A week after the heartbreak, Matt Fitzpatrick is roaring in victory for Valspar

A week after he birdied the 72nd hole to lose the Players Championship by one shot, Matthew Fitzpatrick birdied the final hole to win the Valspar Championship by one.

Fitzpatrick – who hadn’t birdied No. 18 at Innisbrook’s Copperhead Course in 11 tries – found his way to the final and holed his approach to 13 feet, putting up a 3-putt. He poured that putt halfway down the hole, marking the moment by emphasizing the crowd surrounding the putt.

When David Lipsky’s birdie attempt ended up below the hole 10 minutes later, Fitzpatrick’s win was official.

“I think the biggest thing is that I feel like I’m playing well,” Fitzpatrick said of his return to the Players Championship. “I’ve been playing well this week, obviously I wanted to continue that and feel like I’m confident I can do that. And obviously to do that for four rounds was special this week.”

He was sitting in a white-walled trailer when he got the news and fired off an emotional FaceTimes to his wife and parents before speaking to NBC’s Kira Dixon.

“I have never seen [his wife] Katherine three weeks, so I am very glad to come back and see her; and my parents are going out in about a week as well. Yes, they are very special people in my life and, yes, I am very happy to share this with them,” he said in that interview.

Fitzpatrick’s last international win came at the DP World Tour Championship last fall, but this was his first PGA Tour win in nearly three years – starting at the 2023 RBC Heritage.

“Any win is great. For me, getting over the line is always difficult,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s very difficult to win here. Three wins now is, you know, I obviously want more, and even more wins. So, yeah, a win this week is a big step forward.”

The Fitzpatrick-Lipsky match was not the expected story of the final round. Sunday’s final pair set up an unlikely showdown between Brandt Snedeker, the 45-year-old Presidents Cup captain with PGA Tour conditional status, and Sungjae Im, who had been out for months due to training camp and injury. The two were zero-for-six in cuts made this season. I held two shots over Snedeker and Lipsky, with Fitzpatrick lurking one shot back.

But Im wasn’t good early, making five bogeys and five pars in his opening 10 holes as the rest of his competitors blew by him, making him the fourth straight 54-hole Florida Swing leader to win in the final round. Snedeker stumbled on the back nine; he went even through 11 holes but was five over the rest of the way to drop to T18.

“This golf course, a well designed golf course, if you go out of range it will punish you. All these putts I’ve been making all week are dry today,” said Snedeker. “It’s frustrating, it’s sad, and all the good things this week are like I threw them away today. But that’s part of golf, that’s why I like the challenge, and I’ll come back next week and try to figure out what I did wrong and try to fix it.”

That left the door open for Fitzpatrick, who somehow survived Saturday again Sunday is bogey-free. His last round was far from perfect; he failed to make any of the course’s four par-5s. But he pulled off a couple of clutch par saves, kept a clean sheet and made late birdies at 15 and 18 to seal the deal.

“I felt frustrated all day that I didn’t do anything. Obviously to do something there on 15, and to hole out there for a long time on 18 to finally get the win was an amazing feeling,” he said.

Jordan Smith finished tied for third after the day’s round, with a five-under 66, giving him a nine-under clubhouse lead.

Xander Schauffele shot a 65 to finish T4 a week after his third-place finish at the Players; he ended up tied with Im and Marco Penge, who entered his first top 10 of the season.

“Just rest, maybe take a few days off next week,” said Schauffele, who is in good form heading into the big tournament season. “Then kind of gear back to Augusta.”

Patrick Cantlay was part of the team that finished T7; it was his first top 10 since last August … Jordan Spieth finished T11, his third top-12 in four starts … Gary Woodland finished T14 a week after an emotional interview as he continues to battle physical and emotional health … Brooks Koepka finished T18, his third consecutive top-20 since returning to the PGA Tour.

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