Matt Fitzpatrick has flipped script on Scottie Scheffler at RBC Heritage

Scottie Scheffler is used to being chased at tournaments. Normally, it is Scheffler out in entrance whereas his fellow PGA Tour stars gush about his relentlessnessbounce-back means, demeanor, club-head control and course management. More usually than not, Scottie Scheffler is the hunted, with those behind him admiring how the World No. 1 raced previous them.

This week at the RBC Heritagethe script is inverted.

Scheffler began Saturday at Harbor Town seven pictures behind 36-hole chief Matt Fitzpatrick however rapidly closed the hole when he went out in 5-under 31 to vault into rivalry. When Fitzpatrick stumbled early in his spherical, Scheffler abruptly had a share of the lead as he reached the closing stretch of his third spherical. But then Fitzpatrick, who won the Valspar final month and finished runner-up at the Playersregripped the steering wheel with birdies at No. 9 and 12 to regain the lead. Scheffler closed with birdies at 16 and 18 to shoot a 7-under 64 and get into the home at 14 below.

When Scheffler signed his card, he was on Fitzpatrick’s heels, then the 2022 US Open champion birdied 14 and chipped in for eagle at 15 to increase his result in three.

As Scheffler waltzed to a win final summer season at the Open, Fitzpatrick stood in entrance of the media and remarked how Scheffler was “in a different class” than everybody else. On Saturday, as Fitzpatrick was sharpening off a grindy 3-under 68, Scheffler assumed an uncommon function — that of a hunter explaining what makes the chief distinctive.

“Fitzy is a guy that I think — I admire him because he works really hard,” Scheffler stated after a sun-splashed day at Hilton Head. “He’s a guy that I see always doing stuff in order to play well. He’s a guy that gets really into his stats. He’s a guy that’s going to check every single box that he can in order to get out here and play well.

“He’s a man that once you look has all the time improved over the course of his profession and made some modifications as a way to enhance. You look at him when he first got here out, he was rather a lot slower off the tee than he’s now. He’s acquired lots of pace. He would not use it on each single shot, however he makes use of it when vital. Not solely is he a tough employee, however I feel he is a very good participant.”

Fitzpatrick increased his club head speed by more than five miles per hour from 2019 to 2022. He now swings it in the 118-122 range, where before he was in the 112 mph area. In 2019, Fitzpatrick ranked 59th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee. He rose to 10th during the 2022 season when he won the US Open. His game dipped in 2024, but Fitzpatrick is now back in the top 20 in SG: Off the Tee and ranked No. 7 in the world. Those gains and his current resurgence are the product of an analytical approach that is Fitzpatrick’s foundation.

Viktor Hovland has seen how Fitzpatrick goes about his business and how a unique process has helped him reclaim his spot as one of the world’s best golfers. It might not work for everyone, but Fitzpatrick doesn’t let those outside his bubble impact his approach.

“He works so hard,” Hovland said on Friday. “He’s extraordinarily methodical. I feel it is fairly cool to see different guys, they’ve their factor. They have their manner of attempting to get higher, and he goes all in on that. He would not actually care what different individuals say; he believes in what he is doing.

“You look at his career, he just keeps winning tournaments and keeps getting better. If there’s a deficiency in his game, he tackles it and gets better, and I find that very admirable.”

Fitzpatrick will take a three-shot lead over Scheffler into Sunday at his favourite event on the PGA Tour schedule, one he received in a playoff over Jordan Spieth in 2023. There was a pro-Spieth crowd that day, and Fitzpatrick expects an identical vibe on Sunday as Scheffler tries to trace him down. “As long as they don’t shout in my backswing, then they can do whatever they want,” Fitzpatrick stated on Saturday.

He is aware of {that a} three-shot lead can evaporate rapidly on Sunday towards Scheffler, who’s omnipresent atop leaderboards. While Fitzpatrick hasn’t lived in rivalry week in and week out like Scheffler, he has been working on hardening his sport within the cauldron.

Last yr, he arrived at Harbor Town with his game in disarray. A month later, he was in rivalry at the PGA. I’ve pale. I’ve contested at the Openwhich Scheffler ran away with. Then, he received the DP World Tour Championship, was a putt away from a playoff at the Players and received the Valspar.

“It’s probably different for Scottie and Rory, who are in these positions a lot of the weeks of the year and in contention and in the mix,” Fitzpatrick stated of the nerves on a Sunday. “But the more you do it, I wouldn’t say it ever gets any easier, but it might feel a little bit better, more comfortable.”

Matt Fitzpatrick is eighteen holes away from his second win of the season and third worldwide win since November. He is aware of it will not be simple to carry off Scheffler. But Matt Fitzpatrick is prepared for the onerous work forward on Sunday; it is what acquired him again so far.