Matt Fitzpatrick finds immediate payoff after driver switch at Travelers Championship

Matt Fitzpatrick has done his best to turn a weakness into a strength this week at the Travelers Championship.

It’s hard to believe that Fitzpatrick has any holes in his game right now, having won three times already on TOUR this season and rising to a career high No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Alas, even the game’s best have a few cracks in the armour. For Fitzpatrick, it was with his driver over the weekend at the U.S. Open.

Fitzpatrick, who finished 22nd at the third major of the year, found himself 70th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee in Sunday’s final round – essentially last in the field amongst those who found the weekend at Shinnecock Hills. So, he swapped drivers for this week at TPC River Highlands into a Ping G430 LST, and it’s already paid dividends.

Fitzpatrick missed just one fairway Thursday en route to shooting an opening-round 6-under 64. He sat just one shot back of the early lead held by Eric Cole as the afternoon wore on in Connecticut and was eighth in SG: Off-the-Tee.

“Just getting comfortable with that and I… felt like I practiced well these first three days as well and just managed to find something that I felt was working a bit better,” Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick explained his previous driver cracked the day prior to the start of the Truist Championship, and he said he’s “struggled” to find one that fit his swing since then – one hadn’t yet suited his eye or matched his “swing intentions.”

Fitzpatrick admitted that getting fit for a driver for golfers at the highest level in the game is not a rudimentary process. "Everyone has tendencies," Fitzpatrick said.

“The detail is really important and it’s important to try to get that right as best you can. Everyone is different. Their habits, how they move the club, how they react to different clubs,” he explained. “I tried one in Canada and it was exactly… neutral, neutral, neutral and I hit it 50 yards right. That’s just the way I react. I think people think that guys just get a driver and it’s just going to go straight and away you go. There’s obviously a lot more to it than that.”

Fitzpatrick’s body of work off the tee so far in 2026 has been solid if unspectacular, as he sits 46th on TOUR in SG: Off-the-Tee and 12th in Driving Accuracy. But last week at Shinnecock Hills, there was enough bad juju with the big stick that it was time for something different.

“You got to give yourself a chance at making some scores. Not only a chance of making birdies but just trying to make comfortable pars. I think for me that's been, that was the big thing at the weekend (at the U.S. Open) that I struggled with,” Fitzpatrick said. “I just, I didn't hit my driver very well and I feel like that was kind of what held me back most of all.”

Fitzpatrick had a handful of opportunities to go even lower Thursday, having missed four birdies from inside 20 feet on his final five holes, including a 6-footer on his penultimate hole of the day.

“Took advantage of the scoring holes there. Just felt like I kind of did, well pretty much everything really, really solid today. So overall just a really good day,” Fitzpatrick said.

Now he’ll try to keep up the momentum, with the new driver in play.