On Sunday at the 2026 Players Championship, Matt Fitzpatrick suffered the worst loss of his golf career. But you wouldn’t know it if you watched Fitzpatrick closely after his heartbreaking loss at TPC Sawgrass.
The 2022 US Open champion made a bogey on the 18th hole, which drained the Stadium Course, to hand the players’ title to Cameron Young, all of which attracted American fans to the determined “side” crowd on Sunday.
But instead of shaking Young’s hand and bees to take his prized car home, Fitzpatrick showed an admirable level of true professionalism and respect that should serve him well as he climbs his way back to golf’s top ranks.
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Let’s be clear: this loss was huge for Fitzpatrick. Granted, it would have hurt more had he not won the 2022 US Open at the Country Club, where he also won the 2013 US Amateur.
But Sunday’s win for the players would have arguably been the second biggest win of his professional career. After years of struggling on the course, it would also represent his first PGA Tour victory since 2023.
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But when Young holed his winning putt Sunday night, Fitzpatrick put aside his self-pity and focused on congratulating Young and his family.
The first person to greet Young right after his winning putt? It wasn’t his caddy. It was Fitzpatrick. Young had deer-in-the-headlights staring at him during his time after the win, until his opponent broke the ice.
Fitzpatrick got Young’s attention and with a big smile on his face, he immediately hugged Young and congratulated him.
“I love Cam,” Fitzpatrick said in Sunday’s post-round press conference for The Players. “He’s a good man. He’s down to earth; it’s a lot of fun. We always knew we were going to have a good day today, obviously we’re both comfortable when we’re together, and it was.
Now, Fitzpatrick and Young are TGL teammates, both members of the New York Golf Club. But more importantly, they are Ryder Cup contenders, having just won last year’s European trial at Bethpage Black, in Young’s home state of New York.
Because of that, any animosity between the two would be understandable. But Fitzpatrick proved the opposite Sunday night at the Players Championship.
If hugging Young after his win wasn’t proof enough of that, what Fitzpatrick did next should be.
As he walked off the 18th green to the scorer’s tent to officially sign his loss, Fitzpatrick went out of his way to find Young’s family.
He went to congratulate Young’s wife, Kelsey, and children. He then shook hands with the young father, PGA professional David Young, before hugging Young’s mother, Barbara Young.
After an even bigger win of his own at Brookline in 2022, Fitzpatrick knew exactly what the win meant to Young’s family. If the Youngs weren’t fans of Matt Fitzpatrick, they are now.
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About that Ryder Cup tournament. Given that Fitzpatrick played on the team that won the 2025 European Ryder Cup and Young starred on the American team, Sunday’s final holes had a decidedly Ryder Cup feel to them.
As it became clear that playing partners Fitzpatrick and Young would be battling for the title over the final few holes, fans began to shower Young with chants of “USA” that could be heard on the TV broadcast.
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Fitzpatrick, on the other hand, was often showered with boos from off-the-cuff American hecklers.
In an interview with Golf Channel following his victory, Young revealed that on the last hole, Fitzpatrick even joked with him about the hostile atmosphere.
“It got to the point where Matt looked at me at 18 and said, ‘Cam, do you hate me too?‘”
But Fitzpatrick didn’t let that bother him, admitting at his own press conference that he had experienced something similar while playing former American Ryder Cupper Jordan Spieth in the 2023 Players Championship.
He then called the robberies he encountered at TPC Sawgrass “child’s play” compared to what he and his teammates faced last September at Bethpage.
“Listen, crowd, that was really child’s play compared to Bethpage. If they think that was anything, they need to reevaluate. Raise yourselves up in New York,” Fitzpatrick said. “Listen, that’s right. That’s right. I’d hope it would be exactly the same if — well, maybe it wouldn’t be because we’re a little more modest in Europe, I’d say, but I’d hope there would be the same power in Europe.”
But there’s another explanation for Fitzpatrick’s positivity following his loss to the Players. In addition to earning him $2.725 million, Fitzpatrick’s second-place finish is the PGA Tour’s leading score since 2023.
After years in the hurling wilderness, Fitzpatrick, who won the DP World Tour Championship again in November, is in form. He had a top 10 finish at the WM Phoenix Open last month and hasn’t missed a single yet this year.
That means both Fitzpatrick and Young, also heartbroken, are playing their best with the biggest tournament of the year just weeks away: The 2026 Masters at Augusta National.
;)
