Matt Fitzpatrick admits to ignoring Scottie Scheffler in quest for second US Open crown
Matt Fitzpatrick has only won once since his US Open triumph in 2022 and he is not letting Scottie Scheffler's dominance get in the way of his own performance.
Matt Fitzpatrick acknowledged that Scottie Scheffler is currently playing golf at an exceptional level, but he isn't ready to concede the US Open title to the American just yet. The 30-year-old has a special connection with the major, which commences at Oakmont Country Club on Thursday, having clinched the event in 2022 ahead of Scheffler and Will Zalatoris, who both finished joint second.
While some might have expected this victory to propel him to further success, the Sheffield-born golfer has since faced challenges. Since then, he's only managed to win one PGA Tour event, triumphing over Jordan Spieth in a playoff at the RBC Heritage. It was in April 2023 when Fitzpatrick reached his career-best ranking of No. 6, but he slipped to No. 16 by the time of the last US Open.
His ranking has since tumbled to 80th globally after securing just two top-20 finishes since last year. However, a better showing at the PGA Championship - won by Scheffler - last month where he tied for sixth place has injected some much-needed confidence back into his game.
In the run-up to this week's tournament, he featured on the Sky Sports Golf podcast hosted by Jamie Weir, who questioned Fitzpatrick about the challenge of maintaining focus on his own performance while competing against a player as formidable as Scheffler.
"I feel like if I'm in the mix going into the back-nine, I think any player would say they back themselves to go out there and win," he said. "He's obviously at an extremely elite level right now and a level that no one's seen since Tiger [Woods], which is phenomenal really."
Acknowledging Scheffler's exceptional talent, Fitzpatrick conceded that it wouldn't serve him or his peers well to simply marvel at the American's prowess on the green. He elaborated: "But at the same time, if you go on the back-nine and think, 'Scottie's there, I'm never going to win,' then you're never going to win are you, so I feel like I've definitely got my confidence back a little bit and it's just a case of trying to kick on now and try and force more results.
"I feel like I've got more confidence in my game, more confidence in what I'm doing. I feel like I've just got to kind of lean into that a little bit more now and trust that and probably, in a way, be a bit more aggressive to try and go after it and get some wins really."
Despite being the clear favourite to clinch a fourth major title ahead of Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau, Scheffler himself downplayed the hype surrounding his chances. "I don't pay attention to the favorite stuff or anything like that," the 28-year-old stated. "Starting Thursday morning, we're [all] at even par and it's up to me to go out there and play against the golf course and see what I can do."
