Switching drivers helped Matthew Fitzpatrick win DP World Tour Championship
2 Min Read
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - DECEMBER 11: Matthew Fitzpatrick of England plays his shot off the 2nd tee during Day Two of the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates on December 11, 2020 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
A new driver paid off for Matthew Fitzpatrick at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. He switched the longest club in his bag just days before the European Tour’s season finale, then won the event for the second time.
The win was Fitzpatrick’s sixth on the European Tour and first in more than two years. He joined Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson as the only players to win the DP World Tour Championship multiple times.
After playing three different driver brands since THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK in October, Fitzpatrick switched to a TSi3 driver. Titleist was the most played driver at the DP World Tour Championship with 19 players, the first time that Titleist has won the driver count at the European Tour’s finale. Of the 19 drivers in play, 17 were new TSi2 and TSi3 models – including eight players gaming the TSi without an agreement. Four of those players finished in the top 13, including Fitzpatrick.
In the end, he chose a 9-degree TSi3 with Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 65 TX shaft, standard SureFit hosel setting (A1), and the SureFit Track Weight set at H2 (in the heel) to accommodate his strike location. He averaged 300 yards off the tee last week to rank 16th in driving and he led the field in driving accuracy (76.8%).
He finished 121st in driving distance (294.7 yards) and 38th in driving accuracy (64.6%) during the 2020 PGA TOUR season.
“Listening to what the player and his coaches were trying to achieve with the driver, we started looking at counterbalanced shaft options, where he could apply force to the butt end of the club and feel strength in the handle,” said Titleist tour rep Liam McDougall. “He preferred the looks of the TSi3 head and the face had the right amount of bulge and roll for him. We were also able to improve his strike location by adjusting the new SureFit Track Weight toward the heel of the club. By moving his miss pattern, we were able to bring him to a stronger launch and spin window that helped him gain distance and accuracy.”