Matt Fitzpatrick boosts his Ryder Cup chances with a second win in eight months

Fitzpatrick isn't the biggest hitter on tour, but he gets the job done

In an era when golfers seem to spend as much time in the gym as on the range, there’s something refreshing about 21-year-old Matt Fitzpatrick, who looks like he’d struggle to snap a 7-iron. 

“Everyone always says the same things about me needing to get in the gym and get bigger, and I probably do,” said Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick trains in the gym, as the vast majority of tour pros do, but has maintained his slender figure. 

He doesn’t hit it as far as most – with a 279.7-yard average he ranks 194th for driving distance – but that hasn’t stopped him winning the British Masters at Woburn last October and now the Nordea Masters at Denmark’s Bro Hof Slott Golf Club. 

Fitzpatrick shot a final-round 71 to finish three shots clear of Denmark’s Lasse Jensen, but he insists it hasn’t all been plain sailing. 

“It’s been a tough few weeks, to be fair. After the Masters I had three missed cuts in a row and didn’t play as well as I’d like last week [in the BMW PGA Championship] and all of a sudden you turn up this week and pick up a win.”

The win leaves Fitzpatrick just €500,000 short of the winnings total that secured Jamie Donaldson the final automatic Ryder Cup spot in 2014. 

“It’s something I’m trying to play down a little bit,” said Fitzpatrick. “I’m really trying to play each week as it comes and there’s still a long way to go before then – there are still three majors and anyone can win them. Hopefully I’ll keep playing well and see where we end up come September.”

The win makes Fitzpatrick the second youngest Englishman to win two European Tour titles, behind only Nick Faldo.