ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Matt Fitzpatrick captured his first European tour title in two years by winning the weather-affected Dunhill Links Championship by three strokes on Monday.
The 2022 U.S. Open champion shot 6-under 66 on the Old Course at St. Andrews to finish on 19-under-par overall for an event that was reduced to 54 holes after heavy rain wiped out play on Saturday and Sunday.
Play was only possible on Monday after remarkable efforts from the greenkeepers at the three storied Scottish courses hosting the pro-am event — St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns — to make them playable.
Large parts of Carnoustie, in particular, were unrecognizable on Sunday and there were still huge swathes of water on some fairways.
Ryan Fox, a recent winner at the BMW PGA Championship, shot 65 on the Old Course and was tied for second place with Matthew Southgate (66 at St. Andrews) and Marcus Armitage (66 at Carnoustie).
Fitzpatrick, who won the RBC Heritage on the PGA Tour in April, hadn’t won on the European tour since the Andalucia Masters in October 2021. This latest title comes a week after he was part of Europe’s Ryder Cup-winning team in Rome, where he claimed his first point in golf’s biggest show after five straight losses across away matches in 2016 and 2021.
He played with his mother, Susan, in the pro-am at the Dunhill Links — and they won, too.
“It’s funny really, it was kind of a freewheeling week — playing with mum and just trying to enjoy it the best I can and see what happened,” said Fitzpatrick, who had pictures taken with his mother on the Swilcan Bridge at the 18th hole and then made birdie from 10 feet.
The 29-year-old Englishman shot 67 at Carnoustie on Thursday and 64 at Kingsbarns on Friday.
A total of 39 players either withdrew or retired ahead of the third and final round.
This story originally appeared on ESPN
