BROOKLINE, Massachusetts – Matt Fitzpatrick of England is again champion at the Country Club, this time with the biggest golf trophies.
U.S. Amateur Champion in 2013. Sunday U.S. Open Champion.
In a three-way battle at Brookline that hit the wire, Fitzpatrick took control with a great break and an even better shot at the 15th hole for a two-shot swing. It was the same clutch of a street bunker on the 18th that set parity for a 2 under 68.
Victory was not assured until Will Zalatoris, who proved an incredible fight against every mistake, fell to his knees when his 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th slipped down the left side of the cup. Zalatoris, who finished with a 69, was runner-up in the second big row.
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Masters champion Scottie Scheffler never recovered from consecutive bogeys to start the last nine that cost him the lead. He had a 25-foot birdie chance on the 18th that he had just missed and left him behind with a 67.
Along with the $ 3.15 million in prizes, Fitzpatrick had Jack Nicklaus’ gold medal hanging around his neck, which only fit.
Fitzpatrick is the 13th man to win both the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Open in his career, and the second to win both on the same course, joining Nicklaus, who turned Pebble Beach. Juli Inkster won the U.S. Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Open at Prairie Dunes.
Fitzpatrick, who briefly played for Northwestern before becoming a professional, won for the eighth time in the world, and this was his first in America, at least one tournament that everyone knows. He won the membership at The Bear’s Club in Florida earlier this year, the course Nicklaus built.
“He insulted me a little earlier this year. He said, ‘Finally. Congratulations on winning in the United States,'” Fitzpatrick said.
And then, lifting the trophy slightly, Fitzpatrick sent a funny message to Nicklaus: “Jack, I won a second time.”
Fitzpatrick became the first player since Graeme McDowell in 2010 to secure his first PGA Tour victory at the U.S. Open.
There was a good rest, a shot and a little courage at the end.
Fitzpatrick and Zalatoris were tied until the 15th when the Englishman hit his starting shot so far right that he entered the gallery and found a decent lie on the dead and trampled grass. Zalatoris failed only a few meters and was buried in the deep grass.
He struck 5 iron from 220 yards to 18 feet below the hole. Zalatoris entered the front bunker, fired up to 25 feet and made a bogey. Fitzpatrick took a two-shot lead when his birdie putt entered the cup at such a perfect pace that he didn’t even touch the pin he left in the cup.
Zalatoris bounced back, grabbing a 16-to-7-foot par-3 hard pin for birdie to reduce the lead to one shot. They both missed 12-foot birdie opportunities on the 17th, and then Fitzpatrick missed a fairway at the wrong time, throwing him left into a bunker with a steep chunk of rough right in front of him.
It looked like a playoff was eminent – the previous three US Open in Brookline were all decided for a playoff – and then Fitzpatrick fearlessly faded with a 9 iron that brought the open bunker in front of the green and went set 18 feet. far.
He failed miserably and was unable to see how Zalatoris missed his last chance.
“Matt’s shot on the 18th will probably be shown for the rest of the history of the U.S. Open,” Zalatoris said. “I went through it and thought that going for it would be a little hard. But the fact that he took it out and even looked like a bird was amazing.
“So not the hat. He played really well all week, obviously and today he has given a solid round.”
Fitzpatrick finished in 6th under 134.
Matt Fitzpatrick became the second man to win a US Amateur and a US Open on the same course, joining Jack Nicklaus, who won at Pebble Beach in 1961 and 1972. Andrew Redington / Getty Images
Fitzpatrick, 27, the first Englishman since Justin Rose in 2013 to win the U.S. Open and the youngest player in England to win a major since Tony Jacklin at the 1970 U.S. Open, went feeling that his time was coming. He is meticulous in drawing up his plans and keeps a record of them to identify what he needs to work on. And he emphasized the speed in his swing of the last two years, giving him the length and the belief to compete with anyone.
That didn’t make Sunday any easier, a three-man race from the start when Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy fell behind and never joined the mix.
Fitzpatrick and Zalatoris, who shared the 54-hole lead, each had a two-shot lead at one point.
Zalatoris, who lost in a playoff game against Justin Thomas in the PGA Championship last month, bounced back from two early bogeys. They were tied when Zalatoris made an 18-foot bird putt on the 11th short par-3, and Fitzpatrick made three puts per bogey from the same range.
The 25-year-old from Dallas suddenly had a two-shot lead. He also couldn’t keep the ball on the fairway, and it cost him a drop shot at number 12. And then came another big turning point, with Fitzpatrick sinking a 50-foot birdie putt through the 13th green. Zalatoris did well to make his 15 feet for the pair and headed for the tense finish.
Scheffler was still pending his candidacy for a second major this year, but all the others became a distant memory. Hideki Matsuyama had the lowest round of the week with 65, but finished with 3 under 277, and that would never be good enough.
In the end, it was Fitzpatrick sharing hugs with his family on the green, including little brother Alex, who made a caddy for him in the US Amateur and recently became a professional.
And there was his caddy, Billy Foster, one of the most popular and long-distance loopers in Europe who had never been in the bag of a major until Sunday.
“Billy said it for a while to keep doing what you’re doing and the opportunity will come,” Fitzpatrick said. “He did, and I took advantage.”
ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.