European Tour: Italian Open Power Rankings at Golf Club Milano

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MONZA, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 18: Matthew Fitzpatrick of England hits his tee shot on the 6th hole during the fourth round of the Italian Open at Golf Club Milano – Parco Reale di Monza on September 18, 2016 in Monza, Italy. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images) /

Matthew Fitzpatrick is making money whenever he heads to Italy. He tied for seventh at the EMC Golf Challenge in 2014 in Rome on the Challenge Tour. In the big leagues, Fitzpatrick tied for 16th at the Italian Open last year and was in the mix to win with a T3 in 2015.

Fitzpatrick carded a final round six-under 65 on Sunday to join a seven-way tie one off the lead in 2015. He’s shot par or better in all eight rounds at Golf Club Milano, seven of them under par, for a 31-under aggregate score.

His recent form in 2017 is equally impressive. Fitzpatrick chugged along for his fourth made cut in a row and sixth in the last seven starts with a T15 last week at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. A disappointing one-over 73 at St. Andrew’s on Thursday put him behind the eight ball to try to win the birdiefest, but three 68s to close has got to give hime some momentum going into this week.

Prior to the ADLC, Fitzpatrick placed T11 at the British Masters and won the Omega European Masters. The 23-year-old Englishman is over 70 percent in greens in regulation and is one of the European Tour’s best ballstrikers. I like his chances for a fourth straight top 20, and perhaps more, this week.

At his British Masters pre-tournament press conference, as transcribed by ASAP Sports, Fitzpatrick admitted the summer wasn’t what he hoped it would be, but that he’s hopeful to end the year strong.

“I always love playing the end of season events. It’s always a nice stretch. You have this, Dunhill, Italy and you have the sort of Final Series, as well, and playing the WGC, as well. So some good courses coming up. Yeah, just really looking forward to the end of the year.”

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