Matt Fitzpatrick at Andalucia Masters 2022

Matt Fitzpatrick at Andalucia Masters 2022

Matt Fitzpatrick, returned to Valderrama to defend his title won last year in the Andalucia Masters 2021. Unfortunately after the first two days he was six over par and did not make the +2 cut to continue in the competition. Find below a report and press conference transcript made before the competition.

Matt Fitzpatrick, already with a major under his belt after winning this year's U.S. Open, is defending his Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters title.

Matt Fitzpatrick, already with a major under his belt after winning this year's U.S. Open, is defending his Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters title at the iconic Real Club Valderrama in Sotogrande from 13th to 16th October 2022. 

Last year the English player recovered a three-stroke deficit on the historic course of Sotogrande and finished the tournament with a brilliant round of 69 strokes without bogeys to take the seventh of his eight DP World Tour titles. 

The two-time Ryder Cup European Team member claimed his first DP World Tour victory in 2015 as a rookie, and added to his impressive haul this June by winning the U.S. Open, his first major. Fitzpatrick will arrive at the 1997 Ryder Cup venue in great form, having not only won at The Country Club at Brookline but also racked up ten other top tens on the DP World Tour and PGA Tour, including a runner-up finish at last week's DS Automobiles Italian Open.

He will be joined at Valderrama by his brother Alex, who will be making his debut at the eighth edition of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters. The 23 year old also played in the Italian tournament last week, after making his professional debut in July at the Horizon Irish Open.

"I'm really looking forward to defending my Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters title," said Matt Fitzpatrick. "Valderrama is such a challenge and winning at such a historic venue is always memorable, but the way the win came last year, staying patient on Sunday and getting rid of the bogeys, made it even more special.

"I've had a great season and the icing on the cake was definitely the U.S. Open. However, there is still a lot at stake, especially now that the race for Ryder Cup points has started, and I'm looking forward to another great week in Sotogrande".

Matt Fitzpatrick at the press conference on practice day 12/10/2022

Matt Fitzpatric refering to the Spanish Open in Madrid the previoius week.

It was a great week. Kind of a slow burn to start, nine straight pars. Can’t remember where I was on the leader board at that point. Hit a good shot into 16. Knew that to make something happen I had to make the putt. Made my first birdie of the day and there was a two or three shot swing. It was a very consistent round, had to be consistent the whole day. Proud of myself for doing that.

Definitely one on my list to win around this golf course – the history, the players that have won here. It’s a special place and to add my name to the list was a fantastic feeling.

This is a chance for me to catch Rory this week, particularly round a golf course that I am comfortable on. Looking forward to having a chance going into Dubai. Winning the DP World Tour Rankings is on my list of goals. Hopefully can do it this year.

You would have been too young to watch the 1997 Ryder Cup, but any stories you have heard? 

There is no one better to tell me stories than Billy (Foster). We were just talking on the ninth hole there, and he told me the weather was terrible in 1997. He has lots of stories but that’s the most recent one.

Anything you can take from performances of U.S. Team at Presidents Cup and last Ryder Cup?

The U.S. have a very strong team, our team is in a time of change. Still a year away, a lot can change in that time. Already have a core of a great team. We have some great players, some of the young guys coming through are always improving. Hopefully next September there will be two good teams, make it a good match, and we’ll win the Ryder Cup back.

Is it an opportunity to rejuvenate the team?

Saw a quote from Rory saying the same – it’s a good opportunity for the younger guys to play next year and get experience. Effectively rebuilding the team. I don’t know who the oldest in the team would be – apologies to anyone I have missed – in my head I want to say Shane Lowry would be the oldest at 31 or 32. That’s still a pretty young team. It’s exciting and some of the young guys like Bob MacIntyre and the Højgaard brother, gives them an opportunity to experience it, and in a home match.

My only two experiences have been away, which is different. Playing in a home game would probably be a little nicer. 

Players like Justin Rose, yourself, have played well here and had success at the U.S. Open. Is it a coincidence or does Valderrama have something useful?

I won in October and the U.S. Open was in June, so big gap and lots of things had changed in my game, in life. One thing it teaches you here is to be patient. That’s a big thing you need in Majors. There’s no better place to teach you that than here. You can be on top of the world and then you hit an OK drive and you are behind a tree and scrambling for a bogey. It’s easy to get away from you.

You’re here with your brother. Do you enjoy having your brother with you? Are you like the Højgaards and share rooms, meals?

We don’t share rooms, we are polar opposites. My side would be clean and his would be dirty. It’s nice to have Alex out here. And I don’t want to speak for him, but I think it’s nice for him to have me out here, a bit more comfort for him, whether it’s having dinner or giving advice. Even what do you think about this hole or green. This is our third event we’ve played together this year on the DP World Tour. For him it’s about getting more experience and learning what works and doesn’t work for him. 

Speaking to people out here they are telling me they can see him change and doing things for the better. That’s really important and positive for him. 

Jon Rahm said last week he is trying to speak to someone to change the 20 tournament minimum on the PGA TOUR so it is easier for players to play both Tours. What do you think? 

I agree with Jon. There are certain tournaments over here that I love playing and have not been able to because of schedule clashes. An example for me is Crans, it clashes with play-off final so I can’t miss that one. It is something we would like changed. It’s a fine balance because we want to please both Tours, play tournaments that we want to play. At the same time trying to climb the World Rankings and both orders of merit. It’s difficult to manage. It will be interesting if we can get anywhere with making changes. 

Personally, I am going to play where I want to play, I don’t want to play events for the sake of it. That’s something that will be take into consideration for next year’s schedule. It’s nice to have that freedom, but sometimes you need to get on with it and play events you want to play.

Is the solution more co-sanctioned tournaments like the Scottish Open? 

I agree with that, it would be very beneficial. The DP World Tour has so many fantastic events, in comparison to certain events in the US, they are way better. Prime example is this week. If this becomes co-sanctioned, you get better fields, it’s better for everyone. The problem is there a lot of politics, so whether anything like that will happen, I don’t know how many events could be co-sanctioned, but I think it’s a good idea.

What would be your ideal scenario?

I would love to play 22 events a year. I enjoy starting my year in January in America, playing through to August and ideally be done by end of October and have played Wentworth, Valderrama, Scottish Open, Crans Montana – there are a bunch of events I would like to have played within that time. That’s just me.

I would like a bigger off season, I think a lot of guys would. In my opinion there are too many events on both Tours. Too much golf. I don’t think fans then miss it. Every time you turn on the TV it’s like “golf is on again”. If you had less tournaments then you would probably have more people tuning in. 

Ideally you would have more co-sanctioned events on the DP World Tour. It works both ways, if you have events in the US co-sanctioned, guys from Europe can go over that don’t get in the co-sanctioned events over here. I think there has been unfairness – in the Scottish Open too many spots were given to the PGA TOUR straight away and not enough given in return to go and play in America. Speaking to a few guys it wasn’t worth their while to travel over there and have to come and play something in Europe two weeks later. There’s a way to do it, but a lot of politics.

Would you like to see a co-sanctioned event in Spain?

I would love that. There are so many places we go – a few weeks ago in Italy, the event was fantastic, this week is great, Switzerland, French Open is another fantastic venue. The options are there, I don’t know if the PGA TOUR want to do it. Don’t know where it goes from there.