Matt Fitzpatrick praised for actions at the Valspar Championship as PGA Tour fail to make changes
Matt Fitzpatrick quickly bounced back from heartbreak at The Players with his third PGA Tour victory. The Englishman won the Valspar Championship with a birdie on the final hole, claiming his third victory on the PGA Tour.
Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images Matt Fitzpatrick quickly bounced back from heartbreak at The Players with his third PGA Tour victory. The Englishman won the Valspar Championship with a birdie on the final hole, claiming his third victory on the PGA Tour. But the praise he received from fans afterwards had nothing to do with his golf.
His playing partner on Sunday, Adrien Dumont de Chassart was playing so slowly that Fitzpatrick had to abandon golf convention. He played his shot on the fairway despite being closer to the hole than Dumont de Chassart, then waited three minutes for him on the green. Fitzpatrick complained to the rules official about his playing partner’s slow play, and Dumont de Chassart was given an official warning, but this drama only highlighted the shortcomings of the PGA Tour over recent seasons.
Photo by Sam Navarro/Getty Images Matt Fitzpatrick highlights PGA Tour’s broken promise to fans Slow play has plagued the PGA Tour for decades, and while there are a number of obvious solutions, which include penalty strokes for repeat offenders, nothing of substance has been implemented by the tour. That’s despite the tour saying they would act to resolve the issue after a fan survey last year. The Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner, when asked about Fitzpatrick’s actions, said, “Kudos to Matt Fitzpatrick for calling it out and putting the onus on the PGA Tour rules official to do something with the group that was out of position when playing their final round of the Valspar Championship.
“Keep in mind, the PGA Tour rolled out its Fan Forward survey last year to much fanfare, and one of the big crackdowns they were supposed to have was on slow play. “I remember distinctly, at Pebble Beach, where the PGA Tour said they were going to take a very stern look at this, and make sure they were going to have some policies be enforced for the first time. “All of that seemingly has been put on the back burner with Brian Rolapp coming in as the CEO.