Matt Fitzpatrick really tried to play nice when criticizing Riviera's trickiest hole

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Matt Fitzpatrick chose his words very carefully when criticizing Riviera’s tricky par-4 10th following his second round on Friday. Well, sort of.

The Englishman had no trouble with the famous risk-reward short par-4 on Thursday, finding the fairway just in front of the front greenside bunker with his tee shot. From there he clipped a beauty with a wedge, cross-handed style, of course, to 13 inches for a tap-in bird. Easy, peasy.

It helped that the pin was in the back right, giving him much more room to work with. That was not the case on Friday, with the pin in one of the tougher spots on the green, back middle. His fanned drive did him no favors, either, setting up a 47-yard wedge shot from the rough that he would have needed to hit perfectly to hold the green.

After walking behind the putting surface and surveying his options, Fitzpatrick and his caddie seemed to agree that aiming way left of the pin and taking their medicine was the prudent play. At best, the ball would barely stay on the green and leave him with a long birdie putt. At worst, his second would roll down into the collection area and give him a chance to get up-and-down for par. He missed his landing spot by about an inch, his ball rolling back into the front greenside bunker, arguably just as tough of a shot as the one he’d just hit.

“Felt like I played really solid,” said Fitzpatrick, who shot a five-under 66. “Just bogey on 10, the world’s most impossible golf hole. I’ll leave it there.”

It was one of only two bogeys the former U.S. Open winner made all day, the second coming just two holes later, when he lipped out a five-footer for par. By the sound of it, the one on 10 left a much worse taste in his mouth.

“I mean, I don’t really want to talk about it too much, I’ll just get wound up,” he said, adding, “But hit and hope, let’s leave it at that.”

Oddly enough, it was a good bogey. A “great” one, Fitzpatrick said afterward. The other two members of his group, Aaron Rai and Garrick Higgo, made bogeys, too. They all had a laugh on the 11th tee about it afterward.

But avoiding a disastrous double didn’t make it any less frustrating. Fitzpatrick and Higgo appeared to have a spicy discussion about the merits of the 10th hole—one that’s been criticized by many players who have played in this event before—while they allowed the group ahead to hit up.

Fitzpatrick was asked if he and Higgo were having a cry on each other shoulders over the nasty breaks they both experienced on the hole (Higgo drove it into the front bunker, then hit an excellent bunker shot that rolled off the green into the back bunker).

“I don’t know about crying on each other’s shoulders,” he said. “But I just don’t think it’s a fair golf hole so I’ll just leave it at that.”

He did, in fact, finally leave it at that.

Matt Fitzpatrick really tried to play nice when criticizing Riviera’s trickiest hole

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