Matt Fitzpatrick has a detailed connection to Harbour Town Golf Links.
Getty Images
Hilton Head, S.C. — While Harbour Town is usually beloved as a PGA Tour venue, nobody appears to like the monitor greater than Matt Fitzpatrick.
Unlike a few of the recreation’s different stars who’ve considerably eschewed the longtime Tour cease due to its place the week after the Masters, the 28-year-old has performed in Hilton Head yearly since 2016, 4 years earlier than he joined the PGA Tour full-time.
He mentioned Harbour Town is his favourite course on tour after Augusta National.
“I used to come here as a kid on holiday a lot, and we just spent a lot of time here as a family,” Fitzpatrick mentioned after his third spherical. “Come to this tournament as a junior and obviously played this tournament since 2016, so it’s one I’m very fond of.”
He has extra cause to like the golf course after Saturday when he set Harbour Town ablaze with seven birdies and a hole-out eagle on the par-4 third to shoot 63 and storm from six again initially of the day, to the 54-hole lead on the RBC Heritage. The bogey-free spherical is a brand new profession low for him.
“It’s obviously a great start to the round,” Fitzpatrick mentioned of the hole-out from the waste bunker, 149 yards out. “It puts you in great position, 3-under through 3. For me, that’s ideally the start you need on a Saturday, isn’t it. It just gets you off to a good start.”
While Fitzpatrick has gained seven instances on the DP World Tour and the 2022 U.S. Open, he’s nonetheless wanting for his first win in an everyday PGA Tour occasion. His first coming at Harbour Town would be special. He’s had combined success right here, ending fourth in 2021, but additionally lacking the reduce thrice together with final 12 months.
None of that takes away from what he thinks of the place.
Having gained the U.S. Open on the course he gained the U.S. Amateur on 9 years prior, historical past has clearly been a terrific indicator for Fitzpatrick in his profession. Here at Harbour Town, he doesn’t simply have the recollections of taking part in the course as a child and having fun with the Heritage as a spectator, he has an analogous historical past on his facet as effectively.
Officially his first made PGA Tour reduce was the 2013 Open Championship, however his first made reduce in an everyday tour occasion got here on the Heritage in 2014. Still an novice, he completed T23 that week.
What it’s like hanging out in one of many PGA Tour’s most iconic vantage factors
Jack Hirsh
And in case you want another excuse to show how a lot he loves the place, yearly since 2016, Fitzpatrick has sported the Iconic Harbour Town Lighthouse as his driver headcover for this week. For his first couple of years as a professional, he had it on a regular basis, however now simply breaks it for the time he returns to the place he has so many recollections from.
“That’s the logo,” Fitzpatrick mentioned. “It’s clearly one thing that — a lighthouse cowl is totally different than an animal, so I believed it was totally different and fairly enjoyable.
Source link
