HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Britain’s Matt Fitzpatrick hit one other nice shot Sunday in a playoff at Harbor City, silencing the pro-American crowd and beating the perfect participant on this planet, hitting a 4-iron to 13 toes for birdie and beating Scottie Scheffler to win his second RBC Heritage title.
Scheffler trailed by three strokes with 4 holes remaining, and with the assistance of Fitzpatrick, he made a 4-under 67 with two birdies within the remaining phases and made it to the playoffs, however Fitzpatrick did not hit his chip properly from the precise of the inexperienced, missed a 20-foot par putt, and shot a 70 for his solely bogey of the day.
A big gallery, allowed by rules to enter the green in entrance of the 18th inexperienced, stuffed Calibogue Bay with infinite chants of “USA!” Followers stepped again outdoors the ropes and watched as Fitzpatrick hit a 4-iron right into a pin simply above the bunker in sturdy winds.
Scheffler then made one in every of his worst swings of the day, slamming his 6-iron 37 yards in need of the outlet. He hit an amazing pitch to eight toes, however by no means needed to putt when Fitzpatrick made the successful putt.
“It’s plenty of guts,” Fitzpatrick stated of his tenacity to win.
His response was quiet, putting his finger evenly on his proper ear in a pleasant gesture to the group. Fitzpatrick knew what he was up towards, having skilled the same environment when Cameron Younger defeated him at The Gamers Championship.
The playoff was virtually a repeat of Fitzpatrick’s victory over one other American favourite, Jordan Spieth, in a playoff at RBC Heritage three years in the past. That is when he hit a 9-iron with the wind at his again and rolled just a few inches for the successful birdie.
When Fitzpatrick was a boy, his household vacationed in Hilton Head for golf, tennis, and the seaside. He got here to the event considering it will be nice to win at some point, and now he is gained twice.
“It means the world,” he stated. “This event is the one I needed to win greater than any main earlier than I knew extra concerning the sport. To go up towards Scottie and recover from the road is particular.”
It was nice theater, however solely on the finish.
Fitzpatrick, who began with a three-stroke lead, birdied two of the primary three holes and by no means let anybody get nearer than three strokes till Kim Si-woo birdied the par-5 fifteenth gap to shut the lead by two strokes. Scheffler then obtained off to a sluggish begin and went up and down on the fifteenth for birdie, then on the sixteenth with a daring drive and method to 10 toes for birdie.
This lower the result in one stroke, and each gamers missed the 18th inexperienced vast to the precise. Scheffler chipped a foot from the outlet to cap an ideal 8-for-8 scrambling day. Fitzpatrick hit Grain along with his first chip, however fell far quick.
Fitzpatrick and Scheffler completed with 18-under 268.
It was Scheffler’s second consecutive runner-up end, coming into the weekend 12 photographs behind on the Masters and ending only one behind Rory McIlroy.
Fitzpatrick gained for the second time within the final month. After ending runner-up at The Gamers, he gained the Valspar Championship on the powerful Innisbrook monitor.
The win, his fourth on the PGA Tour and thirteenth worldwide, moved him to a career-high No. 3 on this planet rankings.
Kim shot a 68 to take sole third place, marking her fourth prime 10 end this yr.
