Matt Fitzpatrick wins RBC Heritage: England player's win a boost for Europe's Ryder Cup hopes

A caddie's work is never done... Billy Foster takes over as photographer to mark Fitzpatrick's latest win

Matt Fitzpatrick has played two Ryder Cups, has twice been on the losing team and has still to register a contribution to the European cause.

This curious anomaly for such a talented golfer sprung to mind while the 28-year-old from Sheffield was going toe-to-toe and ultimately beating two of America's finest players to register his first regular PGA Tour victory last Sunday.

Pro-American chants echoed across the Harbour Town course at Hilton Head while Fitzpatrick again displayed the patience and killer instinct that brought him his maiden major title at last year's US Open.

If ever there was an ideal temperament for the raucous, emotion-driven biennial battle between Europe and the United States, there it was in all its glory.

As the Englishman's caddie, Billy Foster, noted: "Six o clock on a Sunday, everyone's tanked up, chanting U-S-A. It was like a Ryder Cup out there."

Fitzpatrick held his nerve magnificently to beat both playing partners - Jordan Spieth, who came mightily close to defending his RBC Heritage crown, and Patrick Cantlay who missed out on the play-off by a single shot.

It took three holes of sudden death before the Yorkshireman conjured his sensational nine-iron approach to tap-in range for the winning birdie.

What is it about that club? He used the same for his famous, nerveless fairway bunker shot that yielded a winning par to land the US Open at Brookline last June.

Fitzpatrick is one of the quickest players on tour but patience was the order of the day at Hilton Head, especially while sharing the same threesome as 'Pedestrian Pat' Cantlay.

More important, though, was the competitive mindset which ensured the champion never got ahead of himself or panicked when Spieth opened a two stroke advantage.

"The big thing for me, that I feel like I've learnt when I play well, is just having patience. just letting it happen and just giving myself time," Fitzpatrick said, after putting on the snazzy tartan jacket that goes to the winner of this event.

"I just felt as long as I was within two shots going into the back nine, I was easily in with a shout."

Although Harbour Town is a special venue for Fitzpatrick - a favourite holiday destination for his family since he was six years old - his results there have been mixed in the past.

Often he has arrived exhausted by the previous week's Masters. This time he came in following a top-10 at Augusta, a result that told him he was finally over a debilitating neck problem that had undermined his early 2023 performances.

But this success, making him the only Englishman other than Sir Nick Faldo in 1984 to win this tournament, also shows a growing maturity. A sign that he deserves his place in the highest echelons of the world game.

"Before winning the US Open, before last year really, I probably got overworked over majors," he admitted.

"I was that desperate to try and win one, just changing things, trying a bit harder. I probably made myself tired from that, and then you come to this week and you just feel tired from the week before.

"I think sometimes it can be tough, particularly if you really had a grind, if you had a good result. I think it can be difficult to get yourself up for it."

This win has taken Fitzpatrick to number eight in the world, a career high. He also leaps from 81st to 22nd in the FedEx Cup standings. He is now on course for an appearance at the season ending Tour Championship.

"He needed it," Foster told Golf Digest. "Any win on the PGA Tour is a massive shot in the arm for your confidence and he had been lacking that this year before the Masters.

"He's back in the top 10 in the world. It's onwards and upwards for the rest of the year."

This was an important achievement to tick off for Fitzpatrick. "For me the majors are the goals, and winning tournaments like this is obviously also the goal," he said.

Another aim will be to silence travelling chants of "U-S-A" in Rome this September. In fairness, he has not had much of a crack of the whip in European colours so far.

On debut in 2016, when he was so fresh faced Fitzpatrick was mistaken for being a member of the junior Ryder Cup team, he was restricted to one foursomes outing and an ultimately meaningless singles anchor match against Zach Johnson.

Two years ago at Whistling Straits he fell to two foursomes losses with Lee Westwood before being sent out last again and consigned to another irrelevant singles contest against Daniel Berger.

In Italy there is no doubt European captain Luke Donald will be thrilled to have him on his team. Fitzpatrick will be one his main men and can expect a much heavier workload.

Surely, he will also break that frustrating duck.