6 JULY, 2022 - DP WORLD TOUR: Matt Fitzpatrick is looking forward to teeing it up at the Genesis Scottish Open as a Major Champion as he gets back to playing regularly following his U.S. Open triumph last month.
The Englishman claimed his maiden Major Championship at The Country Club, Brookline after a stunning final day performance which earned him a one-stroke victory over DP World Tour Rankings leader Will Zalatoris and World Number One Scottie Scheffler.
Fitzpatrick came up just short in a three-man play-off last year to Min Woo Lee at The Renaissance Club and the 27-year-old is excited to be back in North Berwick to take his place in a world-class field which features some of the biggest stars from both the DP World Tour and the PGA TOUR. "I want to get back to the routine and get back to playing regular golf again, and this is a great week to do it" SAID THE US OPEN CHAMPION.
"Obviously it is such a strong field and a golf course I've played well around before, so yeah, looking forward to getting the week under way. To come back here as a Major Champion for this event, I'm just looking forward to it.
"I'm ready to play, see where my game is at, particularly going into next week as well. I'm excited to be back playing and I was very grateful for the reception I had at JP's Pro-Am on Monday and Tuesday, they were amazing with me and they already are here. Everybody was really pleasant. It's been really nice."
The Englishman claimed his maiden Major Championship at The Country Club, Brookline after a stunning final day performance which earned him a one-stroke victory over DP World Tour Rankings leader Will Zalatoris and World Number One Scottie Scheffler.
Fitzpatrick came up just short in a three-man play-off last year to Min Woo Lee at The Renaissance Club and the 27-year-old is excited to be back in North Berwick to take his place in a world-class field which features some of the biggest stars from both the DP World Tour and the PGA TOUR. "I want to get back to the routine and get back to playing regular golf again, and this is a great week to do it" SAID THE US OPEN CHAMPION.
"Obviously it is such a strong field and a golf course I've played well around before, so yeah, looking forward to getting the week under way. To come back here as a Major Champion for this event, I'm just looking forward to it.
"I'm ready to play, see where my game is at, particularly going into next week as well. I'm excited to be back playing and I was very grateful for the reception I had at JP's Pro-Am on Monday and Tuesday, they were amazing with me and they already are here. Everybody was really pleasant. It's been really nice."
Joining him in Scotland for the third Rolex Series event of the 2022 season are the other three reigning Major Champions Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Scottie Scheffler, as well as Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, both of whom have four Rolex Series titles to their name.
THE 149TH OPEN CHAMPION SPOKE POSITIVELY ABOUT THE GENESIS SCOTTISH OPEN AND PLAYING MORE DP WORLD TOUR EVENTS IN THE FUTURE: "What I've heard about this course is it's firm, fast, new bunkering and it's going to be a lot tougher test apparently from what I've heard" SAID MORIKAWA.
"I think that only is going to prep me even more [for The Open next week]. I've made the right adjustments club-wise hopefully from last year's experience and hopefully put that aside and just get ready to be creative and get ready to play some golf out here."
"It's cool seeing me be able to play both the DP World Tour and PGA TOUR and see people behind the scenes come together and put everything together to make it hopefully one of the best weeks we see all year.
"I think it's going to be one of the best fields we're going to see other than the Majors. That's what we are here for, to play against the best players in the world. When you see 14 of the 15 best players in the world that's what gets us excited. I know the fans are going to be great. They were great last year even in freezing cold, so I'm excited for the next two weeks."
"The past two years, I've been a DP World Tour Member and I have been able to plan out some events to come over here. With the future announcements of how the PGA TOUR might kind of roll out and our season turning into possibly a January through August season, it could give me some more opportunities to play some other events out here."
"I think that only is going to prep me even more [for The Open next week]. I've made the right adjustments club-wise hopefully from last year's experience and hopefully put that aside and just get ready to be creative and get ready to play some golf out here."
"It's cool seeing me be able to play both the DP World Tour and PGA TOUR and see people behind the scenes come together and put everything together to make it hopefully one of the best weeks we see all year.
"I think it's going to be one of the best fields we're going to see other than the Majors. That's what we are here for, to play against the best players in the world. When you see 14 of the 15 best players in the world that's what gets us excited. I know the fans are going to be great. They were great last year even in freezing cold, so I'm excited for the next two weeks."
"The past two years, I've been a DP World Tour Member and I have been able to plan out some events to come over here. With the future announcements of how the PGA TOUR might kind of roll out and our season turning into possibly a January through August season, it could give me some more opportunities to play some other events out here."
Fourteen of the top 15 in the world will tee it up on Thursday with Fitzpatrick joined by Morikawa and Zalatoris for his first two rounds.
PGA CHAMPION JUSTIN THOMAS MADE HIS PROFESSIONAL DEBUT ON THE OLD COURSE AT THE 2013 ALFRED DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP, AND THE AMERICAN WAS EXCITED FOR THE WEEK AHEAD: "If you throw out the Majors, I would have to think that this is going to be one of the two, three, four, best fields that we play the entire year, which you know, for the Scottish Open, for Scotland, for the DP World Tour, PGA TOUR, that's a huge deal, and it should be.
"Everybody involved should be very proud of that and I know I'm happy and proud to be here, and some very impressive and unbelievable players have not only played here but won this - not necessarily here, but this tournament.
"It's adding your name to that list. It's becoming a part of that history.”
"Everybody involved should be very proud of that and I know I'm happy and proud to be here, and some very impressive and unbelievable players have not only played here but won this - not necessarily here, but this tournament.
"It's adding your name to that list. It's becoming a part of that history.”
WORLD NUMBER ONE AND MASTERS CHAMPION SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER PLAYED IN THE 2021 SCOTTISH OPEN, AND IS BACK FOR MORE THIS YEAR: “I had a lot of fun at the tournament last year. The golf course is really good. It's in good shape again this year. I really like this style of golf and it was a really good prep week for me last year going into St George's and I'm sure it will be fairly similar grass to St Andrews.
“I haven't been to St Andrews before but it was definitely nice coming over again, getting adjusted to the time everything and playing a little different style of golf.
“Yeah, this season has been a lot of fun. Had a couple close calls the last two-ish months but wasn't able to get the job done like I was earlier in the year but overall I'm very pleased with how I'm playing and just hoping to keep things going towards the end of the season.”
“I haven't been to St Andrews before but it was definitely nice coming over again, getting adjusted to the time everything and playing a little different style of golf.
“Yeah, this season has been a lot of fun. Had a couple close calls the last two-ish months but wasn't able to get the job done like I was earlier in the year but overall I'm very pleased with how I'm playing and just hoping to keep things going towards the end of the season.”
