At the approximate halfway point of the 2026 PGA Tour season, it’s hard to make an argument that anyone has been more consistent from January into June than Matt Fitzpatrick.
He’s made the cut at all 14 events he’s entered this season, finished in the top 25 10 times, top three five times and won three events.
Coming off nearly pulling off his fourth win of the season last week in a second-place finish at the RBC Canadian Open, it makes sense that he’s pushing hard for the course to be as challenging as possible for this week’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y.
“Really like the golf course. It’s looking great already,” Fitzpatrick said Monday at his press conference. “Actually a little bit disappointed that they’re out there watering it right now.”
Fitzpatrick’s only major championship remains the 2022 U.S. Open, which he won by one stroke over Will Zalatoris and Scottie Scheffler at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.
Considering that win came with a final score of 6-under-par 274, it makes sense that he seems to take particular enjoyment in playing courses which show their teeth.
“I don’t particularly like playing birdie-fests,” Fitzpatrick said.
” … For me, this golf course, I think when it is really tough like that, I enjoy that challenge because you have to do your homework and you have to hit good shots, and that’s what I think any good golf tournament should require.”
That certainly rings true for the last time Shinnecock hosted the U.S. Open in 2018, a tournament Brooks Koepka won despite finishing 1 over. Fitzpatrick, then 23, finished that tournament tied for 12th at 8 over, held back by a 5-over third-round performance.
Now 31 as he returns to Shinnecock, Fitzpatrick didn’t want to take the credit himself for his consistent level of play as he seeks a return to the top of the U.S. Open leaderboard this week.
“I’ve always liked to feel like I praise my team a lot. They put in a lot of hard work for me and try and help me become the best player I can be,” Fitzpatrick said. “Mark Blackburn has done a brilliant job from a technical standpoint on my swing. My iron swing is very different to what it was in the past, and that’s been the biggest change, I think, from this year compared to previous years.
“With that, that’s obviously given me more opportunities, and I know when I putt well, I can putt well and, I think, take advantage of those opportunities. That’s been the biggest thing.”
