Matthew Fitzpatrick Wins British Masters for First Pro Title

By Sam Belden | Oct 11, 2015

Mandatory Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Sports

On Sunday, Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick shot a closing 68 to hoist the trophy at the British Masters, good for his first professional title. At 21 years of age, he was the youngest player in the field, but that didn’t stop him from holding at least a share of the lead after every round, starting with his stellar 64 in the first. Shane Lowry, Soren Kjeldsen and Fabrizio Zanotti shared second place, two strokes behind at 13-under, but they couldn’t master Woburn Golf and Country Club to the same extent as Fitzpatrick.

After going out with an uneventful 35 on the front nine (and falling behind Kjeldsen and Zanotti), Fitzpatrick came alive on the back, circling four birdies before finally dropping a shot on the last hole. Meanwhile, both Kjeldsen and Zanotti were over par on the back nine. Lowry was steady, but he ran out of time and momentum and couldn’t make a charge.

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It hasn’t taken long for Fitzpatrick to deliver on the considerable promise that he showed before turning professional. He first became a household name in 2013, when he, then playing for the Northwestern University Wildcats, bested current Web.com Tour member Oliver Goss in the final match of the U.S. Amateur. After accepting an exemption into the 2014 U.S. Open, he turned pro, and that fall, he procured his European Tour card via Q-School.

Fitzpatrick started this year off on the wrong foot, missing the cut in five of his first seven starts, but with five top 10s since July–a win, solo second and three thirds–it’s safe to say that he’s righted the ship. With this victory, he’s put himself on the shortlist of the world’s best players under the age of 25–along with guys like Jordan Spieth, Hideki Matsuyama, Daniel Berger and Justin Thomas. With his level of talent, another win can’t be far off.

54-hole co-leader Kiradech Aphibarnrat wound up tying for fifth, four strokes behind Fitzpatrick. He made back-to-back bogeys to open his round and never recovered, struggling to a 72. Former world No. 1 Luke Donald, Marcus Fraser and Mike Lorenzo-Vera also tied for fifth.

Oliver Fisher, Chris Wood, Anthony Wall and Julien Quesne rounded out the top 10, all tying for ninth. Other notables within the top 25 included Tommy Fleetwood, Robert Karlsson, Peter Hanson, Alexander Levy and Lee Westwood. Tournament host Ian Poulter tied for 33rd.

As this was the third-to-last tournament before the Race to Dubai’s Final Series gets going, some of these results could prove decisive in determining who actually gets to make the season-ending trip to the UAE. In particular, Zanotti, Fraser and Lorenzo-Vera should see their chances of making it to the end increase dramatically after this week.

This week was also our last trip down memory lane of the season. In the last three weeks, we’ve seen the resurrection of a pair of discontinued tournaments: the European Open and the British Masters. The revived events provided thrilling theater and a pair of quality winners, they and brought back some old memories too. The European Tour should think about filling any future gaps in its schedule with revitalized tournaments like these ones.

In all, the European Tour’s week at Woburn was a successful one, but it’s the young Matthew Fitzpatrick who has the most to smile about. Years from now, we might just look at this event as a kind of a coming out party–one that introduced us to one of the brightest talents in golf.

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