Welcome to another edition of Sunday Swing, presented by 2nd Swing Golf. This week was a busy one in the world of golf, with the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage being played at the iconic Harbour Town Golf Links as a signature event.
Many of the world’s best players traveled straight from Augusta to Hilton Head, SC to take on Harbour Town Golf Links. Known for skinny, tree-lined fairways, the players were forced to quickly adjust to a new style of golf after the major week at Augusta.
Benign scoring conditions early resulted in some low scores early on. Matt Fitzpatrick led the way after 36 holes with rounds of 65 and 63, good for a multiple-shot cushion. However, as we saw the previous week at Augusta, a large 36-hole lead can be quickly erased. A number of stars were primed to chase down Fitzpatrick, including Scottie Scheffler, Ludvig Aberg, Patrick Cantlay, and Si Woo Kim.
On Saturday, it was Scheffler who made the most noise. A round of 64 moved him into solo second place, but ultimately still trailing Fitzpatrick by three entering the final round. Aberg, Kim and Cantlay remained just behind Scheffler.
Fitzpatrick played steady golf during the final round, and it appeared he’d never lose his lead. He took advantage of birdie chances at Nos. 1 and 3 to increase his lead to four shots, and then made 14 consecutive pars through the 17th hole. This forced Scheffler to make up the difference with birdies – and he did.
Scheffler made birdies on the 9th, 15th and 16th holes to pull within one shot heading into the final hole of regulation. Both players missed the green right, but Scheffler won the chipping contest, knocking it to tap-in range while Fitzpatrick’s chip came up short, resulting in a bogey and a sudden death playoff.
The pair headed back to the 18th tee to play the difficult final hole, which was playing even more difficult thanks to a stiff wind blowing back at the players. The tournament was decided on the players’ second shots on the playoff hole – Fitzpatrick hit a beautiful draw 4-iron that bounced right over the flagstick and settled within 15 feet, while Scheffler fanned a 6-iron that came up well short.
Fitzpatrick went on to drain the birdie, giving him his second PGA Tour win of the season and his second win at the RBC Heritage, having previously won the event in 2023.
Winner's Bag | Matt Fitzpatricks' WITB
Matt Fitzpatrick's hot streak continued at the RBC Heritage, as he captured his 2nd win in the past month, while also winning the RBC Heritage for the 2nd time in his career.
Fitz rocks one of our favorite WITBs on the PGA Tour with a great mix of new and old, plus a custom putter that features similar design concepts to the putter he used to win the U.S. Amateur in 2013.
All WITB information is courtesy of GolfWRX.
Driver: Titleist GT3 (9 degrees, A1 SureFit)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei AV Raw Orange 65 TX
Fitz games a Titleist GT3 Driver off the tee and his tee game was on point this week. Harbour Town is a tight golf course, so driving accuracy is more important than distance, but Fitz excelled in both areas. He finished in 13th in average driving distance with a 314.5 yard average, while finishing tied for 11th in accuracy, hitting 39 of 56 fairways off the tee. This led Fitz to finishing 7th in the tournament in Strokes Gained Off the Tee.
Fairway Woods: TaylorMade Qi35 (15 degrees, 18 Degrees)
Shafts: Mitsubishi Tensei AV Raw Orange 75 TX (15), Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 80 TX (18)
For his fairway wood, Fitz deploys a pair of generation old TaylorMade Fairway Wood, playing a Qi35 for both his 3-wood and 5-wood. At Harbour Town, distance isn't everything, so here Fitzpatrick provided himself with a couple of different options he could use off the tee, plus into Par 5's.
Fitzpatrick's irons are our favorite part of his bag. He plays a PING i210 4-Iron, which is now a two-generation old PING Iron. This 4-iron also happened to hit the shot of the tournament with his 2nd shot on the playoff. From 204 yards out, Fitz played a low draw into the wind and put it to 13 feet, to set up the eventual winning birdie putt. He combos that PING i210 iron with an even older model for his scoring clubs, as he plays the PING s55's, which were released in 2013. Despite being over a decade old, these PING irons continue to deliver for Fitz. He hit 45 of 72 greens in regulation, and finished 12th in Strokes Gained Approach.
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F, 52-12F @52.5, 56-08M, 60-08M @61.5)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S300
For his wedges, Fitzpatrick continues to game Vokey SM10's. LIke his driving and his approach game, Fitz's short game was really good. He converted 22 of his 27 scramble opportunities, and finshed 12th in the field in Strokes Gained Around the Green.
Putter: Bettinardi BB1 Fitz
Fitzpatrick put his Bettinardi BB1 Fitz prototype back into the bag earlier this year and it has now delivered 2 wins for Fitzpatrick since making the switch. Fitzpatrick averaged 1.58 putts per GIR, which was 10th best, and his 83'4" of putts made ranked 12th in the field. Overall, he finished 9th in Strokes Gained Putting for the tournament.
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x