Matt Fitzpatrick bounced back from his final-hole disappointment at last week's Players Championship to birdie the last and win the Valspar Championship by a stroke for his first PGA Tour victory in almost three years.
The 2022 US Open champion displayed superb consistency as he shot 68-68 over the weekend with just six birdies and 30 pars but the most important of the shots he picked up was at the Copperhead Course’s tough 18th hole.
Tied with David Lipsky on 10 under, Fitzpatrick hit his approach to just inside 14 feet and holed for his first birdie in 12 attempts on that hole.
It left the American, in the group behind, needing to match that to force a play-off but his 32-foot attempt came up just short.
For Fitzpatrick it was some consolation having finished a stroke short last week after bogeying the final hole at Sawgrass and provided the ideal confidence boost ahead of next month’s Masters.
"I think the big thing was I felt I was playing well. I wanted to continue that and I had confidence in myself to do so. To do that over four rounds was special this week," he said in his post-round interview.
"I’ll be honest, it wasn’t an ideal putt (on 18). I wouldn’t say I was overly-keen on it considering my putting performance but to get it done was special."
Seamus Power recovered from two double-bogeys in his opening four holes to finish just inside the top-30 with a closing 72.
Birdies at the ninth, 12th and 14th holes saw him finish at two-under par overall in a tie for 30th.
