Major champion says 2024 season was the worst of his career. Here’s why – Australian Golf Digest

by Admin
October 2, 2024

[PHOTO: Richard Heathcote]

Two years on from the biggest moment of his career so far, the 2022 US Open champion is currently rounding off a season he calls “really poor”. Which is fair enough. Even a glance at Matt Fitzpatrick’s numbers during 2024 reveals that his play has fallen far short of what the world has come to expect from the 30-year-old Englishman.

While there weren’t many missed cuts against his name – only four in 21 PGA Tour starts – Fitzpatrick struggled to recall on Wednesday, ahead of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, more than one occasion when he was in contention for what would have been a third victory stateside. Only twice did he finish inside the top 10, albeit both came at big events – fifth at the Players Championship and T-5 at the Memorial Tournament. Sadly, the T-64 finish he produced at the US Open was perhaps more indicative of his struggles.

Closer inspection of the former US Amateur champion’s statistics reveals nothing better than disappointment for a player who has always demanded the best of himself. His scoring average of 70.75 doesn’t sound too bad, until you see that it was good enough to be only 64th on tour. Fitzpatrick’s driving distance fell to below tour average, at 299 yards from 304 the previous year. Exactly 100 tour players averaged more off the tee in 2024. Not surprisingly, greens in regulation provided no refuge. In that category, Fitzpatrick was a subterranean 136th. Even in putting – his acknowledged strength – he suffered, albeit not as much. On the greens, Fitzpatrick was 24th in strokes gained.

Things have been even worse on the DP World Tour. This week is Fitzpatrick’s eighth start on his home circuit, where he currently sits 123rd on the Race to Dubai (91 places lower than his younger brother, Alex). His best finish is T-22 at the Masters, with T-17 at the Omega European Masters in Switzerland his only other foray into the top 30.

It’s a bleak situation. If the older Fitzpatrick wants to be part of the season-ending playoff events in the Middle East, he is going to need something approaching the victory he posted in this event last year. The top 70 in the rankings will play in the penultimate event in Abu Dhabi; the top-50 go to the DP World Tour Championship (an event Fitzpatrick has won twice) a week later.

“Not what I wanted to achieve at all,” he says of 2024. “Not coming into contention once, or probably once, to be fair. Just not at all what I wanted. I became a little bit shorter off the tee. Not hitting my irons as well this year. Multiple things. Changed a lot of clubs this year, which is very unusual for me. Changed irons. Changed shafts. Changed woods. Did a little bit of everything. That doesn’t help. Technically, had a few issues that we think that we have found but not solved yet.”

As is typical of someone who has enjoyed success only to subsequently struggle, Fitzpatrick is philosophical. Having identified where his technical problems lie, he, alongside long-time swing coach Mike Walker, is confident they can overcome them.

“Even though I’m here this week playing, I’m not worried about what I shoot because I feel like I know what the issue is now and what we’re working on, what we’re building towards,” said Fitzpatrick, a three-time Ryder Cup player and nine-time winner on the DP World Tour. “That’s kind of what I feel like at the minute. I definitely feel like we’re on a better track than we were.”

Still, for all that brief note of optimism, this week’s defending champion has yet to emerge from the “self-critical” phase of the rebuilding process.

“This has been the hardest year of my career by a mile,” he went on. “Not even close. It’s been the worst. It’s been my worst year on the golf course for sure results-wise. It’s just obviously something that I’ve had to deal with. Something I’ve had to learn about. I think I have probably learnt a bit more about myself and what’s going on. And the next stage is how to handle that, really. I feel like it’s been such a whirlwind of a season. The [PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup] playoffs was a case of stumbling over the line, get in that top 50. That was the goal. Now that I’ve done that, I’ve got my wedding coming up in a couple weeks. Then, after that, it’s kind of just trying to focus on next year.”

Sounds like a plan.