Peter Cowen Daily Diary: It was a well-deserved victory for Fitzpatrick at the US Open
Well done to the lad from Sheffield for winning his first golf major
Congratulations to Matt Fitzpatrick on winning his first golf major, the 122nd US Open at The Country Club, Brookline, Massachusetts.
A well deserved victory and when you go out as a leader in the final round of any tournament, let alone a major, and hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation that shows confidence and mental toughness.
When he is in England, he comes to our range at the Peter Cowen Academy in Rotherham and he hits balls. Matt and I first connected when he was about 12 years old. His dad was my bank manager. His parents live 15 minutes from our Rotherham range and often pop in for a chat.
Florida base
Matt started at first, hitting balls at the range with one of my pros Nick Huby, who looked after him and then Mike Walker took over as his game developed. Nick also coaches Sam Bairstow (Eng), who lost over the weekend in the final of The Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes. Left-handed Sam played in The Open last year and can go a long way in the game. Nick is one of my excellent coaches at Rotherham.
Matt is now based and spends a lot of time in Florida and is a member of both The Bears Club and Michael Jordan’s XXlll Golf Club. He is always around the likes of Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, Dustin Johnson and Ernie Els. and so many other Tour players, which can only help his confidence.
He is one of the most disciplined golfers I have ever seen, with all his reliance on statistics. But it has worked for him. Looking back on this year alone, a big win has been coming. A tied 14th at The Masters in April and a tied 5th at the PGA Championship last month.
DP World Tour Ranking:
1 Will Zalatoris (USA) 2,572.8 2 Rory Mcilroy (NIR) 2,366.1 3 Matt Fitzpatrick (ENG) 2,246.7 4 Justin Thomas (USA) 2,015.3 5 Viktor Hovland (NOR) 1,953.2 6 Thomas Pieters (BEL) 1,739.7 7 Ryan Fox (NZL) 1,299.4 8 Pablo Larrazabal (ESP) 1,183.2 9 Richard Bland (ENG) 1120.7 10 Collin Morikawa (USA) 1100.8
I am also chuffed for his caddy Billy Foster. Billy has been around the game for 40 years and has worked with the likes of Lee Westwood, Seve, Darren Clarke and Tiger Woods, and so many more, and this is Billy’s first major as well.
With this win, Matt’s Rankings move as follows:
OWGR Rankings upto 10th.
FedEx Cup Rankings upto 10th.
DP World Tour Rankings upto 3rd.
What's next for him?
This major win will not go to Matt’s head. He has not changed at all since we first met him as a 12 year old and he will always be the lad from Sheffield with his loyal family and circle of friends here.
He will have a couple of weeks off and then play in the Genesis Scottish Open.
No time off for the coach. I am seeing Lee Westwood later this week and then will likely attend the Horizon Irish Open, then go to Scotland and then The 150th Open at St Andrews.
This has been a special week and my 12th major win!
Well done Matt!
- Peter Cowen is the 71 year-old Dubai Golden VISA Awardee who is regarded as one of the leading golf coaches in the world of golf. The Englishman is based in Rotherham, England, and has Peter Cowen Academies in Dubai: at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club, Emirates Golf Club and Jumeirah Golf Estates.
