'I've eclipsed golden period' - why Fitzpatrick is in US PGA frame

When Matt Fitzpatrick gets under way at Aronimink on Thursday, he will be aiming to end a 107-year wait for an English winner at the US PGA Championship.

Jim Barnes was the first and last, claiming victory at the first two tournaments in 1916 and 1919.

However, Fitzpatrick, who hails from Sheffield, is arguably the best-placed of any Englishman to end that long drought.

Three wins in his past five starts and more than $10.5m (£7.8m) banked already in 2026, has given the 31-year-old his best start to a campaign on the PGA Tour.

And with only Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Cameron Young above him in the world rankings, Fitzpatrick believes his game is in a better place than when he won the 2022 US Open.

His second-placed finish at the PGA Tour's flagship Players tournament in March was followed by a victory at the Valspar Championship and a strong showing at the Masters in April, the first major of the year.

He followed up defeating Scheffler in a play-off to win the RBC Heritage with further success alongside his brother Alex at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

"I think 2022 was my golden period and I said for two, three years afterwards it was the best period that I had ever played," Fitzpatrick said.

"But the start of this year has definitely eclipsed that because of the results [and] the underlying numbers themselves have definitely been better.

"I'm trying to cherish it as much as possible. It's all happening very quickly."

Fitzpatrick's fortunes are in total contrast to only 12 months ago when he arrived at Quail Hollow, which was staging the 2025 PGA Championship, without a top-20 finish on tour that term, and sitting a lowly 85th in the world list.

A quick glance through his stats for this year show why his rise has been so sharp.

He is in the top five on the PGA Tour for strokes gained off the tee, strokes gained from tee to green and strokes gained approaching the green - which are all key indicators of a player's form given they are measured as an average of the number of strokes they are better or worse than the field average.

And while not among the longest drivers of the ball, Fitzpatrick is top-six for accuracy, which will be crucial at Aronimink which is renowned for its fairway bunkers.

The main cause for concern could well be his putting. Fitzpatrick is ranked 99th on the PGA Tour going into this week, on a course where he believes the "greens are going to be the defence".

However, historical statistics would suggest his putting is one of the strongest parts of his game, given he has been top 30 in strokes gained with the putter in each of the past four seasons.