Matt Fitzpatrick hits and hopes his way into golf’s history books

With the golfing world now at his feet, hanging up his clubs may be a fair way off, writes Ben Burrows

‘I can retire a happy man tomorrow,’ Matt Fitzpatrick said after his US Open victory on Sunday (EPA)

After playing some of the best golf of his career, Matt Fitzpatrick’s most important shot of the week came down to a slice of good fortune.

Paired up in the final group with American Will Zalatoris, Fitzpatrick went toe-to-toe with the world number 12 in a thrilling final round at Brookline to give himself a one-shot advantage going down the last. Then, just what he didn’t want: a pushed final tee shot that found a fairway bunker.

What came next was what Jack Nicklaus – the man Fitzpatrick would go on to emulate as only the second player to win the US Amateur and US Open at the same venue – would later call “one of the great iron shots under pressure I’ve ever seen”.

With the world watching, the 27-year-old “hit and hoped” a near-perfect and scarcely believable approach from the sand 160 yards in the air and into just 18 feet. A shot for all-time when he needed it most.

“I hit some unbelievable shots coming down the stretch,” he smiled afterwards. “On 18 it was kind of just a bit of hit and hope. I knew Will was going to hit it close. I knew he was going to give himself a chance. When I hit that shot, I thought at least I’ve got a chance too.”

It was more than a chance when Zalatoris’s birdie putt slid agonisingly by to spark jubilant scenes for the man from Hallamshire Golf Club as a slice of Sheffield came to Boston for the day and made it his own. A first win on American soil, a first major win and the first by an Englishman in this second oldest prize in golf since Justin Rose at Merion back in 2013.

“The feeling’s out of this world,” he beamed as the enormity of what he had just done began to sink in. “It is so cliche, but it’s stuff you dream of as a kid. To achieve it, I can retire a happy man tomorrow.”

With the golfing world now at his feet, it feels like hanging up his clubs may be a little while away yet.

Yours,

Ben Burrows

Sports editor