On Sunday at the 2026 Players Championship, Matt Fitzpatrick suffered the most devastating loss of his pro golf career. But you wouldn’t know it if you watched Fitzpatrick closely in the immediate aftermath of his heartbreaking loss at TPC Sawgrass.
The 2022 US Open champion teed off on the 18th hole, the water finish of the stadium course, to to hand the players title to Cameron Youngall the time being mobbed by American fans in a decidedly “partisan” crowd. on sunday.
But instead of briefly shaking Young’s hand and bee-lining for his courtesy car to head home, Fitzpatrick displayed an admirable level of professionalism and genuine respect that should serve him well as he continues his return to golf’s elite levels.
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Let’s be clear: this loss was huge for Fitzpatrick. It would undoubtedly have stung more had he not won the 2022 US Open at the Country Club, where he also won the 2013 US Amateur.
But a Players win on Sunday would have been arguably the second biggest win of his professional career. After years of constant struggles, it would also have represented his first PGA Tour victory since 2023.
;)
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But once Young scored his game-winning goal Sunday night, Fitzpatrick put aside his self-pity and turned his focus to sincerely congratulating Young and his family.
The first person to greet Young right after his game-winning goal? It was not his caddy. It was Fitzpatrick. Young had a deer in his headlights view in his moment after victory, until his opponent broke the ice.
Fitzpatrick caught Young’s attention and then, with a big smile on his face, gave Young a big hug and offered his immediate congratulations.
“I love Cam,” Fitzpatrick said in his post-round press conference Sunday at the Players. “He’s such a nice guy. He’s so laid back; it’s really nice. I always knew we were going to have a good day today, obviously they were both comfortable with each other, and they were.”
Now, Fitzpatrick and Young are fellow TGL players, both members of the New York Golf Club. But more importantly, they are fresh Ryder Cup opponents a particularly strong European win last year at Bethpage Blackin Young’s home state of New York.
In light of this, any animosity between the two would be understandable. But Fitzpatrick proved otherwise on Sunday night at the Players Championship.
If Young’s hug after his win wasn’t proof enough of that, what Fitzpatrick did next should be.
As he walked from the 18th green to the scorer’s tent to officially seal his loss, Fitzpatrick left to find Young’s family.
He walked over and congratulated Young’s wife, Kelsey, and children. He then shook the hand of the new father, PGA professional David Young, before hugging Young’s mother, Barbara Young.
Having experienced an even bigger victory in Brookline in 2022, Fitzpatrick knew well how much that victory meant to Young’s family. If the Youngs weren’t already fans of Matt Fitzpatrick, they are now.
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About that Ryder Cup rivalry. With Fitzpatrick playing on the 2025 European Ryder Cup winning team and Young playing on the US team, Sunday’s final holes had a distinctly Ryder Cup feel to them.
As it became clear that playing partners Fitzpatrick and Young would go head-to-head for the title in the final few holes, fans began peppering Young with chants of “USA” that could be heard on the telecast.
;)
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Fitzpatrick, on the other hand, was regularly showered with crunches from American suitors off the ropes.
In a Golf Channel interview after his win, Young revealed that on the final hole, Fitzpatrick even joked with him about the hostile atmosphere.
“It was to the point that Matt looked at me at 18 and said:Cam, do you hate me too?‘”
But Fitzpatrick was undeterred, admitting in his press conference that he had experienced something similar when playing former American Ryder Cupper Jordan Spieth at the 2023 Players Championship.
He then referred to the upsets he received at TPC Sawgrass as “child’s play” in comparison what he and his companions experienced last September in Bethpage.
“Listen, crowd, this was literally child’s play compared to Bethpage. If they think this was anything, then they need to reevaluate. Go up to New York,” Fitzpatrick said. “Listen, that’s the way it is. That’s the way it is. I would hope it would be exactly the same if—well, maybe it wouldn’t be because we’re a little more polite in Europe, I would say, but I would hope it would be of similar intensity in Europe.”
But there’s another explanation for Fitzpatrick’s positivity after his loss to the Players. Beyond his earnings of $2.725 millionFitzpatrick’s runner-up finish is his best on the PGA Tour since 2023.
After years in the swing wilderness, Fitzpatrick, who also won the DP World Tour Championship in November, is coming into form. He had a top-10 finish at the WM Phoenix Open last month and has yet to miss a cut this year.
That means both Fitzpatrick and Young, who is pretty tearful himself, are playing their best with the biggest tournament of the year just weeks away: the 2026 Masters at Augusta National.
