with two shots. He also couldn’t keep the ball in the fairway, and that cost him a missed shot at number 12. And then came another big turning point, with Fitzpatrick making a 50-foot bird strike through the 13th green. Zalatoris did well to make their 15-footer for face value and they headed for the tense conclusion.
Hideki Matsuyama had the lowest round of the week at 65, but he finished 3-under 277 and that would never be good enough. McIlroy was 69 and finished in the group with four shots back with Colin Morikawa (66).
Fitzpatrick couldn’t stop smiling as he carried the silver trophy, as big, silver, and shiny as the U.S. Amateur Prize, only it made a lot more sense. And there was another touching moment at the end. His caddy, Billy Foster, one of the longest-serving and most popular loopers in Europe, lowered the flag from the 18th skittles. This is his trophy.
“Billy said it for a while to keep doing what you’re doing and the chance will come,” Fitzpatrick said. “He got up and I took it.”
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