'The Majors Are The Things, For Me, That Separate The Greats Of The Game From Everyone Else' - Matt Fitzpatrick On His Career Resurgence And Future Goals

In May 2025, Matt Fitzpatrick fell to 85th in the world rankings, his lowest position for almost a decade.

That unwanted moment came just two months after he had parted ways with his caddie of six years, Billy Foster, and weeks after making another change, when he split with long-time coach Mike Walker.

Soon after, Fitzpatrick began working with Alabama-based coach Mark Blackburn, and it didn’t take long for glimmers of the form that had seen him win the 2022 US Open at The Country Club of Brookline to emerge.

They included top-10s at both the PGA Championship and The Open, while he finished the year in style, beating Rory McIlroy at the DP World Tour’s season closer, the DP World Tour Championship.

Since then, the Englishman has found even more momentum, winning three times on the PGA Tour in 2026 to take his career haul to five titles.

Speaking exclusively to Golf Monthly, Fitzpatrick admitted that changing his coach had marked a turning point.

He said: “It's obviously difficult. I felt like I knew where I'd been to in the game at that point, and you're always trying to get back to that, particularly when you feel it slipping away from you.

“So it was a difficult time and I didn't feel like I was achieving what I wanted to achieve. Unfortunately, circumstances led to a change in coach and that's obviously had a big difference in the technical aspect of my game – and the results have come with that.”

But what part of his game has Blackburn helped Fitzpatrick improve the most?

“The biggest thing for me is the irons,” he explained. “The irons have been, technically, just very, very different from my past and I feel very comfortable hitting the shots that I want to hit now. That's been the biggest difference – just having that control of start line and shape.

“And then distance control on top of that has enabled me to give myself more chances for birdie. When you pair that with some good putting, then good things tend to happen.”

The most eye-catching title for Fitzpatrick in 2026 came when he defeated World No.1 Scottie Scheffler in a playoff to win the RBC Heritage for the second time.

That victory - his second of the year after the Valspar Championship - was one Fitzpatrick didn’t see coming 12 months earlier.

He said: “I think if you'd said to me on the Monday of the RBC Heritage last year that I'd be back here winning that tournament a year later I would have probably questioned it, but by the end of the week I saw some sort of direction in where my swing was headed, so it gave me some much-needed confidence.”

A week later, Fitzpatrick’s third win in a little over a month came when he teamed up with his brother, Alex, to claim the Zurich Classic of New Orleans title, a feat that earned Alex his PGA Tour card.

Fitzpatrick admitted that it had been particularly satisfying, adding: “It's hard to put it into words. Yes, it's still hard to believe. I feel like I still need to sit down and watch it ten times to believe it, to really take it all in.

“But just everything about the way we did it - how we sort of ended up grinding on the back nine to get it over the line in the end - it was amazing.”

Alex has grabbed his PGA Tour opportunity with both hands, producing a string of strong performances and reaching the Tour Championship.

His form opens up the tantalizing possibility of the pair teaming up again at the 2027 Ryder Cup, which will be held at Adare Manor.

He said: “Yes, hopefully I can start next year in Ireland. I've got a younger brother who's pretty good, so that would be fun.”

Rather like his recent career resurgence, Fitzpatrick's Ryder Cup career has followed a similar trajectory, with struggles in his first two appearances followed by a key role in Europe's victories at Marco Simone and Bethpage Black.

On the latter occasion, Fitzpatrick won 2.5 points from his four matches as Europe won 15-13.

Reflecting on that success, which was the first time Team Europe had won on US soil since Medinah in 2012, he said: “I described it at the time like winning an away football match against your biggest rivals and that's still how it feels."

“Rory emphasised how important it was, how big a deal it was, and to go and do it in the style that we did was very, very special. It's a week that I'll never forget - some of the experiences I had bonding with the guys, as well as the way I feel like I played in some of those moments in those big matches.”

Even with success that many pros could only dream of, Fitzpatrick still has some targets in mind to achieve, one being another Major title to add to his US Open win four years ago.

He explained: “I'd love another Major. Obviously, everyone wants Majors because they're the pinnacle of the game. But in a dream world, if I could get at least one more that would be a really nice feeling, and then just more wins overall.

“World No.1 is obviously something that I would want to achieve, too. But the Majors are the things, for me, that separate the greats of the game from everyone else.”

Whether or not Fitzpatrick achieves that, he is confident that, whatever happens from here, he will one day be able to reflect on his career with plenty of satisfaction.

He said: “If I could hopefully pick up more than one it would be incredible, but if I don't, I'd still look back on my career very fondly because I achieved a lot of things that I could have only dreamed of really.

"Hopefully, I've still got a long way to go but that would be the goal.”