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Matt Fitzpatrick has secured his second win on the PGA Tour by winning the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town. The four-day event in South Carolina came to an epic play-off conclusion on Sunday night after the Englishman was left tied on a score of -17 with Jordan Spieth after 72 holes.
Fitzpatrick entered day four with a narrow lead at the top of the leaderboard and proceeded to go back and forth with Spieth and Patrick Cantlay over the course of his final 18 holes. Cantlay, who faced criticism for his slow play at the Masters last week, silenced his doubters this week and ended up just one shot shy of joining Fitzpatrick and Spieth in the playoff.
A game of fine margins
It is the second year in a row that the RBC Heritage has gone to a playoff with Spieth coming out on top last year against Cantlay. The American had two decent chances to win it this year, too. On the first hole of the playoff, the par four 18th, his approach to the green was better than Fitzpatrick’s and he was left with a ten-foot putt to win after the Englishman fired his birdie putt past the hole.
Spieth’s putt looked good all the way and the 29-year-old even raised his putter in the air to celebrate the win before seeing the ball somehow lip out. On the second playoff hole, the par three 17th, Spieth once again had a putt to win the championship but narrowly missed once again.
With Spieth missing two good chances to win the tournament, it was beginning to look like it was going to be Fitzpatrick’s day and he sealed the win on the third playoff hole. His approach to the par-four 18th was so good that it looked like the ball had a chance of going into the hole after it pitched.
What. A. Shot. 👏@MattFitz94 nearly holes it for the win on the third playoff hole. pic.twitter.com/hIhOz9owmX
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 16, 2023
While it ended up stopping just short, it meant that Spieth needed to sink a 40-foot putt to prolong the tournament but he came up short.
More success for Fitzpatrick
Victory for Fitzpatrick is his second on the PGA Tour and his first since winning the US Open last summer. It is also particularly meaningful for two reasons.
Firstly, he is now just the second English player to win the event after Nick Faldo won it in 1984 and secondly, it is a tournament close to his heart as he first attended it as a fan when he was just six-year-old. Speaking after the victory, the 28-year-old said:
“Of every single one on the calendar, this is the one I wanted to win the most. I feel so far I’ve been very lucky in my career – I’ve won a major and now this.
Obviously, Jordan got off to a fast start doing Jordan Spieth things on hole No 1, so I just felt I had to be real patient. Certainly, when I’ve played well, that’s a real strength of mine.
To be a winner here, every year I’ve driven down the drive and you see the winners here and I’ve always thought ‘I want to be one of those’ – and here I am.”
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