THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 15, 2024

Matt Fitzpatrick

TPC Sawgrass

Quick Quotes

Q. Just a summation of what you felt like you did well today?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Felt like I did everything well. Just felt like I played solid overall. Made a couple putts when I needed to, drove the ball well, and my approach play was good, as well. So yeah, just felt solid overall really.

Q. A different golf course, but is there anything in Pete Dye courses that you like or anything that feel like favors you with this and Harbour Town?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Not particularly. If you look at my results around here and Harbour Town, they're not exactly amazing. I feel like it's a place that when you play them well -- like I said yesterday, you look at the winners here, it's not like you have the same winners every year or there's guys that sort of do well here every year. I really do think it tends to be a mixed bag.

I think it's when you're playing well, you play well, and when you're not, it's probably a bit more penal than most.

Q. You talked about you've been happy with your driving the ball, and going back to what you mentioned last night, how does that discovering that weight, how does it actually change your swing, what do you kind of feel, is it anything different or is a lot of it also mental?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah the weight, like I said last night, the weight in the grip just made the ball go more right-to-left, basically more club closure, and, yeah, just means it's more right-to-left on it.

Q. The shot, was it on 4, what were your options coming out of the rough there?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, I felt the lie was good enough to kind of hack it on to the right side there. I was aiming at the right bunker, which if you kind of go back there you realize how far right it was. It just kind of snagged me and went left. Yeah, just couldn't really work out why it had gone so far left.

Q. There's only been two British or Irish players that won here, Sandy Lyle and Rory. Does that surprise you, and do you think there's a specific reason why that's been the case?

MATT FITZPATRICK: I mean, I guess you look through the course of history, I don't know when -- I think particularly when the tournament was in May, it's probably not something that British players are used to, with it being Bermuda, firm, fast, 95 degrees. I think that's probably one thing to do with it. I guess once it's in March it's probably a little bit better with there's not really much grain out here that's affecting anything. It feels probably a little bit more like home, I guess, with the grass.

It's a tough golf course; there's no two ways about it. Some weeks you have it, some weeks you don't, I guess.

Q. The driver discovery, was the improvement immediate?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, I discovered it in Phoenix so that's, what, five, six weeks ago. First week it was great. Since then I drove it poorly at Bay Hill and poorly at L.A., so I probably had five weeks of it and it's been a mixed bag, but from a feeling standpoint it's felt better.

Q. Wyndham obviously was on a tear. Is that something you look at on the final day or --

MATT FITZPATRICK: No, I like to see what's going on, regardless of what day it is. I always like to know what's going on. Obviously it means less Thursday, Friday, almost Saturday, you know, but yeah, just like to know what's going on really.

Q. When you willing yourself to stay in touch, do birdies become even more precious?

MATT FITZPATRICK: I wouldn't say so. I feel like it's Friday; anything can happen over the weekend, there's still two days, so you never know, just another couple 6-unders over the weekend and you never know what can happen.

So, for me it's just about trying to stay patient, just keep doing what I'm doing and go from there.

Q. One, two on the leaderboard are past U.S. Open champions. It can change, obviously, but what do you see, what do you like about Wyndham's game? You're a very good putter, he seems to make a lot of putts. What do you like about him?

MATT FITZPATRICK: I've not played with Wyndham a lot, to be honest, so it wouldn't be fair for me to comment, obviously, other than seeing his results, which are fantastic. So all I know from what I've seen on TV is that he drives the ball a hell of a long way and straight. He's obviously proven that he's a great player, but I couldn't go into specifics.

Q. You're second in driving distance right now for the week. Is that from the measured holes being downwind this morning or are you still gaining distance?

MATT FITZPATRICK: No, I feel like I've been doing a lot of the stack recently, certainly since over December, January, and I feel like the more comfortable I get with driver, the better it is.

Yeah, Paul McGinley yesterday mentioned that I can't carry the corners like Scottie and Rory and he's definitely right. I'm hitting low runners out there, but they're going the same distance, so, yeah, I think this golf course, I like it for that reason. I feel like you can kind of get things chasing.

Q. Did you recommit to it end of last year, the stack?

MATT FITZPATRICK: No, I've been doing it consistently for even before U.S. Open, after U.S. Open, it's just, probably had a spell, sort of August time last year, September, where I kind of laid off it a little bit.

Q. Can you compare the wind from yesterday afternoon to this morning?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Pretty similar. Not really much. Feels like it's picking up a little bit more now. Obviously different direction, but maybe a little bit stronger now, yeah.

Q. (Question about fans from Europe.)

MATT FITZPATRICK: I didn't hear a noisy group. I have no idea, no. I didn't hear anyone, no, no, I didn't hear anyone.