Matt Fitzpatrick details key change to spark hope for PGA Championship and Ryder Cup
Fitzpatrick finished in a tie for 40th at The Masters last month. He missed the cut at The Players Championship in March but his best result so far this season came a week before that with a tie for 22nd at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Fitzpatrick has previously been ranked in the top 25 twice before but his OWGR is currently 84th and his FedEx ranking is 127th at the time of writing.
Fitzpatrick recently parted ways with long-term caddy Billy Foster, but the Englishman has revealed his form is starting to turn in time for the second major of the season and the Ryder Cup later this year at Bethpage, having starred for Europe in their crushing win in Rome two years ago.
Speaking exclusively to The Independent and Indy100, Fitzpatrick said: 'I'm going into it open minded, it's about managing expectations. Of course my expectations are high but I've got to be realistic as well and given my recent form, it's not something to shout off the rooftops about. I've got to put it into perspective with where I'm at and slowly build up to where I want to get to.
'I feel like I'm on the right track now, I've just got to bed it in. The last two weeks, I've had more success in the areas I've been looking for.
'I've not had too many enjoyable memories at Quail Hollow though, I've played there two or three times now. I love the golf course, I think it's a great golf course but there are a couple of holes I'm not too big of a fan of but for the most part, it's a really good test.'
Fitzpatrick also revealed how preparations for the PGA Championship have been going. He thinks it's incredibly important to get in a rhythm of playing competitively ahead of such a huge event.
'I'm playing in the Truist Championship, not to classify it as a warmup but it's an event that preps me for the week after,' he said. 'It's good to get my eye in, see where I'm at, see if any changes need to be made for the PGA and kick on.
'You don't want to go into the PGA rusty, if you've not played for a bit you may not be as sharp as you want to be. In my opinion, you need to play before the big ones, there's nothing like testing yourself than against other players and seeing where you are in terms of the competition.
'It's easy to practice at home, think you're ready but then going into a tournament with a scorecard in your hand is very different. I think it's always needed to have something before the big events to see where your game's at.'
Fitzpatrick thinks Rory McIlroy will be the favourite 'by some distance' due to his recent form and previous successes there, with the Northern Irishman the joint-favourite with Scottie Scheffler, following his storming victory last week at The CJ Cup Byron Nelson, while defending champion Xander Schauffele will hope to contend once more too.
Fitzpatrick revealed how he's stripped back his game in the past few weeks to work on specific areas he feels have not been at the level he wants. He feels a 'plan' that was in place at the start of the season was 'wrong'.
'There have been a few facets of my game that have been up and down this year so far, so hopefully I can turn a corner in these next few weeks, start playing a bit better and get some good results in there,' he said.
'I think my driving has been good all year but outside of that, looking at other aspects, my putting has been good one week then bad the next, my irons have been good when my putting was bad then my irons are bad when my putting was good... It's all just been very jumbled and nothing has come together.
'We've looked at where my weaknesses are from a technical standpoint, where I need to improve and what I need to change and now it's about working the plan. You could argue the [original] plan we had was wrong and finding a few things technically has been key.
'Things weren't right early in the season, we tried to address them and we didn't address them well enough. It's not an easy thing to find a fix, it's not easy to get the answer and things take time.'
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