Matt Fitzpatrick defeats Jordan Spieth in play-off to win RBC Heritage
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Matt Fitzpatrick celebrating in the Heritage Plaid tartan jacket alongside girlfriend Katherine Gaal as caddie Billy Foster takes a photo at the RBC Heritage on April 16.
PHOTO: AFP
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SOUTH CAROLINA – Matt Fitzpatrick landed his approach shot on the third play-off hole about a foot away from the pin, and his tap-in birdie allowed him to defeat Jordan Spieth and win the RBC Heritage on Sunday evening in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
Playing the par-four 18th hole at Harbour Town Golf Links for the second time in the play-off, the Englishman lined up his second shot straight at the pin and watched it hop and roll straight at the cup, just shy of a hole-out. Spieth couldn’t get close on his approach and missed a long birdie putt that would have extended the play-off.
It was Fitzpatrick’s first win since his Major breakthrough at the 2022 US Open
Fitzpatrick relished the victory at a tournament he and his family attended during vacations to the United States when he was young.
“Any golf tournament, you know, other than the Majors, of course, there isn’t a higher one on my list than to win this one. This place is just a special place for me, and it means the world to have won it,” Fitzpatrick said.
Spieth had birdie putts to win the play-off on the first two holes – starting at No. 18, then at the par-three 17th – and both missed by the slimmest margins.
“I felt like Jordan played really well today,” Fitzpatrick said.
“Didn’t really hit many bad shots, if any. I think in the play-off, I felt every putt he hit was going to go in.”
Spieth was attempting to retain his title from last season, when he won with a par on the first hole of a play-off with Patrick Cantlay.
“I don’t think I would have done anything differently,” Spieth said.
“I got stuck in between clubs twice and hit a really nice one the first time on 18 and I just flew it too far the second time.”
After firing an eight-under 63 on Saturday to take the 54-hole lead,
“Someone was going to make a birdie,” Spieth said.
“It wasn’t going to be a bogey to lose that play-off the way that we were both playing today.”
Cantlay and Spieth were tied for the lead at 16 under when they stepped to the tee at the par-four 13th hole. That hole marked a two-shot swing in Spieth’s favour: While Cantlay missed the green and wound up two-putting for bogey, Spieth dialed in his approach to 3½ feet of the cup for an easy birdie.
Both Spieth and Cantlay missed the green at the par-three 14th and faced a difficult chip onto a downhill-sloping green. While Spieth’s rolled to the edge of the green, Cantlay’s dribbled further, coming to rest on a wooden post that barely kept the ball from dropping into water below.
Cantlay managed to chip it from that “lie” onto the green and saved bogey, while Spieth also took bogey.
“I just needed to make sure I was totally committed to what I decided to do there,” Cantlay said.
“I wasn’t decided until the end but, ultimately, I thought that if I would have dropped it, it would have meant double bogey more than likely, and I wanted to at least give myself a chance to stay in the golf tournament, which I did.”
Fitzpatrick birdied Nos. 15 and 16, the latter a simple five-footer, to force a tie with Spieth at 17 under.
“I didn’t do any attacking. I just stuck to my game plan all along. I didn’t change. We were hitting the same targets, same shots as we did all week,” Fitzpatrick said.
Cantlay birdied Nos. 15 and 18 to bounce back to 16 under and finish third.
Xander Schauffele (66 on Sunday) finished fourth at 15 under. World No. 2 Scottie Scheffler’s final round of 70 left him 12-under overall and tied for 11th, while US Masters champion and world No. 1 Jon Rahm shot 68 but was tied for 15th, six shots off the pace. REUTERS, AFP
