The 21-year-old Englishman had the luxury of being able to bogey the closing hole for a second consecutive round of 68 to finish on 15-under-par, with WGC-Bridgestone Invitational victor Shane Lowry, Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen and Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti sharing second place on 13-under.
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Earlier in the day, Bradley Dredge was forced to withdraw from the tournament just minutes before he was due to start his third round at only two shots off the lead.
His impressive performances this season, capped with his maiden tour title over the weekend, have got a few people suggesting that Matthew Fitzpatrick could be England’s answer to Rory McIlroy.
Having notched up four top-three finishes this year, no-one has been knocking louder at the door on the European circuit this season than Fitzpatrick, and the likeable Sheffield lad dug deep on a day when his patience was tested to stay on course to make the breakthrough with a wire-to-wire success.
“It doesn’t really get much better than this I guess”.
“I would love to be a part of that team. I feel like good things are coming”. “It was obviously something in the back of my mind but I’m just bothered about hopefully playing good golf and we’ll see”.
But the 2013 US amateur champion shifted gears on the back nine with four birdies.
The 42-year-old Welshman lost his card in 2012 but regained it after finishing 81st on the Race to Dubai past year and began the week 83rd on the money list after a consistent campaign.
Leaning over to Fitzpatrick he said quietly, “the first of many”.
Fitzpatrick is one of many aspiring British golfers who chose to go through the American college system in order to fine-tune his game. “I’m looking forward to playing tomorrow”. “I could have stood there for one or two days and I still don’t think I’d have made the putt on the 14th”, he said with a huge smile on his face.
“Jordan Spieth did so when he won the Masters and for me to be in the same category as him is pretty special”.
“How Wales didn’t score a try when the ball was nearly on the line with 15 minutes to go I don’t know but, overall, it was a great game to watch”.
Donald, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Justin Rose have helped to bring the British Masters back to the European Tour for the first time since 2008 by taking turns to act as tournament hosts.
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Fitzpatrick also said this week that he wanted to earn enough to replace his Ford, which is the source of a few “banter” in the locker room, with his fellow pros nicknaming him “Mondeo Man”.
