FITZ JUST RIGHT AFTER WEIGHT LOSS
Matt’s driving woes finally behind him as world No.1 Scheffler battles to finish
MATT FITZPATRICK revealed a weight had been lifted from his game – and his driver – before he climbed into contention at The Players at Sawgrass.
The world No.11 posted rounds of 66 and 69 to sit five shots off the clubhouse lead held by his successor as US Open champion Wyndham Clark.
The Yorkshireman is bidding to become the first ever Englishman to win the self-styled “fifth Major”.
And Fitzpatrick said: “To me it felt a bit more like my old self. How long have I not felt like my old self? Since February of last year.”
The Sheffield star then recounted how he had put weights in the grips of his irons during “testing” at the start of last season... and then tried the same with his driver.
He took the weights out of his irons the following month but forgot about the four grams added to his biggest club in his bag until this February.
He added: “I took it to Titleist, they regripped it for me and they’re like, ‘Oh, you know there’s a weight in there?’ and I almost had a heart attack.”
Fitzpatrick admitted he had been pulling his drives left for a year until just before the Phoenix Open.
“My driving kind of got worse from pretty much after Harbour Town,” he said. “We were just very confused swing-wise, did all sorts. The weight in the grip just made the ball go more right to left.
“Turns out, take the weight out of the top of the driver and I’ve driven it a lot better.”
The Ryder Cup star, 29, still won the RBC Heritage Classic and the Alfred Dunhill Links with the handicap. But he quipped: “Maybe I’d have won four times if I had it out.” Starting on the 10th, Fitzpatrick had shared the secondround lead until finding the water on 13 on his way to a double bogey.
Clark has dropped just two shots in two days in his two 65s to sit on 14 under.
Scottie Scheffler played through the pain barrier to keep his hopes of a historic title defence alive. The world No.1 got treatment from a
PGA Tour physio during a round of 69, which left him six shots behind Clark.
Scheffler said: “I did what I could to kind of stay in the tournament and hopefully it’ll loosen up and then I’ll be able to make somewhat normal swings.
“The way I was getting around the course, the way my neck was feeling, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to continue playing.”
Turns out, take the weight out of the top of the driver and I have managed to now drive a whole lot better than I was matt fitzpatrick ON FORGETTING CHANGE