Redemption? Nah.
Rebound? Most certainly.
One week after a bogey on the final hole cost him a chance to win the Players Championship, Matt Fitzpatrick birdied the 72nd hole on Sunday to capture the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbour, Fla.
Fitzpatrick converted from 14 feet for his first birdie in 12 rounds on the par-4 18th hole at the Copperhead Course to break a tie with David Lipsky and secure his third career PGA Tour title and first win since the 2023 RBC Heritage. The 31-year-old Englishman didn’t have a bogey in closing with a three-under 68 and 11-under 273 total to keep Lipsky winless in 145 career tour starts.
Related: The clubs Matt Fitzpatrick used to win the 2026 Valspar Championship
A Los Angeles native, Lipsky, 37, settled for his second career runner-up finish and his seventh top-five finish after shooting a final-round 70.
“I think the big thing was I felt like I was playing well,” said Fitzpatrick, who came into the week ranked 15th in the world. “Obviously, I wanted to continue that, and I felt like I had confidence in myself to do so. Then obviously to sort of do that over four rounds was special this week.”
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Sungjae Im, who led after each of the first three rounds and began the final day two strokes ahead of Lipsky and 45-year-old Brandt Snedeker, bogeyed five of his first 10 holes to fall out of contention. He ended up T-4 at eight-under 276 after a 74. Snedeker, seeking his 10th career title and first win since the 2018 Wyndham Championship, was in the hunt and tied for the lead with Fitzpatrick, Lipsky and England’s Jordan Smith until he three-putted for double bogey at the short par-4 12th hole. He followed with a bogey at 13 on the way to a 76, which left him in a tie for 18th place at 280.
Smith fired a 66 and ended up third at 275. Joining Im at 276 were Marco Penge, another Englishman, who had a 71, and Xander Schauffele, who tied Emiliano Grillo for low round of the day with a 65.
Fitzpatrick, 31, began the day three behind Im but quickly joined a battle atop the leaderboard when Im faltered. Winner of the 2022 U.S. Open, Fitzpatrick was unable to separate himself but fortunate that his main challengers also were stuck in neutral. He finally created daylight when he drilled home a 30-foot birdie putt at the par-3 15th hole. Just as he had the previous week at the Players at TPC Sawgrass, he arrived on the 16th tee at Innisbrook with a one-stroke lead.
It disappeared within minutes, however, when Lipsky joined him at 10 under par with a seven-footer for birdie.
Fitzpatrick, who collected $1.638 million, set up the game winner when he drove perfectly and then found the green right of the pin with a wedge from 118 yards. When the ball rolled in, he shouted and delivered a low fist pump. The win was secured when Lipsky’s 32-foot tying attempt from the fringe died seven inches short of the hole.
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“Amazing. Amazing. I felt frustrated all day that I had not made anything. To make something there on 15 and to hole the long one on 18 to secure the win was an amazing feeling,” said Fitzpatrick. He played his final 36 holes without a bogey and suffered only four bogeys all week. Three of those came in the second round.
“I’ll be honest, it wasn’t an ideal putt that it felt like,” he added. “It was a nice right-to-lefter but my putting coach Phil [Kenyon] and I have been working on less acceleration in my stroke. It comes out more on the up hillers. I wouldn’t say I was overly keen on it, given my putting performance today, but to get it done like that was special.”
Undeterred after his one-stroke loss to Cameron Young at the Players, where he missed an eight-foot par putt that would have forced a playoff, Fitzpatrick fought through the mental challenge of playing in contention in consecutive weeks. Beyond his good form, especially his iron game (he ranked first in strokes gained tee to green and second in approach), that achievement sets him up well for the first major of the year in three weeks at the Masters.
“Yeah, I feel like it’s obviously a great start to the season now. Particularly in two weeks because the major season is just around the corner. Two weeks off just to kind of prepare myself for that then get better,” he said. “Yeah, this is great. Any win is fantastic. To me, just getting over the line is always difficult. It’s so hard to win out here. Three wins now out here is something that, you know, I want obviously plenty more and more big wins. So yeah, to win this week is a big stepping stone for moving forward.”
