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Hard to beat a bluebird day at Harbour Town. Let’s talk about the good and bad from Friday ...

Fitzpatrick firing

A strange sense of deja vu hit me Friday afternoon listening to Matt Fitzpatrick’s post-round presser. A year (and one day) ago, I stood in front of him at the same spot behind Harbour Town’s 18th hole and peppered him with questions about what was going wrong with his game.

At that point, Fitzpatrick had carded just one top-10 finish in the previous calendar year, falling well out of favor as he dropped outside the top 75 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He called his game “rubbish” and “the worst I’ve ever played.” Asked about Ryder Cup hopes, he said he had none.

Fitzpatrick wouldn’t get into specifics then, but we would later learn that he returned to longtime coach Mark Blackburn at the start of that week. And his first-round 66, his best round in more than three months – which brought him to the flash area to speak with reporters – was the first sign of an immense turnaround.

The random return of that memory on Friday gave me an even greater appreciation for the flip Fitzpatrick has made in the last 12 months. He would finish in a tie for eighth at the PGA Championship a few weeks later, the start of a torrid summer that included seven top 10s in a nine-event span. He made Europe's Ryder Cup team and held a winning record for the first time in the event. That form remained to start this year, nearly winning THE PLAYERS Championship and then smashing through the finish line the next week with a victory at the Valspar Championship.

His 36 holes at this year’s RBC Heritage might be the most impressive golf we’ve seen from him yet this year, a near-flawless 65-63 to take a one-shot lead at the halfway point.

At No. 7 in the OWGR, Fitzpatrick could surpass his highest-ever rank (fifth) with a win this week. Which led me to this question: Is this the best Fitzpatrick has ever been? From a ball-striking perspective, it’s unequivocal. He ranks second in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and sixth in SG: Approach. He’s gaining nearly 1.6 strokes per round, which might not mean much to those of you who don’t follow the stats closely, but it’s the best mark of his career by a wide margin.

That suggests more top results are on the horizon, perhaps as soon as this week. The one-time major champion likely has his eyes on more. Good news for him, and as I wrote in yesterday’s newsletter, Royal Birkdale and Shinnecock Hills, the venues for the last two majors of the year, prioritize very similar statistical profiles to what you need around Harbour Town. Fitzpatrick has already won here before, and he may make it two by Sunday afternoon. A second major might not be far off either.

Playing through

• 📺 Need to catch up on second-round action? Here are the full highlights …
• Yesterday I was reticent to say that Viktor Hovland might be back. He's one step closer – and one shot behind Matt Fitzpatrick – after a 65 in Round 2.
• 🎥 On the heels of the pilot episode of "Chasing Sunday" at THE PLAYERS last month, a series of shorter “Chasing Sunday: Unheard” episodes is being released over the next few weeks. Here’s the first edition, centered around Si Woo Kim.

Spieth's stressful day

Harbour Town is gettable from the right places. Ask Fitzpatrick, who hit 10 fairways and shot 8 under. Or Scottie Scheffler, who hit all 14 fairways and shot 4 under, despite not doing much else well.

But when you’re in the wrong places? It can be a brutal day. Jordan Spieth’s second round wasn’t quite brutal, but it was quite stressful – a product of hitting only six fairways (including three straight to finish). Through two rounds, he’s hit only 12, the third fewest in the field. His tee shot on the first went well right, sailing out of bounds and leading to a quick double bogey. His ball on the second hole went left, the beginning of a crippling two-way miss. He missed right on the third and left on the fifth and sixth holes. He hit the eighth fairway, then proceeded to pull his approach into the water and card another double bogey.

It was that kind of day for Spieth, who still hasn’t made a bogey this week. He’s just made four doubles and is 1-under par overall. A winner here in 2022, Spieth was in the top five in driving that week. This week, he's last in the field through 36 holes.

Parting shots

• 1️⃣1️⃣ Akshay Bhatia made 11 birdies on Friday, tied for the most in a round at Harbour Town. It’s the most birdies anyone has made while also making a double bogey (h/t friend of the newsletter Rick Gehman), part of the reason why Bhatia “only” shot 8-under 63.
• 💯 Scottie Scheffler hit all 14 fairways at the RBC Heritage, a notable accomplishment given the tight corridors. Loose iron play kept it from being an outstanding round, but he still shot 4 under. He’s seven strokes back of Fitzpatrick entering the weekend.
• 🤬 Jake Knapp had an uncharacteristically brutal day on the greens. He made no putts outside 5 feet, losing more than five strokes on the greens, by far the worst in the field. How weird is that? Knapp ranks second in putting on TOUR this year.
• 🇺🇸 Some much-needed solid golf out of Keegan Bradley so far, with back-to-back rounds of 67. He also shot 66 in the final round of the Masters. It’s the first time this year he’s strung together three straight sub-70 rounds.