Matt Fitzpatrick: I do not want to be the first in 62 years not to win a point in three Ryder Cups

Matt Fitzpatrick does not wish to hear the name Tom Haliburton and definitely not John Panton or Alf Padgham. “Certainly, I don’t want to be named alongside the last two in terms of the Ryder Cup,” he says.

Two years ago, Fitzpatrick became the first golfer since Haliburton, 60 years ago, to appear in two Ryder Cups without winning as much as half a point. If the world No 8 was again to strike a blank this week, he would be emulating Panton from 1961, the Scot who, himself, emulated Padgham’s no return from three Cups in 1937.

It would be rare company to keep considering the fact that the tournament is 96 years old, but if there would be consolation for Fitzpatrick it is that the trio who form perhaps the perfect Pointless answer were all extremely adept players.

Padgham won an Open Championship, Haliburton set a world record by taking just 126 shots for the first two rounds at a European Tour event, and Panton not only was granted an MBE for his fine play but shares the distinction alongside Arnold Palmer of having a drink named after him that is still requested in clubhouses up and down the land (ginger beer, a dash of lime and a tot or two of Angostura bitters).

However, unsurprisingly this is one membership of an exclusive club Fitzpatrick does not crave. “I probably will be relieved when I win my first point, but mainly I’ll just be delighted to contribute a point to my team’s total,” he says. “Too right I’d be happy to lose all my games again, if I had the choice between that and Europe winning. What I can say? I can confirm that you don’t need to play badly to not pick up a point at the Ryder Cup.”

Fitzpatrick’s first experience of the most intimidating arena in golf was as a 22-year-old at the 2016 match in Hazeltine. Darren Clarke sat him out the first day and then threw the rookie into the unforgiving foursomes format on Saturday morning with Henrik Stenson. A 3&2 humbling followed and by the time he and Zach Johnson were battling out the final singles encounter, the match was already over.

“No, I didn’t feel really involved in my first one and never really got a chance,” Fitzpatrick says. “So I don’t know if I was playing well or not. At Whistling Straits I did get a fair bite and thought I played pretty well. Westy [Lee Westwood] and I just came up against two hot pairs in the foursomes. And on the Sunday I played [Daniel] Berger and we had 15 birdies between us before I lost on the last. But that’s matchplay. I could easily win four or five points, and shoot eight-over par every round and everyone would say ‘that Fitzpatrick was amazing!’

“It’s one of those. When I hear someone say, ‘He’s a good matchplay player’ – I don’t really buy it. If you play well, you play well and then it’s just whether you get lucky with who you are playing. You have to look at the stats. How many birdies did you make? If you make seven and he makes eight, that’s just the way it is, unfortunately. People should understand that.”

Fitzpatrick is confident that Rome will offer a more positive experience. “For starters, I’m a different player now to 2021 and probably unrecognisable to 2016,” he says. “My irons are better, much better. As for the driving, my US Open win [in 2022] gave me much more self-belief and the extra distance I found has been well publicised. I wouldn’t say I was ever intimidated before when I was miles behind some of the guys off the tee, because I always found a way to get it done. If I am over a 15-footer, I back myself against my opponent who is over a 10-footer.

“But it has been nice being able to keep up. Saying that, my driving has not been anywhere near as good as I want this year. When I finished 17th at the LA Country Club, Billy [Foster, his caddie] said: ‘How the hell have you finished top 20 in the US Open driving the ball like me?’ And that’s what it felt like – that I was driving like Billy. So to get more control I have reined it back a bit and I have lost some distance, to be honest. It’s not a bad thing, as if there’s one place you want control it’s at Marco Simone with that thick rough.”

Fitzpatrick is adamant that the occasion did not get to him in either of his appearances. “It’s far different to going down the stretch attempting to win a major,” he says. “I’d say there’s far less pressure in a Ryder Cup. Particularly in my first one. I only played twice, so I wouldn’t say I felt any pressure at all.

“Then by the time I was in my second I was a more established golfer, and I felt like it’s a comfortable area to be in. I definitely didn’t come away thinking I buckled in the heat. If I lose, it has nothing to do with the stress of the situation or anything like that.”

The Yorkshireman is allowing himself no excuses and figures the most notable change may be outside the ropes. “The thing about this time is that it’ll be my first match at home, so I’m looking forward to the galleries actually cheering for me rather than against me,” Fitzpatrick says. “You know, even when we are in the States playing on Tour and we are with an American, he’ll get all the applause.

“It happened with Scottie [Scheffler] in Chicago last month [when Fitzpatrick came second to the world No 1]. But we don’t actually get booed, like we do at the Ryder Cup on occasion. People think it shouldn’t matter, because we are professional, but subconsciously it probably does. It’s nice to hear a good shot being appreciated and a bit disarming when it is greeted by silence. So yeah, I’ll enjoy this home crowd.”

In truth, “home”, in the living sense, anyway, is now Jupiter, South Florida. He has recently become engaged to Katherine Gaal and they will spend the vast majority of the time on that side of the pond. “I will, but that doesn’t make me feel any less English,” Fitzpatrick says. “I’m still just that Sheffield lad who supports the Blades.”