Weekly Fantasy Golf Recap: More Plaid for Fitzpatrick

It's hard enough to try to beat Scottie Scheffler. It may even be harder when having to spend four-plus hours alongside him in the final pairing on a Sunday.

And then when just about everyone at the golf course is rooting for him and not you, well, good luck with that, Matt Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick had a lot of obstacles to overcome, including his own botched 72nd hole of the RBC Heritage when a par would've won the tournament. He showed tremendous fortitude in turning right around minutes later in a playoff to birdie the same 18th hole and take down the mighty Scheffler.

It was the Englishman's second title in his past three starts and the second time he's won at Harbour Town.

Fitzpatrick fended off Scheffler for most of the day -- the two were plenty familiar after playing the first two rounds together -- but world No. 1 birdied Nos. 15 and 16, then Fitzpatrick misplayed his chip on 18 for his lone bogey of the day, forcing a sudden-death playoff with No. 18 on an endless loop.

"I knew Scottie was going to come back," Fitzpatrick said. "He's world No. 1 for a reason. I knew he was going to make some birdies late. Obviously he did that. Just being in the playoff is something I'd have taken at the start of the week. Obviously disappointed not to win it outright, but I felt like -- I didn't feel like I played horrendous. Just didn't quite have it, I guess."

After Fitzpatrick found the fairway in the playoff, albeit some 20 yards behind Scheffler, he hit the shot of the tournament. With the famed red-and-white lighthouse in the background, he launched a 4-iron from 204 yards to 13 feet, setting up his walk-off birdie.

"To hit the 4-iron I hit there was out of this world," he said.

It's been a remarkable turnaround for Fitzpatrick over the past year. He was ranked in the 80s of the OWGR and his iron play was a mess. Now, he's No. 3 in the rankings. In the past month, he was runner-up at THE PLAYERS, then won the Valspar and now the RBC. He's ranked sixth on Tour in SG: Approach and third in Tee-to-Green.

The other thing that Fitzpatrick had to contend with on Sunday was the crowd. They were clearly in Scheffler's camp, which is understandable, though the chants of "USA, USA" seemed a bit … odd?

"No, it didn't get out of line in terms of no one was shouting on backswings or anything like that, which was great," Fitzpatrick said. "I'm all for it. I love the people -- they're supporting Scottie; that's great. You want golf to have an atmosphere in my opinion. I grew up watching football. I'm paid so much money to be out there in front of those crowds, having them chanting at you every week, it's a great feeling.

"However, there's no better feeling than coming out on top against that. There isn't a better feeling."

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Scottie Scheffler
We saw both sides of the 2026 version of Scheffler on Sunday. The one who can make up three shots in the final four holes to force a playoff. And then the one struggling with his irons who hit a terrible approach in the playoff and missed the green despite holding a nearly 20-yard distance advantage over Fitzpatrick off the tee. Scheffler was far behind through 36 holes of the Masters and then again this week at the midway point. He had an issue earlier this season with starting slow in Thursday rounds. But his off-weeks are what most players would be happy with. He's now first in the FedExCup Standings. He leads the Tour in SG: Total. He's top-12 in every SG metric but Approach, where he's ranked 64th.

Si Woo Kim
Kim's solo third was his fifth top-5 and seventh top-10 in what's becoming the best season of his career. And somehow, he did this in reverse of how he normally plays. Kim ranked 42nd in the 82-man field in SG: Approach and seventh in Putting. On the season, he is ranked fourth on Tour in SG: Approach and 111th in Putting. If he could combine the two, even for one week, he'd be staring down his fifth career win.

Collin Morikawa
Morikawa still didn't look exactly frisky while walking. But he did notch his second top-10 in two weeks and second since bowing out of THE PLAYERS Championship with a back injury. He finished in a tie for fourth despite a horrible putting week. He ranked 65th in the field while losing almost 2.5 strokes.

Ludvig Aberg
Aberg was not truly contending on Sunday. But he did have another late-tournament implosion when he went OB way left on No. 16 for a double bogey. It didn't cost him the title, like at THE PLAYERS, but it was another example of mishandling the end of a tournament. That said, Aberg has finished top-5 in four of his past five starts, with the one outlier being a T21 at the Masters. It won't be too long before one of those top-5s becomes a win.

Harris English
English has been having a quirky season. He'd been piling up top-25s, but he didn't crack the top-20 in any of them, much less the top-10. So his share of fourth at the RBC is far and away his best effort of the season. He's ranked only 115th in SG: Approach even after this week, so that's where the problem lies. Who knows where English would be without his putter – he's ranked seventh.

Bud Cauley
This was Cauley's best week of the season by far. He finished seventh. It's been a decent season, with eight cuts made in 10 starts and now four top-25s. When you look at Cauley's strokes-gained stats, it's a bit of a wonder how he's been doing it. He's just so-so across the board, and  less than so-so on the greens. He's ranked 120th in SG: Putting.

Rickie Fowler
We didn't see Fowler last week at the Masters -- that's because he didn't qualify. He missed the cut in both Texas tournaments leading up to Augusta while trying to earn a top-50 spot in the OWGR to qualify. So a tie for eighth here was a welcome development. Fowler entered the week at 63rd in the rankings. He's qualified for the PGA Championship next month with ease. But he'll need to be top-60 at the beginning of June to qualify for the U.S. Open.

Patrick Cantlay
Cantlay tied for eighth. But he always plays great at Harbour Town, usually better than T8. However, he does seem to be rounding into form after a lackluster start to 2026. Cantlay finished seventh at the Valspar and 12th at the Masters. He's outside the top-100 in SG: Putting at 109th, so he surely has an area he needs to clean up.

Gary Woodland
Woodland's win at the Texas Children's Houston Open undoubtedly has been the top surprise of the season. Even with the win, the aftereffects of his brain surgery from a couple of years back still exist. So finishing 33rd at the Masters -- where he traditionally played poorly -- and now T8 at the RBC is remarkable in its own right. At age 41, Woodland is second on Tour in driving distance. And, usually a poor putter, he's ranked 29th.

Keegan Bradley
This has been a terrible year for Bradley. He's finally shown some semblance of game the past two weeks. He had his first top-25 of the season at the Masters (T21) and now tied for 12th at the RBC. Bradley would not be in the playoffs if they started today.

Xander Schauffele
For whatever reason, Harbour Town has not been a good fit for Schauffele. So a tie for 12th, with four rounds in the 60s, constituted a good week.

Michael Kim
Kim shot 62 on Sunday to zoom up the leaderboard and tie for 25th, just his third top-25 all season.

Viktor Hovland
Hovland shot 64-65 to start the tournament and briefly had a share of the lead Saturday. But he shot 73-76 on the weekend to plummet into a tie for 42nd. Just a disastrous week amid another odd season. Hovland has top-20s at Bay Hill, THE PLAYERS and the Masters yet is outside the top 50 in the FedExCup Standings.

Justin Thomas
The defending champion opened the week with a 76-75. He was so far behind at the start of Sunday that a 66 moved him only into a tie for 77th -- among 82 participants. His return from back surgery has not gone well thus far.

Tony Finau
Finau used a sponsor invite to finish dead last -- by five shots.

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