Matt Fitzpatrick’s parents usually accompany him to the biggest golf events of the year. They were there on the 18th green at Brookline after his remarkable bunker shot clinched the US Open in 2022. They also braved the torrential conditions in Portrush this summer when Fitzpatrick put two years of largely torrid form behind him and a fourth-place finish at the Open convinced Luke Donald that he merited a captain’s pick for the Ryder Cup.
But Russell and Susan have decided not to attend Bethpage Black next week after their last experience at an away match.
Fitzpatrick was sent out last in the singles at Whistling Straits in 2021, a billing that amounted to little more than a funeral march. The Americans’ had long sealed a landslide victory and the alcohol-fuelled celebrations were in full swing by the time he and Daniel Berger reached the 18th tee tied.
Fitzpatrick’s Ryder Cup record reads: one win and seven losses
MADDIE MEYER/PGA/GETTY IMAGES
Fitzpatrick’s parents were desperate to see him break his Ryder Cup duck, but those beside them had other ideas. “There were a few choice words said to me in particular coming down the last hole. Someone shouted, ‘Slit his throat, Berger’,” Fitzpatrick says. “That didn’t go down too well with mum and dad, as you can probably imagine.”
Berger — at least proverbially — rose to the task and a birdie ensured a record-breaking ten-point margin of victory.
The atmosphere will be no less hostile in New York, but Fitzpatrick’s relationship with the Ryder Cup has always been surprisingly difficult. He first qualified in 2016, only two years after turning professional, but was benched for the first day and lost both of his subsequent matches.
Fitzpatrick with his parents, Russell and Sue, in 2016 after success on the DP World Tour
DAVID CANNON/GETTY IMAGES
He was then left bitterly disappointed after being overlooked by Thomas Bjorn in 2018 before losing three times in the hammering in Wisconsin.
Fitzpatrick finally claimed his first point in Rome in 2023, but even then it was not exactly plain sailing as two more defeats there left him with an unenviable 1-7 record. Coupled with a downturn in form that sent him as low as 85th in the world rankings earlier this year, Fitzpatrick had all but given up hope of making the team at all.
“To be completely honest, this has probably been the easiest Ryder Cup cycle I’ve ever had,” he says. “2016 was horrendous because it was my first and I was desperate to make the team. In 2021 and 2023 I qualified for the team fairly comfortably.
“This time, I was relying on a captain’s pick and, when they started being spoken about, I was miles off the list. I didn’t play well last year, I didn’t play well at the start of this season. It wasn’t a burden at all because I’d accepted the fact I wasn’t going to play and I was okay with that. That was actually probably a big help.”
Fitzpatrick made the difficult decision to sack both his career-long coach, Mike Walker, and his caddie of six years, Billy Foster, within a few weeks of the Masters in April.
“It becomes hard to take when you’re not playing well. I had such good results in ’22 and ’23, your expectations are obviously high, and you never think you’re going to lose it,” he says. “Then, you’re playing poorly and you never think you’re going to get it back. It was very, very difficult working so hard and nothing paying off. It’s hard to turn it around but fortunately I made a change at the right time.”
Mark Blackburn, who also coaches Justin Rose, determined that Fitzpatrick’s unusually long arms and poor shoulder flexion were behind the inconsistent ball-striking with his irons and altered his posture to better control the radius of his swing.
A run of six top-ten finishes in eight tournaments during the summer propelled Fitzpatrick up to 11th in the qualifying standings and his experience playing in the US meant Donald was always likely to select him. The only remaining doubt was if his record would count against him, but Fitzpatrick feels it is an unfair picture.
“Obviously everyone does talk about it, but I’ve kind of discounted ’16,” he says. “Looking back, I probably wasn’t good enough to play in the States. It still took me another three years to get my PGA Tour card. It’s not my fault that I qualified on points, but I wasn’t ready.
“In 2021, I genuinely played really well. I think I must have been seven or eight under in the singles when I lost to Berger, but, at the end of the day, the point went to him and that’s what everyone sees. Being on four teams is obviously still a great achievement and I think that says a lot about the player I can be.”
Armed with his pent-up frustration, Fitzpatrick played the first six holes in six under par in the opening fourballs session in Rome as he and Rory McIlroy trounced Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele.
“I remember Rory specifically saying he was so proud to be with me when I got my first point. I appreciated that from someone who is now one of the golfing greats. That point meant a lot,” he says.
They were paired together again the following afternoon against Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark, but after news broke of Cantlay’s apparent refusal to wear a hat in protest against the PGA of America for not paying the US players, chaos engulfed the match as fans lining the fairways chanted, “Hats off to your bank account” and waved their own caps in a surreal scene.
“Because I love football so much [Fitzpatrick is a suffering Sheffield United fan], I know what football fans are like, particularly in Europe. They are the most creative with chants. The US has zero chants, other than ‘USA, USA’. I think of all the things that were sung over the course that week, it was hilarious. I think Patrick took it very well, I really do. So, pardon the pun, hats off to him for that,” says Fitzpatrick, who rolls his eyes when reminded of Cantlay’s insistence that he did not know what the chants were about.
But the drama then infamously boiled over when Cantlay holed a long birdie putt on the 18th green and his caddie, Joe LaCava, stood in McIlroy’s way while goading the crowd, despite Fitzpatrick still having a chance to halve the match. After the mayhem finally subsided, Fitzpatrick’s putt came up short in the jaws of the hole and the fans roundly booed off the American players.
McIlroy said he was “so proud” to be playing with Fitzpatrick in 2023
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND
“The whole situation was very bizarre. Looking back, I wish I’d taken a little bit more time on the putt and kind of reset myself after the whole shit show that it was. It was obviously such a bizarre way to finish the match and it left a sour taste in our mouths really,” Fitzpatrick says.
“I think it was a bit odd that Joe took it so personally because it wasn’t even aimed at him. I think it was all in good fun. I’m all for that sort of stuff. If you’re taking it, then you’re allowed to give it back, that’s the way it is.”
McIlroy was still furious about LaCava’s transgression when he confronted Justin Thomas’s then-caddie, Jim Mackay, in the car park. “I walked out as Rory was shouting. I was stood from a distance. I think you can actually see in the video, my face is like . . .” Fitzpatrick opens his mouth in mock astonishment. “It was quite funny.”
As for those levels of pandemonium being recreated at Bethpage, Fitzpatrick dismisses any reason to feel apprehensive — even if his parents do not quite feel the same. “I’m looking forward to it,” he says. “Whatever happens, whether we win by ten or we lose by 20, I’m just looking forward to being part of it. For me now, every Ryder Cup is an opportunity to improve my record, because everyone keeps banging on about it, so it’s an opportunity to go and do that and there’s no better place than an away Ryder Cup and hopefully give ourselves a chance.”
Ryder Cup
Bethpage Black, New York
September 26 to 28
TV Sky Sports