Matt Fitzpatrick winning the U.S. Open (2022) and U.S. Amateur (2013). Photos: Warren Little/Getty Images; Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Matt Fitzpatrick delivered a performance for the ages on Sunday at The Country Club, winning the U.S. Open by a stroke to capture his first major championship and first victory on the PGA Tour, period.
The big picture: The 27-year-old Englishman also won the 2013 U.S Amateur at TCC, joining Jack Nicklaus as the only men to win both events on the same course (Pebble Beach: 1961 and 1972).
"The feeling's out of this world. It is so cliché, but it's stuff you dream of as a kid. Yeah, to achieve it, I can retire a happy man tomorrow."— Fitzpatrick
ICYMI: Each of the previous three U.S. Opens at TCC ended in a playoff, and it looked for a moment like this one would, too.
- Scottie Scheffler continued his torrid play, finishing at -5 just before the final pairing of Will Zalatoris (-5) and Fitzpatrick (-6) teed off on 18.
- Zalatoris hit a perfect drive while Fitzpatrick missed just his third fairway of the day, landing in a bunker 161 yards from the hole.
- But as he'd done all day, Fitzpatrick found a way to prevail, hitting what Nicklaus called "one of the great iron shots under pressure I've ever seen." It landed 18 feet from the pin and he two-putted for par.
- Zalatoris still had a chance to force a playoff, but missed his 14-foot birdie putt by half an inch, finishing as the runner-up for the third time in his past seven majors.
What they're saying: "I thought even going for it was going to be ballsy," Zalatoris said of Fitzpatrick's shot from the bunker. "[It's] going to be shown probably for the rest of U.S. Open history."
Between the lines: Fitzpatrick's superlative iron play helped him become just the third golfer in the past 30 years to hit 17 greens in regulation in the final round of a major win.
- He earned a record $3.15 million, part of a record $17.5 million purse.
- His caddie, Billy Foster, had never won a major despite spending nearly 40 years on the bag for some all-time greats. "Utter relief," he told ESPN's Michael Collins of finally winning the big one.
- Just four of 15 LIV golfers made the cut, none finishing higher than Dustin Johnson (t-24th).