Seven days after a par putt slid past the hole on the 18th at TPC Sawgrass and cost him The Players Championship, Matt Fitzpatrick stood on the same hole at Innisbrook with a 13-foot birdie putt to win the Valspar Championship. This time, the ball found the centre of the cup.
Fitzpatrick closed in a bogey-free 3-under 68 to post 11-under 273, edging David Lipsky by a single shot to claim his third PGA Tour title. The 31-year-old Englishman pocketed $1,638,000 from a tournament-record $9.1 million purse and jumped to third in the FedExCup standings.
A different ending this time
The script could have been written by anyone who watched last week’s heartbreak. Fitzpatrick stood on the 18th tee tied for the lead, knowing he needed something more than a routine par. He found the fairway with his usual unfussy iron-club tee shot and stuck a beautiful approach to the back of the green, leaving a curling 13-footer up the slope.
The putt — a left-edge read into a strengthening breeze — never wavered. Fitzpatrick allowed himself the slightest of fist pumps, then turned to find his caddie before the celebration that has been a long time coming.
“You can’t dwell on what happens last week,” Fitzpatrick said afterwards. “But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about it on every single shot today. The putt on 18 — I just wanted to give it a chance. I didn’t want to leave it short like I did at Sawgrass. I’m just glad it went in.”
Lipsky’s career week
The other story of the day belonged to David Lipsky, the 37-year-old American who has spent most of his career grinding out a living on the DP World Tour. Lipsky, who needed a special temporary membership extension to even play this week, posted a final-round 67 to put genuine pressure on the leaders and finished alone in second.
The runner-up cheque, plus the FedExCup points it brings, all but secures his Tour status for the rest of the season. It is the kind of week that changes a career, even without the trophy.
Im fades, Spieth recovers, Aberg climbs
Sungjae Im, who entered Sunday with a one-shot lead, never quite found the rhythm that had carried him through the first three days. A bogey on the par-3 13th and another at the demanding 17th left him with a closing 73 and a tie for fourth. Frustrating, but another solid finish on a course that has historically suited him.
Jordan Spieth recovered from his Friday slide to post a Sunday 67 and finish in a tie for sixth, his best result of the year. There were flashes of the old magic in the way he scrambled, and he will head into the Texas Children’s Houston Open with at least some momentum.
Ludvig Aberg, still searching for the form that had him leading at Sawgrass a fortnight ago, climbed into the top fifteen with a closing 68. With the Masters less than three weeks away, that’s exactly the kind of progress he needed.
What it means for the Florida Swing
The Valspar usually delivers a champion who has earned every shot, and Fitzpatrick certainly fits that mould. But more importantly, this win answers any lingering questions about how he handled last week’s disappointment. The answer, in the most emphatic way possible, was: he handled it just fine.
The Tour now turns to Houston, but the conversation is shifting. Augusta is less than three weeks away, and Fitzpatrick — not for the first time — is suddenly part of the Masters conversation in a serious way.