Matt Fitzpatrick first ranked in the top 50 in the world in November 2015 and for a week since sitting comfortably in the elite strata of men’s professional golf.
But the 27-year-old from Sheffield doesn’t feel comfortable. Push and push and push a little harder to get every ounce of a relatively light frame and an increasingly important game of golf.
He is now in the top 10. He has now won in the United States. He is now a great champion, thanks to a brilliant victory in what will be remembered as one of the great US Open.
“He hasn’t been happy hanging out in the world for 25 to 18 years for two or three years,” Fitzpatrick’s father, Russell, told BBC Sport after his son’s victory in Brookline.
He reached a climax after the 2020 majors. He had arrived in Harding Park for that year’s U.S. PGA Championships and texted friends to tell him he had no chance before he even would have hit a ball.
The player was simply fed up with appearing in places where he knew he could not win.
Fitzpatrick doubled up with coach Mike Walker, who lives in South Yorkshire and works alongside legendary Professor Pete Cowen, who initially discovered the player’s talents.
Cowen was a client of Fitzpatrick’s father, the bank’s director. “You need a little luck. I could have been working in Portsmouth and never met Pete,” Russell said.
His son sat down with Walker to figure out how to earn the extra yards that would make a difference.
They enlisted the help of biomechanist Sasho Mackenzie who gave the player a speed stick called “The Stack” and a scheme to transform his game.
Fitzpatrick revealed, “I’ve been doing it religiously, week after week. It’s basically like going to the gym.”
And no wonder he was so diligent in building the strength and speed that he eventually became the U.S. Open champion in the same place in Massachusetts where he won the 2013 U.S. Amateur when he was a thin teenager.
“In terms of discipline, he’s very organized,” his father added. “It leaves nothing to chance.”
Caddy Billy Foster, for whom this was his first big hit after 40 years as a bag leader, has a more compelling way of describing the dedication of his boss.
“When I started working for him I said it was Bernhard Langer’s love,” Foster told me. The meticulous German has twice won the Masters, the legend of the Ryder Cup and still wins senior titles at 64 years old.
“No one works harder than Matt,” Foster continued. “He has an incredible work ethic and with that little extra confidence of winning a major championship, he will keep him in a good place to move forward.”
Foster received some major defeats while working for Thomas Bjorn, Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke. Fitzpatrick cleared much of this pain with his impressive display at the Country Club.
He defeated world number one Scottie Scheffler, leaving defending champion Jon Rahm and wrestler Rory McIlroy in his tracks, as well as getting specialist Will Zalatoris in a third finalist in a major.
“He hit 17 of 18 greens in a major championship at the U.S. Open,” Foster said. “It simply came to our notice then.
“He has been 20 meters from the tee. His play and his chip have improved a lot and he usually puts in a lot of good puts. He hasn’t done very well in the last few weeks, which is nothing like him.
“He will go more and more and be a dominant player in the game.”
Fitzpatrick is discreetly underestimated, but he, perhaps more than anyone, knows his potential. Amidst the bustle of a frantic media fight around Brookline’s 18th Green, it took a moment to reflect on what he had achieved.
“I have confidence in myself,” he told BBC Sport. “I support it. I really feel like I can compete here.
“I feel better than I’ve ever achieved, I really do. I think for me this is something so special about the work I’ve done over the last few years to bear fruit.”
Now the 10th best player in the world, this was his eighth top-10 on this year’s PGA Tour. His biggest struggle is trying to articulate what this victory means to him.
“I can’t tell you, I honestly can’t tell you,” he smiled. “In my opinion, not many people work harder than I do.
“I just try to find 1% wherever I can. Whether it’s sleeping, shooting selection, course strategy, whatever.
“I’m just trying to find something that makes me a better player. I complained earlier this year that these other guys are in the top 10 every week, what do I miss?
“And I did it exactly this year. So I just have to keep doing what I’m doing.
“I don’t want to be complacent now. It’s very easy to win this and disappear a little for a while. I just have to keep doing what I’m doing.”
It would be irresponsible to make hasty and grandiose predictions for the first British winner of a male major since his South Yorkshire teammate Danny Willett at the 2016 Masters.
But Fitzpatrick’s mantra will surely serve him well. As he says, “Don’t be lazy and keep working hard and hopefully more will come.”