By:
Jessica Marksbury
January 8, 2023
Matt Fitzpatrick’s iron adjustments look like holding up very properly in Maui.
Getty Photographs
Matt Fitzpatrick seems to be choosing up proper the place he left off final 12 months.
The 2022 PGA Tour season was probably the most profitable of his profession. Not solely did Fitzpatrick win his first main on the U.S. Open, he additionally posted 10 complete top-10 finishes and banked greater than $7 million in winnings.
And at this week’s Sentry Event of Champions in Maui, Fitzpatrick is tied for second by means of three rounds at 18 underneath par. Ought to he end solo second on Sunday afternoon, he’ll come away with a cool $1.5 million.
After firing a third-round 66 on Saturday, Fitzpatrick talked about an intriguing change he made to his gear — a distinction he now shares with golf’s GOAT, Jack Nicklaus.
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“I believe my adjustments to my irons has been a constructive one,” Fitzpatrick stated. “We form of put weights within the grip to make them a little bit bit extra fade biased, which has felt a little bit bit extra snug on the market.”
Fitzpatrick estimated that he added about eight grams, and probably a bit extra, to his irons — a transfer condoned by Nicklaus himself.
“I really spoke to Mr. Nicklaus about it as a result of somebody advised me he did it,” Fitzpatrick stated. “I requested him and, yeah, we type of had a fast chat about it on why he did it and stuff.”
Fitzpatrick, a local of England who now calls Jupiter, Fla., dwelling, revealed that he’s loved loads of face time with Nicklaus over the previous 12 months.
“I spent a number of time with [Nicklaus]. Significantly January of final 12 months,” Fitzpatrick stated. “I had the entire of January off so I used to be practising on the Bear’s Membership. I ended up having lunch with him three or 4 events and we had been simply chatting about life and golf and stuff. For me rising up it’s a dream to have the ability to discuss to somebody like that, not to mention one of many biggest if not the best to play the sport.”
As for the reasoning behind the iron modifications, Fitzpatrick stated that Nicklaus provided phrases of knowledge on that entrance, too.
“[Nicklaus] simply stated that he did it as a result of it simply stopped his fingers over rotating it,” Fitzpatrick stated. “It clearly stored them, in my phrases I suppose it will be felt extra held off. So I believe that’s clearly what suited him.”
Sounds just like the change is suiting Fitzpatrick too. He tees off within the remaining pairing on the Sentry Event of Champions on Sunday alongside Collin Morikawa at 3:40 p.m. ET.
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As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of feminine varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everybody on the masthead. She will be able to out-hustle them within the workplace, too, the place she’s primarily accountable for producing each print and on-line options, and overseeing main particular initiatives, resembling GOLF’s inaugural Fashion Issue, which debuted in February 2018. Her original interview sequence, “A Spherical With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in each within the journal and in video type on GOLF.com.