Sporting Life

Matthew Fitzpatrick can bounce back from a missed cut at Sawgrass and contend for the Valspar Championship according to Ben Coley.

He may well be hamstrung by the putter but it hadn't been a problem at the start of the year and we are talking about one of the most volatile players around. The New Zealander has started to strike his irons really well, dating back to a third-round 65 for his best ever Riviera finish, and has form at River Highlands where he's been third in the past. He then added 22nd place in 2017 and displayed further evidence of how much he enjoys the test when defying a slow start to climb to 21st last year, when his form figures read MC-WD-MC. That was six years ago and I'm under no illusions as to his revised status in the game, but he's had several chances to win on similar courses since 2020, and remains a fabulous iron player. But come the second round at the brutal PGA National, his customarily strong ball-striking was back and he was able to leave there with plenty of positives. Since then he's played twice and missed two cuts, but his long-game was excellent on his last visit and he'd sat eighth after the first round only to miss out by a shot. Bubba's tee-to-green game has been very strong at Copperhead down the years, he generally putts the greens well, and it's not difficult to envisage him contending in a field where many are going to struggle for motivation. Unlike Fitzpatrick, Woodland did benefit from a good set of tee-times at Sawgrass but it's just not his course and I'm not going to dwell on a missed cut. Do that, and you've a former Valspar champion who was fifth at the Honda, and then had an excellent chance to win when fifth again at Bay Hill. Fitzpatrick opened at the same price he started at Sawgrass in a far stronger field, and I can't really understand why he's considered similarly likely to win here even having been shaved to 28s. Sawgrass is tough at the best of times, especially so last week, and perhaps that's why it's been a useless form guide in the short-term. Collin Morikawa missed an excellent chance to take it in the Bahamas late last year, and last week it was Viktor Hovland's turn to narrowly miss out, though his late mistakes at Sawgrass were likely nothing to do with anything but matters at hand.