Three wins, one hot putter: Matt Fitzpatrick shows PGA TOUR he's ready for U.S. Open

Lest anyone happened to forget that Matt Fitzpatrick is the only three-time winner on the PGA TOUR this year, he reminded them on Sunday via a hard-charging 64 that moved him up 10 positions on the leaderboard and into an impressive runner-up finish at the RBC Canadian Open, two shots behind Bud Cauley.

A stellar seven-week run in March and April elevated Fitzpatrick to another level and made him one of the two or three best players in the world at that time. In fact, he moved from 22nd in the world to start the year to third after a second-place finish at THE PLAYERS Championship, a victory at the Valspar Championship and another win at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, teaming up with his brother Alex in one of the game’s feel-good stories of the year.

Admittedly, though, Fitzpatrick hadn’t done much in the last month and didn’t feel like he had much momentum. He tied for 52nd place at the Truist Championship, tied for 14th at the PGA Championship and tied for 36th place last week at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday.

Putting mostly, he said, had been the culprit. “I was just saying that my putting was a little bit of a struggle last week, and I feel like I got a bit of a better process for what I’m working on this week, and that showed today,” Fitzpatrick said Sunday at TPC Toronto. “I putted really solid. On a golf course like this where there’s a lot of opportunities, you’ve got to take advantage.”

The stats, of course, back Fitzpatrick’s premise.

During the final round of the RBC Canadian Open, Fitzpatrick made six birdies and an eagle on the final hole and made 116 feet of putts. He was fifth in Strokes Gained: Putting in the final round and ended the week 11th overall in the same stat.

“Just a little bit of a routine change,” Fitzpatrick described. “Normally I look at the hole while doing the practice strokes and then have a look again when I’m stood over it, just eliminating the look. Just taking a little bit too long and just allowing myself just to have a little bit more flow with the stroke and everything. From there, I should be a little bit better for the most part. That’s been the biggest change.”

For the first three days in Canada, Fitzpatrick was relatively quiet. Brooks Koepka played well early in the week before a hand injury forced him to withdraw ahead of the final round. Ben James was making his PGA TOUR debut and was the solo leader after Round 2. Wyndham Clark and Tommy Fleetwood were hot on the heels of Cauley and Jackson Suber after 54 holes as they were both looking for their first TOUR titles.

But then Fitzpatrick did what he’s done for most of the year – he plodded his way along quietly and at the end he was there with a chance to win. This time he hit a “perfect” 4-iron approach on the par-5 18th hole from 221 yards to 12 feet and calmly walked in the eagle putt that vaulted him into second place alone.

“It’s a good week,” he said. “I would have taken it at the start of the week. I felt like there was a lot of good stuff in there, just needed to sort of have it come out.”

The timing could not be better as the U.S. Open is next week at Shinnecock Hills. Fitzpatrick famously outlasted the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris to win the 2022 U.S. Open at the Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, after finding a fairway bunker on the 72nd hole, followed by a beautiful approach shot to the center of the green and two-putted to shoot 68 and win by one.

The last time the U.S. Open was at Shinnecock Hills was in 2018. Fitzpatrick tied for 12th place that week and shot a final-round 70.