Fitzpatrick wins golf’s RBC Heritage to complete full circle from childhood
It was a full circle moment for golfer Matt Fitzpatrick on Sunday as his win at the RBC Heritage on Hilton Head Island took Englishman right back to his childhood.
Fitzpatrick secured his first win since the 2022 US Open by defeating Jordan Spieth at the third playoff golf at Harbour Town on Sunday night.
The pair concluded the regulation 72 holes tied on 17 under par after Spieth played the final round in two fewer than Fitzpatrick’s to force the playoff.
Fitzpatrick edges Spieth
It looked as if the American – whom Fitzpatrick had fought with for all of Sunday – had bagged the prize in excess of $3.6m but his putt lipped out on the 18th hole before he missed another winner on the second playoff hole.
Fitzpatrick, from Sheffield, used to holiday on Hilton Head Island as a child and the victory in South Carolina was an emotional one for the 28-year-old.
“It’s a course I dreamed of playing when I was young,” said Fitzpatrick.
“I feel like I have been very lucky in my career – I have won a major and now this. This is very special.
“I managed to play it a couple of times with my dad and this one means more than anything.
“Of every single one on the calendar, this is the one that I would want to win the most.”
Fitzpatrick became just the second Englishman to win this event – and claim the tartan jacket – after Nick Faldo in 1984, while Spieth came agonisingly close to becoming the fourth back-to-back winner.
“It was a really good round. I got off to a dream start and then just kind of hung in there for a little while and then made a nice putt to get into the playoff, and then played the playoff really well,” said Spieth.
“Someone was going to make a birdie. It wasn’t going to be a bogey to lose that playoff the way that we were both playing today.”
Patrick Cantlay finished third with Xander Schauffele fourth. Sahith Theegala and Hayden Buckley tied for fifth.