2022 U.S. Open: Top 10 Power Rankings at The Country Club

Matt Fitzpatrick will be a trendy pick this week for multiple reasons. Chief among them is his 2013 U.S. Amateur win at The Country Club.

At age 19, the Englishman breezed into match play by finishing T-3rd in stroke play. Only his 2&1 semifinal win over Corey Conners had to go to the 18th holes in the leadup to the finals. Fitzy then only needed 33 holes in the 36-hole finals to dispatch Oliver Goss, 4&3.

“I played it a couple times, couple times since I left and I love playing the golf course. It suits my eye and obviously, just having great memories there,” Fitzpatrick said in a Boston Globe article. “I played seven rounds there or something, in obviously whatever the week was, and there’s things that I’ll probably remember about every hole — this happened here and this happened there. It’s just nice to have that. It makes a big difference to the week.”

If you haven’t bought into Fitzpatrick’s chances, how about this. He’s missed just two cuts in 2022 and has seven top-10s, including three in his last four starts.

The 27-year-old came tantalizingly close to his first PGA Tour win with a T-2nd last month at the Wells Fargo Championship. He was also right in the mix at the PGA Championship where he was in the final pairing Sunday en route to T-5th.

He’s made six straight cuts in majors and took T-14th at this year’s Masters. In 28 career major starts, Fitzpatrick owns 21 made cuts.

He’s always been a smart, meticulous player.

Always adding to his game, Fitzpatrick has jumped from 293.5 yards average driving distance (127th) to 298 (108th). Add that to his longstanding accuracy and he’s up from 15th (.539) on the PGA Tour in strokes gained off the tee to 10th (.685).

Fitzy’s also up from 105th in SG approach (.026) to 25th (.498).

He’s having the most well-rounded season of his life. Fitzpatrick is second in total SG (2.036) and no worse than 22nd in any category.

Even top fairway-finders are going to have to hack it out of the tall grass from time to time. He’s 16th in proximity from the rough (42’2”).

I envision Fitzpatrick taking the lessons he’s learned from close calls of late and jumping into the mix once more.