The best golfers have short memories. The worst golf fans don’t. Matt Fitzpatrick found that out last week at Shinnecock Hills.
Paired with Wyndham Clark in the third round of the U.S. Open, Fitzpatrick was struck by the volume and intensity of spectator abuse hurled at the eventual tournament winner.
Fitzpatrick’s not naive. He knows that Clark has done himself no favors with assorted displays of bad behavior, none more notorious than his locker-wrecking outburst after missing the cut at last year’s U.S. Open.
“I’m not condoning what he did at Oakmont,” Fitzpatrick told GOLF’s Subpar podcast this week. “It was not really the smartest thing to do.”
Still, he figured the outrage would fade.
“Part of me thought, give it two to three months and everyone would forget about it and you’d never hear about it again,” Fitzpatrick said.
He was wrong. Turns out fans’ memories are long.
“Since you’ve been out there, do you remember a time where fans were as hard on a guy throughout the entire event as they were with Wyndham Clark this week?” podcast co-host Drew Stoltz asked.
Fitzpatrick said he didn’t. And called it “unfair.”
As a veteran of four Ryder Cups, Fitzpatrick has, of course, heard heckling before. He has also encountered it in stroke-play competitions. Battling Scottie Scheffler down the stretch at the RBC Heritage in April, Fitzpatrick triumphed in the face of fans who barked at his ball to get in the bunker. But the scene at Shinnecock, he said, was different.
“Having an American fan base root against an American player is odd,” Fitzpatrick said.
No matter the format, Fitzpatrick noted, the best way to deal with haters is to put on blinders — not to mention earplugs — and play your best. On that front, he said, Clark impressed him with his shot-making and his comportment.
“The guy’s leading the tournament, making putts, doing what he needed to do,” Fitzpatrick said. “Every time on Saturday, he was faultless.”
The following afternoon, after hoisting the trophy, Clark said he hoped he’d won a few fans over. Maybe he has. For now, he’s got Fitzpatrick in his camp.
“I’ve spent a little time with Wyndham,” Fitzpatrick said. “I really like him. I think he’s a good guy.”
You can listen to the entire episode here or watch it on YouTube below.
