Matt Fitzpatrick has dreamed of winning at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina ever since his family started vacationing there when he was six years old.
On Sunday, with his parents in his gallery, Fitzpatrick joined the list of winners to wear the champion’s tartan jacket by sticking a 9-iron from 186 yard to inches on the famed 18th hole, the third playoff hole, to beat Jordan Spieth and win the RBC Heritage for his second win on the PGA Tour.
“I think I can retire now. This one is the one that I’ve always wanted to win,” Fitzpatrick said. “There isn’t a higher one on my list to win than this one, and that’s the truth. My family can tell you that, and my friends can tell you the same thing. This place is just a special place for me, and it means the world to have won it.”
England’s Fitzpatrick, the reigning U.S. Open champion, shot a final-round 3-under 68 for a 72-hole total of 17-under 267. He also climbed to a career-best of eighth in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Fitzpatrick, 28, who carried a head cover of Hilton Head Island’s iconic candy-cane striped lighthouse on his driver this week, matched Spieth with a birdie at 15 and tied him for the lead with another circle on the card at 16 to improve to 17 under.
“He snuck in and played some tremendous golf,” Spieth said.
Matt Fitzpatrick lines up a putt on the 11th green during the final round of the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links on April 16, 2023 in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
Fitzpatrick held the 54-hole lead after shooting a third-round 8-under 63, his lowest round on the PGA Tour, which included a hole-out eagle at the third. On Sunday, he made birdie at two and clenched his fist when he canned a 36-foot par putt at the third from off the green to maintain the lead.
“That may be bigger than the hole out,” CBS’s Colt Knost chimed in.
Meanwhile, Spieth, winner of 13 Tour titles, was attempting to defend a title for the first time in his career and came out charging with four birdies in his first six holes to erase a two-stroke overnight deficit.
RIGHT AT IT 🎯
What a golf shot @MattFitz94 pic.twitter.com/zLQQGBxC9R
— Golf on CBS ⛳ (@GolfonCBS) April 16, 2023
On a mostly sunny but windy day with it blowing out of the southwest, Spieth jumped in front at No. 7 when Fitzpatrick failed to get up and down from the left greenside bunker. It was his first bogey in 30 holes and proved…
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