Matt Fitzpatrick Takes Down Scottie Scheffler in Thrilling RBC Heritage Playoff

The Englishman had déjà vu with his approach shot in the playoff en route to claiming his second win in his last three starts.

Matt Fitzpatrick won his second RBC Heritage in a playoff over Scottie Scheffler. | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

History repeated itself. 

It was three years ago that Matt Fitzpatrick topped Jordan Spieth in a playoff at the RBC Heritage, stuffing an approach with a 9-iron for a tap-in, victorious birdie. 

And here he was again, three trips around the sun later, in a similar position. Only it didn’t look as easy as the first time. 

After fumbling a three-stroke lead to Scottie Scheffler in the final four holes of regulation, the 31-year-old Englishman found himself in a sudden-death playoff with the world No. 1. Scheffler hit his drive 11 yards further than Fitzpatrick, but that wouldn’t matter. Fitzpatrick, 204 yards from the hole, immediately took his right hand off his 4-iron after making contact, thinking he drew it too much. However, it was perfect, landing 13 feet from the cup on a day when less than 40% of the field hit the 18th green. 

Scheffler’s approach was unlike him, landing short of the green. He stuck his chip to 6 feet, but Fitzpatrick called game by making his birdie putt. 

MORE: Final results, payouts from RBC Heritage

“I’ll be honest, I pulled it a little bit,” said Fitzpatrick, who shot a final-round 70 and finished at 18 under par in regulation. “We had the commentary booth in the background, that was like our target, so that was probably right half of the green, right edge maybe. But it was such a great number for 4-iron … Fortunately, I hit a great shot.”

The 2022 U.S. Open champ entered the final round leading by three, and it seemed inevitable that Scheffler would eventually catch him at the top of the leaderboard. 

His best when he needed it most!

Matt Fitzpatrick hits it to 13 feet on the first playoff hole. pic.twitter.com/fHEEyGZXap

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 19, 2026

It took the full 18 holes on Sunday for that to happen. 

“I knew Scottie was going to come back,” Fitzpatrick said. “He’s world No. 1 for a reason. I knew he was going to make some birdies late. Obviously, he did that.”

Early in the day, Fitzpatrick kept giving Scheffler windows to cut the deficit. He hit into the greenside bunker on No. 11. Sliced a drive on No. 12. Yet he scraped out par after par—and so did Scheffler, unable to make a birdie putt.

Then, things turned on the par-5 15th. Scheffler got up-and-down for birdie from the greenside bunker, as Fitzpatrick made par. The lead was down to two.  

On the par-4 16th, the advantage was shrunk to one after Scheffler canned a 9-footer for birdie, the second-longest putt he made all day. 

On the par-3 17th tee box, something unusual happened. A roar echoed from the gallery on the 18th hole because the scoreboard updated, showing that Scheffler was within a stroke. (By the way, this isn’t Augusta National; fans can use their phones but apparently weren’t.) Both made par. 

Clinging to the lead, Fitzpatrick sliced his tee shot on the par-4—which features the widest fairway on Tour—into the sand, facing an approach with the ball below his feet as he stood on the rough. He knocked that shot, with a 4-iron, right of the green, 70 feet from the hole. Meanwhile, Scheffler’s second shot from the fairway settled slightly behind Fitzpatrick’s ball, and he’d chip to 2 feet. Fitzpatrick, though, botched his attempt, placing it 22 feet from the hole, and he missed his par putt to win, carding his first bogey in 29 holes.

Yet the mood afterward was lighthearted. Walking back to the 18th tee box, Fitzpatrick’s caddie, Daniel Parratt, told him, ‘We’d have taken this start of the week.” Of course, that’s the same advice Rory McIlroy’s caddie, Harry Diamond, said before the sudden-death playoff in the 2025 Masters. 

“I jokingly said to Dan, I was like, ‘Oh O.K., here he is, Harry Diamond here,’ Fitzpatrick said. “Yeah, we had a good laugh about that.”

Clearly, the method worked, as moments later, Fitzpatrick made his first birdie since the 3rd hole—and won. 

As for Scheffler, it’s his second runner-up in as many weeks. And his winless drought stretches back to the American Express, his first start of the season. That seems like forever for Scheffler’s standards, but it’s his fifth top 10 in eight starts. 

“I think I had only one bogey over the weekend here, so did a lot of really good things,” Scheffler said after a final-round 67. “Would have liked to have seen a few more putts go in, but overall, I executed the way I wanted to. It was just challenging out there. The wind is swirling all around, and it was hard to make birdies late in the day.”

But in the end, it was Fitzpatrick who weathered his own shortcomings Sunday. And winning at Harbour Town is extra special. He vacationed on Hilton Head Island growing up and attended this tournament several times. When he won it in 2023, he said that he could retire. 

Of course, he was kidding. And in the last few years, Fitzpatrick endured struggles. A year ago, he was 79th in the world. Twelve months later, with his second win in his last three starts (along with last month’s Valspar Championship), he’ll move to No. 3.

That’s because of what he was able to do with his approach in the playoff, fending off the world’s best player. Now, boasting two signature moments on Harbour Town’s closing hole, Fitzpatrick joins names such as Tom Watson, Davis Love III, Johnny Miller and Fuzzy Zoeller as multiple-time winners of the event.

“This is a tournament I wanted to win growing up,” Fitzpatrick said, “arguably more than any of the majors before I understood about the game. To win it twice means the world.”