Fitz ⛳️
- Thread starter CoralSpringsCat
- Start date
Winner! Knocked his second shot on the 3rd playoff hole within a foot.
Strange facts about the win. Fitz made more for the win than Rahm did for winning the Masters. And he received more WGR points than when he won the US Open last year.
Currently ranked 8th in the world. After winning more than 4 million $$$ over the last couple of weekends.
GOUNUII
The money thing is a funny quirk, but the WGR matter is beyond asinine. WGR needs reform ASAP (such as such a thing matters).
Gutty win by Fitzy. Both players had opportunities to win late in regulation and Spieth frankly probably should have finished it off in either of the first two playoff holes. Several nervy short putts Fitz made to stay alive until he finally just got sick of screwing around on that same shot and ended it.
I walked the front nine with the leaders. Cantlay is ungodly slow. Harbour Town runs through corridors of pines and live oaks. The wind is difficult to judge because the trees block the ability to feel it on the ground. Once the ball gets above the trees , the wind caused problems. Fitzpatrick is a joy to watch, he plans his shot quickly, steps in and hits it.
Fitz chips crosshanded and always leaves the pin in when putting. His family has been traveling to Hilton Head since he was 6. He is lobbying the tour to make The RBC Heritage a permanent "designated tournament", although that is unlikely, as it immediately follows the Masters.
For all you tour wannabes, you can play Harbour Town for about $400. If anyone gets to HHI, I can get a discount to about $200 for HT. I play it a couple of times a year but Long Cove GC, another Pete Dye design is now my home course. It may be harder than HT. 40 touring pros played the final US Open qualifier there last year. 4 under for 2 rounds was the low score, The course is not as tight as HT but has the same defense, as overhanging trees require the ability to work the ball unless you are in the small windows of the generous fairways that allow an unobstructed shot.
P.S. - Fitz has a beautiful girlfriend
Luke Donald made the cut on the number. He played in the first group of the final round. He was probably finished before I got to the course. Although HT has been lengthened to over 7200 yards, it is still considered a shotmakers' course. It would have been great for a better showing by Luke
Fitz chips crosshanded and always leaves the pin in when putting. His family has been traveling to Hilton Head since he was 6. He is lobbying the tour to make The RBC Heritage a permanent "designated tournament", although that is unlikely, as it immediately follows the Masters.
For all you tour wannabes, you can play Harbour Town for about $400. If anyone gets to HHI, I can get a discount to about $200 for HT. I play it a couple of times a year but Long Cove GC, another Pete Dye design is now my home course. It may be harder than HT. 40 touring pros played the final US Open qualifier there last year. 4 under for 2 rounds was the low score, The course is not as tight as HT but has the same defense, as overhanging trees require the ability to work the ball unless you are in the small windows of the generous fairways that allow an unobstructed shot.
P.S. - Fitz has a beautiful girlfriend
Luke Donald made the cut on the number. He played in the first group of the final round. He was probably finished before I got to the course. Although HT has been lengthened to over 7200 yards, it is still considered a shotmakers' course. It would have been great for a better showing by Luke
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Tight fairways with overhanging trees is no way to design a course for amateur play. And they make little or no difference to the pros. Add in trees planted in the middle of some fairways and all you have is a tricked up track. No real purpose other than to penalize a quality shot from even single digit amateurs.
GOUNUII
Yeah great weekend by Matty Fitz to get the win. The story about him and his family when he was younger was really cool, I didn't know that until this year.
I've played Harbour Town twice (once reasonably decent, the other I struggled), after Augusta it might be my favorite course to watch on tour. Beautiful holes winding through the old oaks and pines. And then you get it to open up to the bay for the last couple in. If you catch sunset there it's incredible. Love Pete Dye designs (Teeth of the Dog down in Casa is the best, but this one and Whistling Straits are up there, followed by TPC Sawgrass which is pretty good too).
Luke has shown signs of promise this year, game seems in better shape (or at least more potential) than the last few years, but throughout this year his appearances in Europe and on the PGA Tour he's struggled to string 4 rounds together. I think he might be on his last career money list exemption to maintain a version of full status (he used one of them, now maybe he's on the Top 50 career ML limited exemption?). So I see he's in the Zurich this week with E Molinari, he hasn't played that in recent year. Might be trying to defend his card a bit. The Saturday round at the Heritage was no doubt a disappointment, I know he loves that course and has had success there in the past (7 top 3's, though no W's). Hopefully he can find his way into contention a couple times in the coming weeks / months.
Do you live down in Hilton Head? I've been there a couple times over the last 3 years, really enjoyed it. Haven't played Long Cove, looks like it's private but very nice layout.
(PS I took Cantlay in a pool last week so was cheering for him along with Matt Fitz, but yeah his pace of play is painful - Matt Fitz is refreshingly quick in that regard)
The US Open, like all majors, was worth 100 points, this elevated event win was worth 67.41 points. A very strong win as we'd expect. But the fact his US Open has an adjusted points value 10 months afterwards slightly below (67.39) last week's win is different than how you phrased it. I would hope Adam's criticism would come down some given that context. They should find a solution on LIV where there's some point value, but not as much as if the same players played 72 holes. I'm not that big a fan of last year's changes to the system, but I wouldn't call it a disaster or anything.
Yes, I now live on Hilton Head after retiring . It has been a difficult move from Virginia because my club there, Robert Trent Jones GC, is as close to golf heaven as you can get. Long Cove originally was in the Top 100 but has now settled in at about #130. RTJ refused to allow raters on the course for years and has been underrated due to some residual resentment. It was built to be the Augusta of the Mid-Atlantic and conditioning wise it approached that venue. It has just revised some greens to allow run ups rather than forced carries over bunkers from 200 yards. It increased the number of sprinkler heads from 1800 to 3500, which should make the rough more uniform with better irrigation coverage. The greens will approach 15.5 in May and again in Sept/October. At 7500+ yards RTJ still does not phase the pros. It's difficulty was originally rated at a slope of 154(Maximum) now it is about 146, although the championship card has to be requested in the pro shop. The pros complained about the severity of the contours of the greens and many were softened, but now they are hitting lofted irons in and rarely miss the lobe of the green containing the pin. Members lose their weekend morning privileges if they repeatedly exceed 4 hours. The course is difficult but adheres to Mr. Jones philosophy of "a testing par but an easy bogey"
Private message me if you are coming to HHI
I actually didn't understand this nuance and appreciate you running it down for me.The US Open, like all majors, was worth 100 points, this elevated event win was worth 67.41 points. A very strong win as we'd expect. But the fact his US Open has an adjusted points value 10 months afterwards slightly below (67.39) last week's win is different than how you phrased it. I would hope Adam's criticism would come down some given that context. They should find a solution on LIV where there's some point value, but not as much as if the same players played 72 holes. I'm not that big a fan of last year's changes to the system, but I wouldn't call it a disaster or anything.
Will do! Decent chance I’ll be down there sometime next winter. Have a golf trip to Sea Island in October but could do another to HHI. Thanks Doc.
Unfortunately, my hospitality is a lot better than my golf now but maybe things will change in Ireland next week for my 5th "final" trip there.
