At U.S. Open, Matt Fitzpatrick Wins His First Major Championship

BROOKLINE, Mass. — This year’s U.S. Open began as the setting for an unprecedented showdown between golfers who had remained loyal to the established PGA Tour and a breakaway pack of ex-colleagues who recently joined the new, rebel, Saudi-backed LIV Golf series. But the anticipated confrontation at the Country Club outside Boston fizzled in the first round Thursday when golfers from both camps got along without friction.

The LIV Golf-aligned players also faded from contention early.

By Sunday, the ongoing split in men’s professional golf was hardly settled, but it was overshadowed by a riveting final-round shootout among three of the sport’s best young players: Matt Fitzpatrick, 27, of England, and the Americans Will Zalatoris, 25, and Scottie Scheffler, 25.

In the end, Fitzpatrick, who won the U.S. Amateur at the Country Club nine years ago, survived the crucible, claiming his first win at a major golf championship and on the PGA Tour with a fourth-round 68 that made him six under par for the tournament. Fitzpatrick earned $3.15 million for the victory.

Zalatoris and Scheffler were one stroke back.

The pressure-filled fourth round came down to the last two holes with Fitzpatrick leading by one stroke over Zalatoris, his playing partner. He held a two-stroke advantage over Scheffler, who had teed off two groups before Fitzpatrick and Zalatoris, the third-round leaders.

But Scheffler birdied the 17th hole to get to five under par and tie Zalatoris, who like Fitzpatrick made par at the 17th hole.

It came down to the 444-yard, par-4 18th hole, a signature hole of the Country Club. Zalatoris drilled his tee shot onto the fairway and hit a second shot to within 14 feet. Fitzpatrick yanked his tee shot left into a yawning bunker, but from 156 yards he struck a crisp iron that bounded onto the green and stopped 17 feet from the hole.

Fitzpatrick then confidently two-putted for par. Zalatoris’s birdie putt to tie Fitzpatrick and set up a playoff drifted less than an inch to the left of the hole.

While Saturday’s third round was played in gusting winds that made the greens firm and fast — and produced only seven rounds under par — Sunday’s conditions were benign in comparison. The Country Club is a fearsome course in any weather, but the forecast had been for chilly temperatures and moderately strong winds that presaged another tough day for the best golfers in the world. Instead, the wind died down and cloud cover made for a pleasant day in the 60s. Most of all, an overnight storm dumped a quarter inch of rain on the club’s small greens, which slowed them down and made putting less tricky.

As a result, the field could be more aggressive, especially if a tee shot landed on the fairway. In some cases, however, it might have given the golfers false confidence as costly mistakes were still commonplace.

Zalatoris began the day tied for the lead with Fitzpatrick at four under par but faltered early when he three-putted from 67 feet below the second hole for a bogey. Then, on the next hole, he sent his second shot into a greenside bunker, which led to a second successive bogey. But Zalatoris rarely appeared rattled. He steadied himself with…