Matt Fitzpatrick goes bogey-free on the weekend to win the Valspar Championship.
SAM NAVARRO, GETTY IMAGES
A week after losing by a stroke to Cameron Young at the Players Championship, Matt Fitzpatrick won the Valspar Championship on Sunday in Palm Harbor, Florida.
The 31-year-old Englishman went bogey-free in the final round to win his third PGA Tour title and his first since the 2023 RBC Heritage. He joined compatriots Luke Donald (2012) and Paul Casey (2018, 2019) as winners of this tournament.
Who Else Won
CHAMPIONS TOUR
Steven Alker
READ MORE | RESULTS
Hotel Planner TOUR
MJ Daffue
EPSON TOUR
Maddie McCrary
LADIES EURO TOUR
Hannah Green
“The big thing was that I felt like I was playing well going into this week,” Fitzpatrick said. “I wanted to continue that and I felt like I had confidence in myself to do so. So to do that over four rounds was special this week.”
Fitzpatrick shot 68-69-68-68 (11-under 273) at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course and finished one stroke clear of David Lipsky, (closing 70), who like Fitzpatrick played golf at Northwestern University.
Fitzpatrick started the final round three strokes behind 54-hole leader Sungjae Im, who had a tough start on Sunday. Im found greenside bunkers on each of the first three holes and didn’t get up and down once, bogeying Nos. 2 and 3.
With Im struggling, Brandt Snedeker and Lipsky took the lead, but their bogeys on the par-5 fifth hole created a five-way tie at the top with Im, Fitzpatrick and Marco Penge.
While Im continued to fall down the leaderboard, Englishman Jordan Smith surged. With a birdie at No. 14, Smith went 5 under for the day and joined the logjam at the top.
On the par-3 15th, Fitzpatrick buried a 30-foot birdie putt to move to 10-under and claim the solo lead. Behind him on the 14th hole, Lipsky followed suit with a birdie of his own to tie Fitzpatrick.
Facing a 14-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole, Fitzpatrick buried it to take the clubhouse lead at 11-under.
“Me and my putting coach, Phil [Kenyon], have been working on trying to have less acceleration in my stroke, and it comes out more on the uphillers,” Fitzpatrick said. “So I wouldn’t say I was overly keen on it, given my putting performance today. But yeah, to get it done like that was special.”
Lipsky still had a chance to force a playoff, but his birdie chip at the last just missed the hole.
Smith (closing 66) finished third at 9-under, while Im (74) shared fourth with Xander Schauffele (65) and Marco Penge (71) at 8-under. Snedeker, the 45-year-old U.S. Presidents Cup captain who was seeking his first PGA Tour victory since 2018, stumbled home in 40 and finished T18.
Cashing in on a 54-hole lead was tough this year on the Florida swing. Im’s failure to close out the Valspar Championship with a two-shot lead to start the day made 54-hole leaders or co-leaders 0-for-5 in converting.
Everett Munez
