The ballgame moment—as in, “we’ve got ourselves a ballgame”—came on the 12th hole, when an errant drive from Matt Fitzpatrick kicked off a chain of events that ended with his younger brother Alex putting out for double bogey. This was the closing stretch of the final round of the Zurich Classic, played in the alternate-shot format, and everyone knew the stakes: with a win for the brothers, Alex Fitzpatrick would get a two-and-a-half-year PGA Tour exemption on the spot. (He wasn’t without a backup plan—he’s seventh in the Race to Dubai standings on the DP World Tour, and the top 10 also get PGA Tour cards for the following year, but this was both a swifter and a bigger prize.) For most of the front nine, it appeared as though they’d cruise to a win. The double bogey invited doubt, and a heap of pressure.

Now they had to battle, and it was the elder brother, Matt, who continued to leak oil as the back wore on. He followed the errant drive on 12 with a pull on the par-3 14th that led to a bogey, and when the Norwegian duo of Kristoffer Reitan and Kris Ventura finished their superb day with an eagle on 18, the teams were tied at 30 under. A few minutes later, Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer made it a trio, finishing with birdie and broaching the possibility of a three-team playoff.

The Fitzpatricks needed a birdie in the last four holes to win outright, but trouble found them again on 15 with a poor drive and approach that left them off the green. This time, though, Matt buried an eight-foot par putt to stay abreast, and he bailed his little brother out again on 16 with a chip from off the green to two feet. On the par-3 17th, Alex’s excellent iron to 14 feet led to a simple par, and then it was down to the extremely birdie-able 18th. One birdie, and the brothers had it.

Matt shook off the back nine tee demons to bomb a 322-yard drive down the left side of the fairway, but with 260 yards left, Alex’s approach came up 35 yards short in a bunker.

What happened next might be the shot of the year and certainly goes down as the best sand shot since Bryson DeChambeau secured his U.S. Open win at Pinehurst on the 18th hole. Matt Fitzpatrick’s shot came out high, but stopped quickly, and came to rest a foot from the hole.

GOLF SHOT!

Matt Fitzpatrick plays it beautifully to set up for birdie and the win @Zurich_Classic. pic.twitter.com/FAnaC08xEE

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 26, 2026

“I got to the ball, and the lie was unbelievable,” he said afterward. “I couldn’t have placed it on a better tee. So I knew, like, I was going to have to hit it, wind it all the way there. Did I plan that perfectly? Honestly, no, but you know, yeah, I played it to perfection. What more can I say?”

Above the bunker, Alex smiled in disbelief, and it looked like he wanted to dive in the bunker to hug his brother. They settled for a low five instead, and Alex cleaned up the birdie for his first ever PGA Tour win—and his brother’s fifth.

“I was doing absolutely zero to help him,” Matt Fitzpatrick said, after giving his brother the greatest gift of his life. “Apart from the putt on 15 there, I wasn’t really providing much support. He was fantastic on the back nine, and he was yesterday as well.”

“It won’t sink in,” Alex Fitzpatrick added. “It’s amazing to be with him, my mum and my dad…I can’t believe we’ve done it. I think that’s as good as it gets, isn’t it?”

 

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Alex joked that perhaps the same wasn’t true for Matt, since he’d won a major, but Matt called it “as good as that for sure.”

Prior to the nervy back nine, it had been a tour de force for the brothers, who opened with a 64 in best ball, followed that with a scintillating 65 in alternate shot Friday, and then, back in the best-ball format Saturday, set the tournament single-round record with a 15 under par 57. That broke the record of 58, which Smalley and Springer had equaled just two days earlier.

Alex Fitzpatrick confirmed that he’d accept the PGA Tour exemption in the interview just after the win and doubled down in the press conference.

“I signed as quick as I could,” he said. “I’m still shaking.”

Alex Fitzpatrick's win @Zurich_Classic gives him career-changing benefits:

– PGA TOUR card through 2028
– Spots in the following tournaments:
2026 @Cadillac_Champ
2026 @TruistChamp
2026 @PGAChampionship
2026 @MemorialGolf
2026… pic.twitter.com/vNDvW1wfS0

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 26, 2026

The stakes were certainly highest for Alex—he admitted that he could barely feel his hands during several key moments—but it also caps off an almost unbelievable six weeks for his older brother. After finishing second at the Players Championship, when only Cam Young’s heroics kept him from the title, he won the Valspar, finished 18th at the Masters, won the RBC Heritage last week, and has now captured the Zurich with his brother. He has risen to third in the world, and even though he hasn’t captured his second major—yet—there’s no doubt that he’s playing the best golf of his life. Nor will he deny it.

“It’s true,” he said. “A lot of the credit goes to the people that work with me. I’ve said it in Valspar, and I’ll say it again. Mark Blackburn has been fantastic in my game, and Phil Kenyon has been incredible.”

He’ll look to keep it going for the rest of 2026, and after his win in New Orleans, he’ll have a new colleague and competitor shadowing him—not unlike the way that same player has shadowed him for most of his life.

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Alex Fitzpatrick readily admits that it’s not easy being a professional golfer while your older brother has become one of the best players in the world. But then there are week’s like this when he’d wouldn’t want to be anywhere else other than at his brother’s side.

The Fitzpatricks had played together three previous times in the two-man team competition that is the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. They’d done OK, twice finishing in the top 20. But neither quite had their game clicking at the same time the way they do this year. Matt, 31, has won twice in his last three PGA Tour starts, and Alex, 27, scored an enormous breakthrough when he notched his first DP World Tour victory in late March in the Hero India Open.

Matt Fitzpatrick and Alex Fitzpatrick line up a putt on the 18th green. Stacy Revere

That strong form, along with the comfort of playing together all of their lives, has produced so far a very special week in New Orleans. Playing fourball in Saturday’s third round, the Fitzpatricks scorched TPC Louisiana with a best-ball card of 15-under-par 57.

Matt drained six birdies and an eagle, and Alex poured in seven birdies as the English pair forged a three-shot lead. They stand at 15 under, with two groups of Americans—Alex Smalley/Hayden Springer (62) and Davis Thompson/Austin Ekroat (61)—as their closest pursuers.

The Fitzpatricks already achieved one milestone this year when they became the first brothers to win in back-to-back weeks on the DP World Tour and PGA Tour. Now they can become the first siblings to capture the Zurich in the nine years it’s been a team format.

“Amazing day. Probably not kind of sunk in how well we played today, if I’m honest,” Matt said. “Yeah, it was just hole after hole. The score, I only just realized we finished with five in a row. You know, you kind of are thinking about the next shot, so you’re not really thinking about that.”

Matt made an eagle and three birdies to contribute most to their 29 on the front, and then Alex took over on the back with five birdies (to Matt’s four)—including three straight to close the round.

“I didn’t really do much the first nine holes,” Alex said. “I just kind of just let him do his thing. Yeah, it was pretty cool to watch. You know, playing alongside my brother, who happens also to be one of the best players in the world is pretty fun. When he’s playing well, it’s pretty cool to watch.”

It’s Matt who has thus far had the more distinguished career. He has nine European Tour regular wins and three on the PGA Tour, and there’s the biggest prize—his victory in the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club. Matt’s latest run has vaulted him to a career-high No. 3 in the World Ranking.

Alex, who stands at No 141 in the world, played at Wake Forest and has climbed the pro ladder in Europe, capturing his first pro title on the Challenge Tour. He then reached the DP World Tour and overcame a six-shot deficit at one point in the final round to win in India.

“I’ll try and explain without crying, it’s been a lot of hard work for a long time,” Alex said the day of his victory.

He also admitted that it hasn’t always been easy to follow in Matt’s footsteps.

“It can be hard sometimes when you’re constantly chasing someone’s accolades, but luckily it’s my brother,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s extremely nice to join him in the winners’ ranks and hopefully I can continue to push on.

“I idolize him, so just trying to be like him in every way so yeah, hopefully we can keep doing well.”

On Sunday, the teams will play alternate shot, and the Fitzpatricks would seemingly have an advantage in that discipline, too. Their 65 on Friday was two shots better than any other team.

Matt gushed on Saturday about his brother’s play this week.

“Yeah, he was brilliant today. He was faultless truly,” he said. “He played fantastic, and he played fantastic yesterday as well. He played brilliant golf both last two days. His game has really turned a corner these last few months, and I believe in him to continue that trend.

“He’s doing all the right things, and obviously it was nice for him to have such a big impact there on the back nine to continue what the front nine brought.”

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Matt Fitzpatrick could argue that the term “momentum” is a concoction of sportswriters and broadcasters to otherwise explain how an athlete’s brain and body somehow click together in a way that sustains a bit of success.

Watch the 2026 RBC Heritage LIVE

“It’s funny,” Fitzpatrick was saying on Saturday at the RBC Heritage. “I remember having a conversation with [well-known coach] Phil Kenyon that effectively momentum doesn’t actually exist. It’s probably psychological, isn’t it.”

Whatever “it” is, the 31-year-old Englishman is experiencing it both this week at Harbour Town and over the last month of the PGA Tour season. Fitzpatrick lost a close battle in the Players Championship, rebounded one week later with a victory in the Valspar, and now he’s the 54-hole leader in a tournament he loves and has already won.

On Saturday, the 2022 U.S. Open champion recovered from a rocky front nine by twice holing out from off the green on his inward route to shoot three-under-par 68. In taking a three-shot lead, he also earned a Sunday pairing with World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who fired the day’s low score of 64 to move up 12 spots.

Fitzpatrick will be trying to win his fourth PGA Tour title and follow up his 2023 playoff victory over Jordan Spieth in the RBC. Scheffler is gunning for tour win No. 21 and his second of the season after opening the year with a victory in The American Express and a runner-up in last week’s Masters.

As usual, the leaderboard for the $20 million tour signature event is tightly packed, with nine players behind Fitzpatrick who are five shots or closer to the lead.

It didn’t look like Fitzpatrick had any shot to get a sizeable lead when he bogeyed two of the first three holes and stood at two over for the round through 8.

“The bogeys that I made today, I didn’t feel like I kind of hit it off the planet and I was scrambling and stuff,” he said. “I just felt that they were holes that I didn’t really make my par on, and I felt like I was making good enough swings to make a turnaround on the back nine. Obviously, some nice momentum with the hole-outs on 14 and 15.”

There, he used it: the word momentum. Fitzpatrick birdied the ninth and 12th and then putted in a 27-footer from off the green at the par-3 14th, followed by a chip-in from 29 feet at 15.

“I guess that is momentum,” he said, “when you’re feeling good with the putter, when you’re feeling good with the driver, with your irons, you make a birdie, you hit it close, the next hole, you’ve got the same number you hit that to, you’re feeling comfortable; that’s the momentum, isn’t it, I guess.”

A year ago at this time, Fitzpatrick was struggling to find the top level of his game. He missed the cut in three of his first five starts and hadn’t notched anything better than T-22 entering Harbour Town. He managed just a T-38 there but found form with a top-10 finish in the PGA Championship and built on that to notch four consecutive top-10s in the middle of the summer.

Asked to compare the 2025 version of himself versus his current mindset, Fitzpatrick said, “Probably just more nervous. I got myself in this position kind of fairly quickly. I was the last group off maybe on the Saturday at the PGA last year, so that’s only a month later than here. …

“Even just being with my psychologist, telling him feelings and thoughts and stuff, it’s been good because it’s new again. It’s probably different for Scottie and Rory, who are in these positions a lot of the weeks of the year and in contention.”

If pressure is a privilege, Fitzpatrick will face loads of it on Sunday in playing alongside Scheffler. The Brit faced some unruly fan abuse at the Players in trying to outduel American Cameron Young, the eventual winner, and because of that, Fitzpatrick was warmly supported in bouncing back to win in the Valspar. Now he’s facing the top player in the world.

But this is, after all, Harbour Town—where the Fitzpatrick family travelled to when Matt was young, and where his pulling on of the victor’s plaid jacket was enormously popular.

“Yeah, they’ve got to support their guy, and that’s totally fine,” Fitzpatrick said. “As long as they don’t shout in my backswing, then they can do whatever they want. But I have a lot of people that support me this week, as well, and just looking forward to it. Scottie is a great guy and looking forward to playing with him tomorrow.”

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Redemption? Nah.

Rebound? Most certainly.

One week after a bogey on the final hole cost him a chance to win the Players Championship, Matt Fitzpatrick birdied the 72nd hole on Sunday to capture the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida.

Fitzpatrick converted from 14 feet for his first birdie in 12 rounds on the par-4 18th hole at the Copperhead Course to break a tie with David Lipsky and secure his third career PGA Tour title and first win since the 2023 RBC Heritage. The 31-year-old Englishman didn’t have a bogey in closing with a three-under 68 and 11-under 273 total to keep Lipsky winless in 145 career tour starts.

A Los Angeles native, Lipsky, 37, settled for his second career runner-up finish and his seventh top-five finish after shooting a final-round 70.

“I think the big thing was I felt like I was playing well,” said Fitzpatrick, who came into the week ranked 15th in the world. “Obviously wanted to continue that, and I felt like I had confidence it in myself to do so. Then obviously to sort of do that over four round was special this week.”

Fitz was FIRED UP after his victory-sealing birdie on 18. pic.twitter.com/VvGmw9gvH8

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) March 22, 2026

Sungjae Im, who led after each of the first three rounds and began the final day two strokes ahead of Lipsky and 45-year-old Brandt Snedeker, bogeyed five of his first 10 holes to fall out of contention. He ended up T-4 at eight-under 276 after a 74. Snedeker, seeking his 10th career title and first win since the 2018 Wyndham Championship, was in the hunt and tied for the lead with Fitzpatrick, Lipsky and England’s Jordan Smith until he three-putted for double bogey at the short par-4 12th hole. He followed with a bogey at 13 on the way to a 76, which left him in a tie for 18th place at 280.

Smith fired a 66 and ended up third at 275. Joining Im at 276 were Marco Penge, another Englishman, who had a 71, and Xander Schauffele, who tied Emiliano Grillo for low round of the day with a 65.

Fitzpatrick, 31, began the day three behind Im but quickly joined a battle atop the leaderboard when Im faltered. Winner of the 2022 U.S. Open, Fitzpatrick was unable to separate himself but fortunate that his main challengers also were stuck in neutral. He finally created daylight when he drilled home a 30-foot birdie putt at the par-3 15th hole. Just as he had the previous week at the Players at TPC Sawgrass, he arrived on the 16th tee at Innisbrook with a one-stroke lead.

It disappeared within minutes, however, when Lipsky joined him at 10 under par with a seven-footer for birdie.

Fitzpatrick, who collected $1.638 million, set up the game winner when he drove perfectly and then found the green right of the pin with a wedge from 118 yards. When the ball rolled in, he shouted and delivered a low fist pump. The win was secured when Lipsky’s 32-foot tying attempt from the fringe died seven inches short of the hole.

Birdie from deep @MattFitz94 is tied at the top @ValsparChamp.

NBC pic.twitter.com/2ohxJjNOTa

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 22, 2026

“Amazing. Amazing. Particularly, I felt frustrated all day that I had not made anything. Obviously to make something there on 15, and hole the long one there on 18 to in the end to secure the win was an amazing feeling,” said Fitzpatrick, who played his final 36 holes without a bogey and suffered only four bogeys all week—three of which came in the second round.

“I’ll be honest, it wasn’t an ideal putt that it felt like,” he added. “It was a nice right-to-lefter but me and my putting coach Phil [Kenyon] have been working on less acceleration in my stroke and it comes out more on the up hillers, so, I wouldn’t say I was overly keen on it given my putting performance today but to get it done like that was special.”

Undeterred after his one-stroke loss to Cameron Young at the Players, where he missed an eight-foot par putt that would have forced a playoff, Fitzpatrick fought through the mental challenge of playing in contention in consecutive weeks. Beyond his good form—particularly his iron game (he ranked first in strokes gained/tee to green, and second in approach)—that achievement sets him up well for the first major of the year in three weeks at the Masters.

“Yeah, I feel like it’s obviously a great start to the season now, and particularly in two weeks, because the major season is just around the corner. Two weeks off, just to kind of prepare myself for that and then get better,” he said. “Yeah, this is great. Any win is fantastic. To me, just getting over the line is always difficult. It’s so hard to win out here. Three wins now out here is something that, you know, I want obviously plenty more, and more and more big wins. So, yeah, to win this week is a big stepping stone for moving forward.”

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The fan abuse at the Ryder Cup—and the PGA of America president Don Rea’s response to it—is the story that simply won’t die.

A number of European players who experienced the harshness of the New York crowds made their way to Scotland for this week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, which began on Thursday. Among them were Englishmen Tyrrell Hatton and Matt Fitzpatrick, both of whom found Rea’s comparison of the U.S. home crowd to the crowd in Rome for the 2023 Ryder Cup laughable.

There’s a lot you can say about the fans at Bethpage — but I think it’s worth starting at the source.

When the leader of your org says he hasn’t heard much verbal abuse of Rory McIlroy, perhaps there wasn’t much care about it happening pic.twitter.com/qPYGl7Pcr7

— Sean Zak (@Sean_Zak) September 30, 2025

“Personally, I don’t think they were close at all,” Hatton said. “I certainly, with what I heard last week, I don’t think Rome comes anywhere near that. I don’t know what else to add to that. I think they are quite far apart, to be honest.”

Fitzpatrick echoed Hatton’s sentiment in his press conference, adding that the European fans are far more creative and lighthearted and don’t resort to personal insults. The former U.S. Open winner said his braces and Skechers shoes were often a target for the loud Long Islanders.

But Fitzpatrick also took issue with something else Rea said that had nothing to do with the crowd. When presenting Europe with the trophy on Sunday evening, Rea used the word “retained” instead of “won,” which is still technically true given the team that won it last “retains” it if they win it again, regardless of score. But you can see how some of the European players’ ears may have perked up in that moment:

Genuine question…

Is it strange the head of the @PGA said that Europe "retained" the Ryder Cup.

Didn't they win it? pic.twitter.com/CV9Mi9dgtY

— Jamie Kennedy (@jamierkennedy) October 2, 2025

“I don’t want to speak on behalf of everyone but we did feel there was a little bit of bitterness when we got to the — when they presented the trophy there and shook their [hand],” Fitzpatrick said. “I think it was — they can’t control what comes out of everyone’s mouth, there’s no doubt about it.

“Me and Rosey [Justin Rose] both looked at each other as if to say, that wasn’t a very heartfelt congratulations, I know that. And he said we only retained it but actually we won it, so….”

The Ryder Cup pettiness knows no bounds. Cannot believe we have to wait two more years for the next one.

RELAED: Rory McIlroy endured torment at Bethpage—and came out the other side a deserving winner

Main Image: Warren Little

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“Well after 6 great years, all good things come to an end. This game never stops to frustrate you & infuriate you….!!! Unfortunately times change & ultimately it’s the caddie or the coach that has to accept results are not good enough & when you stop enjoying what you are doing it’s time for a change. Thanks Matt we had a great run & who knows where the next chapter will go. Onwards & Upwards.”

The early exit has likely been brewing all season as Fitzpatrick has sputtered so far on the PGA Tour in 2025. While making the cut in four of six starts to date, the 30-year-old Englishman has not finished inside the top 20 yet. His World Ranking had fallen to 61st prior to starting the week at TPC Sawgrass and he sits 98th in the FedEx Cup points standings.

Fitzpatrick did not have any comment after his play in Ponte Vedra Beach, and on Saturday he was spotted working on his game in Orlando at Rio Pinar Golf Club. It’s unclear who will be replacing Foster on a full time basis. Veteran caddie Daniel Barrett had been mentioned earlier in the year as the man who would be filling in on the weeks Foster was missing.

Foster, 61, started caddieing for Fitzpatrick in 2019 after a career working with several notable Europeans including Seve Ballesteros, Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood. During his time with Fitzpatrick, the pair claims two PGA Tour wins (the most recent being the 2023 RBC Heritage) and four on the DP World Tour (including the 2023 Alfred Dunhill Links). The most notable came at the 2022 U.S. Open at Brookline, where Fitzpatrick claimed the major title, which was also the first of Foster’s career.

While Fitzpatrick and Foster had already agreed on a scaled back schedule for Foster during the upcoming summer, the two had planned to work together at the Ryder Cup if Fitzpatrick qualified. It would have been Foster’s 17th straight appearance as a looper in the matches.

Earlier in the year Foster noted on Instagram he would be using his spare time doing some side gigs including potential work on Sky Sports. If that comes to fruition, Foster will be following in the recent footsteps of caddies/turned broadcasters Jim (Bones) Mackay and John Wood.

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Craig Winter, USGA Senior Director, Rules of Golf and Amateur Status, wants to make things perfectly clear: Do not call this the Matt Fitzpatrick rule.

For one thing, Model Local Rule G-9 has been in place since April 2019, a subtle clarification to the equipment rules after the USGA and R&A implemented its sweeping modernization of the Rules of Golf that January. More importantly, discussion between USGA and R&A officials on changing things even further had been ongoing since the beginning of 2024, turning the incident involving Fitzpatrick at the BMW Championship last August into an unfortunate coincidence.

That said, Fitzpatrick has gotten his wish—and so have others who questioned why MLR G-9 allowed for the replacement of clubs that were broken or significantly damaged but notably considered a crack in the clubhead or face to be an exception.

As of Jan. 1, 2025, in competitions where the MLR is in effect, visible cracks to the face and clubhead now also constitute “broken or the damage significant” enough to allow the club to be removed (providing it was not caused by player abuse).

Here’s the specific instances spelled out in the new MLR where replacements are allowed:

• The shaft is in pieces, or it is bent, dented, kinked or splintered.
• The clubhead is visibly cracked or substantially deformed (but when it is only scratched, chipped or has a minor dent).
• The clubhead is loose or no longer attached to the shaft or a part inside the clubhead is loose (such as when there is an audible rattle).
• The club face is visibly cracked or deformed (including when it has a chip or minor dent but not when it is only scratched).
• The grip or part of it is loose.

During the final round of BMW Championship, a PGA Tour FedEx Cup Playoff event held at Castle Pines G.C. outside Denver, Fitzpatrick noticed a crack in the face of his Titleist TSi3 driver on the eighth tee. Asked for a ruling to see if he could replace the club, PGA Tour rules officials denied him, using the exception on cracks previously written in MLG G-9 as the reasoning.

Suffice it to say, Fitzpatrick was not happy. “This is outrageous. It’s an absolute joke,” he said to the official who denied his request. He continued, “There’s an obvious crack there, that’s causing a defect of the ball flight. … So, I’m going to have to use 3-wood the rest of the day?”

Matt Fitzpatrick, 36th in the FedExCup entering the week, called for a ruling for a driver crack.

Under the USGA’s Model Local Rule G-9, a club is not replaceable solely because of a crack, and he was not permitted to replace it at the time due to lack of significant damage. pic.twitter.com/X5kEPkee1q

— PGA TOUR LIVE (@PGATOURLIVE) August 25, 2024

Fitzpatrick did just that, making bogey on the eighth hole and double bogey on the 10th en route to shooting a two-under 70 (his best score of the week), finishing T-28 in the event but failing to move up in the FedEx Cup standings to advance to Tour Championship. He continued to voice is displeasure weeks later about how things played out.

It was frustrating for USGA officials, too, knowing that they working on changing the rule, with draft language written but not finalized and with no way to accelerate the process in time to help Fitzpatrick.

According to Winter, discussions about changing the language had progressed throughout the summer. “Really kind of coming out of the Olympics [two weeks before Fitzpatrick’s issue at the BMW],” Winter said. “We felt really good about be idea that that G-9 needed to be revised, allow cracks and let’s figure out if there’s anything else that we can do.”

Indeed, Winter said they wished they could have helped more but “the draft wasn’t yet at a comfortable spot to go public.” Said Winter: “This isn’t the only time something like this has happened where we have in the background the next cycle and we already have some changes that we’re super comfortable with and unfortunately in the game of golf, it’s not just golfers like Matt, but it’s also club golfers that run into situations like this as well.”

The new MLR also comes with one other subtle modification that was not previously accounted for. The new language specifies that “to ensure the progression of the set is maintained, the replacement club must fill the gap created when the player took the broken or damaged club out of play.” In other words, you can’t replace the broken driver with a wedge because you only have two holes remaining and that new club might come in handier than the driver.

So why the change in language? It’s important to remember that when the MLR first came out, it was four months after the 2019 Rules of Golf update that prohibited changing out any of the 14 clubs a player had in his or her bag during a round for any reasons. Winter acknowledged that USGA and R&A officials has “some buyer’s remorse” in not allowing replacements for accidentally breaks during a round. Creating the MLR provided a lifeline to players who, through no fault of their own, were suddenly without a driver by allowed for exceptions that tournament committees could account for, including the PGA Tour.

But why not include a crack in a club to warrant replacement? According to Winter, the part of the original reason for the exception for cracks stemmed from the fact that at the elite men’s professional level, tour pros playing drivers with slight cracks was not an unusual thing as those drivers often offered a bit more distance. As Winter noted, using those drivers was perfectly within the Rules of Golf, although players who knowingly kept those clubs in their bags risked the potential that the crack might get worse and eventually cause the club to lose distance while still being playable enough to not be allowed to be replaced.

Meanwhile, the USGA and R&A continued to discuss the fairness of its 2019 rules and decided in 2023 to essentially change their minds entirely, allowing in the Rules of Golf replacement of clubs. With that the MLR, rather than providing relief from a restrictive rule put a few more guard rails on a fairly relaxed standard regarding replacing clubs. As Winter notes, that falls in line with other Rules of Golf generally now operate, such as the ability for players to use distance measuring devices as explained in the overall Rules of Golf, but having model local rules that let pro tours restrict them for their competitions.

Long story short, the USGA and R&A believe they’ve got everything in place to allow for quick and clear rulings that limit the ambiguity of what is and isn’t damage significant enough to warrant replacing a club. And as for Fitzpatrick, well we’re guessing the Englishman will like settle for better late than never.

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First, let’s start with another past U.S. Open champ, Lucas Glover, who continued to be vocal against the changes.

“I think it’s terrible,” Glover told Golfweek. “And then hiding behind pace of play, I think challenges our intelligence. They think we’re stupid.”

While others think fewer players on the course will make a big difference, Glover believes it’s not about the number of guys playing, but a growing number of slow players on the course since he got on tour two decades ago. Yet the changes actually allow golfers more time to play shots and reduce slow-play fines. And when Fitzpatrick saw a tweet mentioning Glover’s stance on Tuesday, he couldn’t have agreed more.

“He’s so right, pathetic that pace of play is spoken about every year and nothing ever gets done,” Fitzpatrick tweeted.

The 30-year-old Brit then defended yardage books while calling out the PGA Tour for an “outrageous” lack of slow-play penalties through the years. Here’s his flurry of tweets:

He’s so right, pathetic that pace of play is spoke about every year and nothing ever gets done https://t.co/gvFNCQHHwQ

— Matt Fitzpatrick (@MattFitz94) November 19, 2024

Yardage books are fine… it’s the people using them that’s the problem https://t.co/4UE8ECJDC6

— Matt Fitzpatrick (@MattFitz94) November 19, 2024

Says it all outrageous! https://t.co/n9pSnILiuR

— Matt Fitzpatrick (@MattFitz94) November 19, 2024

Considering Fitzpatrick’s reputation as one of the fastest players on tour, it’s easy to see why he’s frustrated. For now, though, he’ll have to wait some more to see how much the changes will help the pace-of-play situation when they go into effect in 2026.

Main image: Kevin C. Cox

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The deal was locked in until 2035, in a way to stand up to the threat brought on by LIV Golf and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which now seems to be moving in another direction.

It was clear to see that some players were to benefit more than most. From the start of the 2023 DP World Tour season, the top 10 finishers on the Race to Dubai Rankings, not otherwise exempt, would earn a PGA Tour card for the following season.

This led to fears that the DP World Tour would essentially be acting as a feeder circuit and giving away its best players to the PGA Tour. A thought that still gives Matt Fitzpatrick a sour taste in his mouth, four years down the line.

“I don’t think the (DP World) Tour should have gone with the PGA Tour,” he told reporters on the eve of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews.

“I was pretty livid, to be honest, at Wentworth when I found out that there was a handful of PGA Tour players coming to play [the BMW PGA Championship], and at that point in time, not every person who kept their card last year got in the field, which I think is a disgrace. That’s the flagship event.

“There’s no invites given to European Tour players at THE PLAYERS Championship. So why are we dishing them out for Wentworth?

“I thought that was absolutely absurd that that even went through.”

Keith Pelley and Jay Monahan. Ross Kinnaird

The agreement Fitzpatrick is mentioning was completed when the former DP World Tour Chief Executive Officer, Keith Pelley, was in office. A deal was struck alongside the Commissioner of the PGA Tour Jay Monahan to elevate tournaments and create more playing opportunities for both sides.

Pelley has since departed the DP World Tour, to lead powerhouse Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment as their President & Chief Executive Officer back in his home country of Canada.

The move by Pelley came at a critical time in golf. The DP World Tour was part of the then June 6 agreement with the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s PIF to form a commercial company that could reshape how golf is run and how a global golf tour might look in the future.

“You have basically like a Premier League, Championship and League One of golf,” the 2022 U.S. Open  Champion went on to say. “You can bring everyone together and there’s more of a relegation promotion, there’s a few more stories there, you can work your way up. If everyone was together, I feel like that would be more beneficial, anyway.

“I can’t sit here and say that I know the viewing figures for LIV or PGA TOUR are going up or down. I just don’t know. But as a big football fan, there’s got to be more stories in the relegation-promotion rather than what I think there is now.

“Obviously I know LIV is a closed shop and they have a team aspect. As a football fan, I love team stuff. The Ryder Cup is amazing. All that stuff is great.

“So, I’m not fully against the team aspect but if it’s a closed shop, there’s not too many storylines in there.

“But at the same time, the PGA Tour is becoming a little bit more like that. What formats are they going to do? Is there a 70-man field? I don’t know.

Matt will be pleased to know that hopefully a deal is getting closer, as H.E. Yasir Al-Rumayyan the Governor of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and Jay Monahan are both in the field this week on the DP World Tour to play in the pro-am portion in Scotland. A bonus being they’re playing together in Round One at Carnoustie, which gets underway in less than an hour!

“There’s people that are smarter than me are involved. They know how to run businesses and know what to do and they are smart people. Smarter than me, and I would say smarter than the majority of the PGA TOUR players and golfers.”

Main Image: Vaughn Ridley

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Fitzpatrick and the PGA Tour rules official inspected the driver. Although the crack was admittedly visible the tour determined that it did not meet the standard of being “significantly damaged.” If it would’ve been considered as such, Fitzpatrick could’ve replaced it under USGA Model Local Rule G-9.

“This is outrageous,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s an absolute joke.”

“There’s an obvious crack there, that’s causing a defect of the ball flight.”

“So I’m going to have to use 3-wood the rest of the day,” he said toward the official, again making clear that he was not pleased with the situation.

Matt Fitzpatrick, 36th in the FedExCup entering the week, called for a ruling for a driver crack.

Under the USGA’s Model Local Rule G-9, a club is not replaceable solely because of a crack, and he was not permitted to replace it at the time due to lack of significant damage. pic.twitter.com/X5kEPkee1q

— PGA TOUR LIVE (@PGATOURLIVE) August 25, 2024

Even NBC Sports analyst Kevin Kisner disagreed with the ruling, saying, “Terrible rule. This is a no-brainer.”

PGA Tour chief referee Stephen Cox said: “In our assessment, not only with the first official but also a couple of others including myself, that threshold of being significantly damaged hadn’t been significant met. Although there was a small crack in the face, there was no separation in the metals, and on that basis, that threshold wasn’t met, so his only choice in that case was to continue using that club. Now, if that club were to get worse, then we would obviously continue to reassess, and at that point he may have been able to have taken it out, but in his case, I think he chose not to continue to use it and proceeded with his 3-wood from then on.”

Fitzpatrick bogeyed the eighth hole, made double bogey on the 10th and played his last six holes without a par, going birdie, birdie, bogey, birdie, birdie, bogey to shoot two-under-par 70.

He tied for 28th place and will not advance to the Tour Championship next week at East Lake. He was projected to be 40th in FedEx Cup standings when he finished his round, with the top 30 players in points moving onto Atlanta.

Main Image: Icon Sportswire

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