THE 154TH OPEN

July 13, 2026

Matt Fitzpatrick

Press Conference

ED HODGE: Good afternoon. We're now delighted to be joined in the interview room by Matt Fitzpatrick. Matt, welcome to the 154th Open. Tied fourth last year at Royal Portrush. You must take great memories of that coming into this week.

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yes, obviously it was a great week last year; helped turn around my season at the time. Obviously best finish in an Open as well, which is always a nice positive.

Yes, it's nice to have played well in some links golf and hopefully bring that form into here.

ED HODGE: And you've won three times already this year, so I take it the confidence is full in coming here.

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, obviously I've been playing nicely this year. Had that consistency, which is key for a good season. Yeah, game feels good. I don't really have much else to add, I guess.

Q. Since we're not professional golfers, I guess it's fair to ask you, when you are on a run like this, how excited are you, if that's the right word, to come to an event like this and get ready to go? You probably don't want to wait till Thursday.

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, that's a great point. A lot of this year, certainly since I started playing well, first win at Valspar, since then has really been about kind of managing my energy as best I can and obviously maintaining the form as best I can.

I think that's come with much lighter Monday to Wednesdays than I've had previously in my career really.

I think the big thing with that is that you're trying to do the bare minimum that's going to give you the biggest impact of maybe keeping or maintaining your game as well as just trying to get a little bit of improvement, particularly as the season goes on and it becomes longer. You get yourself in contention a few more times, and that takes it out of you.

You're right, I would have liked to have kind of had today off and then maybe the tournament starts tomorrow.

Q. One other thing, because this is a place that you haven't been to since maybe the last time and they've made obviously a lot of changes to the golf course, does that make it a little more difficult, A? And, B, if you're working with Edoardo, does that make it a little easier to get the information through him to help you through this?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, a little bit. I played in '17 here. Actually, the lady president of Birkdale, I forget her surname, but Janet, we've been coming here for probably the last two, three years, I think, just before the Scottish Open and The Open. Played here a little bit, played Hillside, links golf prep for the Scottish Open and The Open for the last three years or so.

I've played here a little bit, so I feel at least somewhat comfortable knowing the holes and just getting that comfortability with different shots you're faced with.

Likewise, speaking to Edoardo on any dates he may have or just doing my own homework. I don't know if ShotLink was kind of here for 2017, so I don't really know what data there is.

Q. Have you already played today?

MATT FITZPATRICK: No.

Q. You haven't been out yet? Because we just chatted with Joe Dean earlier and he was saying the difference between yesterday to today, that it had become more fiery just in the last 24 hours. If it gets a bit fierier than it is now, can you remember an Open that's looked as brown and dusty as it currently looks?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, the first one I played, Muirfield, in 2013. Yeah, that one, there was someone asking me about it yesterday. I think it was Min Woo was asking me yesterday when we played, and I remember specifically it was about 40 degrees in Scotland, and every fairway was yellow. The greens were virtually yellow. It was an unbelievable week, and it was super firm.

When we played a couple weeks ago, I was surprised at how green it was but how firm it was. We played on a couple of really windy days, and I think my brother drove it short of No. 11, like 30 yards short of that green, and that wasn't downwind. It was a little bit calmer that day.

Then we both drove it just short of maybe about 7 maybe, 7 or 8, I think.

Q. Just as a little follow-up, in those sort of conditions, your relationship with Dan has been pretty impressive in the last couple of years. What's the importance of a caddie when conditions are changing as the course hardens out like that?

MATT FITZPATRICK: I think the communication is obviously really important. Just you've got to be on the same page of the shots you're seeing, particularly in links golf. There's obviously such a variety that you can play.

Birkdale allows you to play a lot of different shots because of you might be able to fly on the green, you might be able to bounce it short. You might be able to use a contour to the right or left. That's links golf.

I think you have to be on the same page with that because it's harder to come to an agreement -- hard to come to an agreement and then get committed for your golf shot if you're not quite seeing those same shots.

Q. That seems like kind of an interesting dynamic, a bit like when football strikers talk about playing with a striker that he's always in the position he is, if you don't have that dynamic -- have you experienced that different dynamic where it's been difficult that you've not been on the same page with a caddie?

MATT FITZPATRICK: I wouldn't think so. I think you build that relationship over time. Certainly the first few weeks you have with anyone is always a bit new and fresh. It's kind of like, well, I've been doing it like this for the last two years and now I've got someone on the bag that's saying otherwise. You've got to be open minded to that to say, okay, maybe this is a better way to do it.

Even just the first -- when Billy did a week for me before he was full-time, he sent me a nice report on what he saw on my game, and one of the things even was just the gaps between my clubs. So I had 10 yards, and he was like, you need to make it 13 or 14.

Then all of a sudden, you go, oh, that makes a lot more sense. I've done it for 22 years or whatever -- way less than that -- but with the same gaps. Now you go, oh, that makes way more sense. I'm getting a bit extra out of the long stuff and a bit shorter, but the gaps are nicer.

I think you're always learning, and over time you build that relationship of trust and communication.

Q. Very early start yesterday morning, I think 30-odd holes after a late night on Saturday watching football. You didn't watch it, no?

MATT FITZPATRICK: I didn't, no. I take my job a little bit too seriously.

Q. How much did that impact yesterday, because it was a very long day yesterday when you prep for this week? Did you have any influence on a tee time for Thursday to try and watch the game?

MATT FITZPATRICK: If anyone's listening, I really hope it's a late/early. It would be nice if all the English lads were late/early. That would be great.

Obviously a long day yesterday. My plan was anyway to have a light Monday. It was probably a little bit lighter than planned. I won't go and play any holes. I've done a bit of putting and hitting already today and kind of just do some recovery after this and take it easy.

Yeah, I kept having to count the hours of sleep I had on Saturday. I'm like, well, if I go to bed at this time, and I kept getting surprised at how little we ended up having. I couldn't believe the fog came in so early again.

Q. Did you go for a sleep after you completed your round yesterday? In the morning, yeah.

MATT FITZPATRICK: I had obviously some time between the late tee time to kind of get half an hour or so.

Q. This is a Tommy Fleetwood question. I'm curious, as you were coming up, did you know much about him? I don't know if you guys were in the same circles at all with earlier competitions? What's it been like getting to know him as you've played? And why is he the most likable guy out here?

MATT FITZPATRICK: I don't know anyone who would say a bad word about Tommy. He's such a great guy. For me, growing up I didn't really see much of Tommy. We didn't play in the same circles and stuff. He was a little bit older for me. He was always kind of ahead of his time in England golf, I would say. That was kind of the big thing there.

Any time I've had a good result, he's always saying congrats, and he's always great fun to play with. I mean, the biggest thing is just in those team rooms at Ryder Cup, just always so supportive and great to be around.

Q. They say tough conditions, especially at majors, kind of equalize or level out the field. Do you expect to see that this week too with the firmness and the weather?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yes and no. I think there's a fine balance. You've got to have it tough but fair. I think, when it gets really firm, you obviously have to err on the side of caution with course setup and how that plays. You don't really want -- you don't want that randomness to be more in the golf.

I think you obviously want it tough, and I think the tougher the golf course, normally the better players come to the top that are playing well. That's sort of the best way to sort of separate any tournament.

But you obviously don't want it to get out of hand where it becomes a little bit lucky.

Q. I might be wrong, but I think I spotted your dad out on the course earlier watching the Last-Chance Qualifier. Did he mention how much he enjoyed watching that event or anything like that?

MATT FITZPATRICK: I've not seen him since. I know he went to watch Joe. I grew up playing with Joe, and I know my brother's become good friends with him on DP World Tour.

Dad did a lot of Yorkshire coaching, played on Yorkshire teams with Joe. Dad was out there to mainly support him. He was happy to see him qualify, as was I.

Q. How nice. Alternatively, I wanted to ask a question about the U.S. Open and sort of crowd behaviour. I think Wyndham Clark had to deal with a lot of heckling, a lot of bad behaviour on his way to winning. I think it's fair to say you've experienced a bit of that this year competing at THE PLAYERS and Heritage maybe. In the days after the U.S. Open, Jordan Spieth alluded to the affect that golf betting has on crowds. In your experience, do you think that sports betting has ever or been the source of bad crowd behaviour, in your experience?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, it's a great question because you just look at all the messages people get -- footballers, tennis players, you name it, everyone's getting messages of, oh, you missed that penalty; you cost me this. Oh, you didn't make a birdie; cost me this.

I've had my fair share. I would say every golfer that's played a professional tournament has had a message of abuse from someone that is related to gambling. I mean, you could see it this week. You go and type in a player's name who maybe isn't playing well, maybe someone who's favored to play well, you type the name into Twitter and you'll just see their name followed by abuse after abuse after abuse.

It's difficult because I've had 20 quid on England to win the World Cup, but at the same time, if it doesn't come in, I'm not going to send a message to Harry Kane and be like, why did you play rubbish? There's obviously individuals that have that problem.

I don't know, obviously I don't condone gambling in the slightest. It doesn't -- it's not really for me. It's a thing that me and my mate do every World Cup and Euros, that's it.

For me, it's definitely becoming a problem and the issue is, particularly in golf, it would be very easy to influence a bet, whether it's you're shouting on someone's backswing, shouting on a putting stroke. It's really easy. Obviously that is really hard to monitor, but it is definitely an issue.

Q. Do you think that you're playing better now than you were in 2022 before the U.S. Open win? And how close to your absolute peak do you feel at the moment?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, definitely playing better. Different style of play, I would say. That's the big thing. Hopefully I've not peaked yet obviously, but I just think I'm doing a lot of good stuff this year. Short game's been really, really good, and so has my irons.

That's a first for me. My irons have never really been a strength. I've had good seasons but never really taken advantage of that, I don't feel like; whereas now I feel like I've got that.

I think sort of the level of experience and maturity I have, I guess, with playing and being in these situations is obviously much better now, even than before 2022. So I think that's obviously a big help as well.

Yeah, I think there's always room for improvement. There's areas that -- I'm looking at last week, why didn't I do that? Why didn't I do this? You're always trying to find those small gains.

Q. Do you think that having Alex on the same continent and doing as well as he's done this year has helped you in any way? I can put it another way perhaps. If he wasn't there, do you think you would have had as good a year as you are in the middle of having now?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Well, no offence to Alex, but yes (laughter). Apart from the Zurich win, yeah. Yeah, it's been great to have him around, there's no doubt about that. He's awesome. It's great to see him week in, week out, stay with him, just be around my family. It's just so nice.

I think, as I've gotten a little bit older, you kind of realize how important that is, and how it's so easy to take it for granted that you only see them a handful of times a year to now hopefully seeing everyone more often. I don't want to take that for granted.

I think that's been amazing, but I don't feel like it's really impacted my season from a performance standpoint.

Q. You just said thought almost that you had. You seemed to contradict yourself at the end there. I thought you said you enjoyed having him around and it was good, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, and you ended it by saying you don't think it's had any impact on your performance.

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, but something can be nice and have a nice time, but it doesn't mean that it's impacting my performance. I don't feel that having him around has made me play better or worse. I would say I'm used to having my mom and dad around, and likewise Alex now is around as well.

I don't think it's changed the way I played. I just think I've got my --

Q. But you're happier. You said that --

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, it's made me happier, but I don't think -- I just don't think there's a correlation.

Q. Very interesting answer about the betting. Do you have to in a week like this limit yourself from how much you would go on social media and check things because of the way pile-ons can happen or whatever, or do you actively block it out? To touch on the U.S. Open as well in terms of like the behaviour, are you surprised by the way the behaviour of golf crowds has changed? Historically golf has been the genteel, gentleman's, gentleperson's game to watch?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, I think golf as a game, like you say, has been that way. I'm all for the game developing, though, and bringing in different people. I want an atmosphere at a golf tournament. I've said a million times, I love football. I love the atmosphere of a football match. Playing Harbour Town this year, playing Harbour Town in 2023, that's the atmosphere I want. There's nothing better.

Ryder Cup, playing away from home, succeeding in those atmospheres, there's not a much better feeling. I think like I'm all for an atmosphere. Obviously I don't want it to cross a line.

I don't do any of my social media anymore. I've stayed off of it just because -- I have my own private accounts elsewhere, but I don't go looking for anything. I don't think the social media companies do a good job of managing that stuff. That's obviously a bigger conversation.

Like I said, you just search my name, Tommy's name, anyone's name, and you will find just tweet after tweet just straight abuse. It's not right. I'm not going into someone's office or in their e-mails abusing them. I would say a lot of it comes down to the gambling. You see that a lot on the social media of, oh, this guy's favored this week. Make sure you lump on him and duh, duh, duh.

That's obviously not conducive to a great atmosphere.

I don't know about other players. I know Michael Kim does a great job on his social media. I don't know what his social media looks like, but his is really insightful in sort of giving people information. I think that's what social media is great for.

You know, James Nicholas does a great job on his YouTube. I've read about that. He's got the same sponsor. That's really interesting. That's really great stuff I think fans are interested in.

But when you're getting personally attacked, it's just ridiculous.