Matt Fitzpatrick continued his remarkable 2025 season with another impressive display in round two of the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club that kept him firmly in contention.
The Englishman, who has transformed his game over the past 12 months, credited a solid all-around performance for his success on Friday.
“Just felt like I did everything pretty solid,” Fitzpatrick said. “I feel like [I’ve been] fortunate enough to say that a lot this year. I feel like I hit more in the fairway today. Gave myself some chances to hit my irons close and took advantage of that as well. Felt like I putted solid for the last couple days, and hopefully keep that up over the weekend.”
Fitzpatrick’s comfort level arriving at tournaments has clearly risen with his consistent excellence this year. However, the world number four is determined not to let success breed complacency.
“Definitely, definitely there’s sort of that,” he said when asked about how much easier it is arriving to a tournament when you’re having the sort of year he is. “You don’t want to get complacent with that. I think that’s the biggest thing. I think it’s easy to be complacent and just kind of be in cruise mode for the rest of the year. I have a great team of people around me and making sure that routines — the same routines and doing them to the highest intensity that we can.”
The 2022 U.S. Open champion added that a recent visit to Royal Birkdale with a view to next week’s 154th Open Championship helped sharpen his focus heading into this week
The 30-year-old produced a highlight-reel stretch on the back nine, reeling off five birdies in a row starting at the 11th hole.
“Holed a nice putt on — I forgot the nines — confusing the nines,” Fitzpatrick recalled with a smile. “Holed a nice one at 11. Birdie on 12. Tap-in on 13. Good one on 14. Tap-in on 15. It was kind of a very quick stretch of golf, it felt like you didn’t feel too stressful.”
Fitzpatrick has a strong history at the Renaissance Club, where he finished fourth last year, and that result was one of the springboards for an outstanding run.
“I like this place from a confidence standpoint for sure,” he said. “Somewhere I’ve played well before, and like you say, I feel like I can take from that every time I arrive. Certainly gives me some good confidence.”
Since that fourth-place finish 12 months ago, Fitzpatrick has elevated his game to new heights. He has secured three PGA Tour victories and the DP World Tour Championship, rocketed from 22nd to fourth in the Official World Golf Ranking, has now played 44 consecutive tournaments worldwide without missing a cut, and believes he is playing the best golf of his career.
“Definitely,” Fitzpatrick confirmed. “This stretch of sort of March, February onwards to now, it’s definitely the best golf I’ve played in my career for sure.”
With roughly a month and a half left in the PGA Tour season, speculation has grown about Fitzpatrick’s chances of winning Player of the Year honors should he claim a fourth victory this week. He remains characteristically focused on the process rather than external accolades.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t say it’s any motivation,” he said. “It’s a nice added extra. It’s like the way I try and describe it over the years, what I’ve learned it, it’s the same way with the Ryder Cup, it comes as part of the process. Your process is to play as well as you can, each individual tournament.”
As the weekend approaches at the Renaissance Club, Fitzpatrick will fancy his chances at clinching a fifth win in the space of nine months and reclaiming the number one spot in the PGA Tour’s FedEx rankings from Scottie Scheffler whom he was paired with for the opening two rounds and looks certain to miss the cut.
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