The Open: Matt Fitzpatrick "not really a fan" of the Old Course at St Andrews
US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick admits the famous Old Course at St Andrews is not his favourite course in the world.
Matt Fitzpatrick says he is "not really a fan" of the famous Old Course at St Andrews, venue of this week's 150th Open Championship.
Fitzpatrick carded a 3-under 69 to move to 9-under par for the tournament and seven shots behind 54-hole leaders Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland.
The reigning US Open champion admits he does not like the course as a result of hitting good shots and not getting rewarded.
"I’ll be honest, I’m not really a fan," said Fitzpatrick after his third round.
"It’s difficult to... I just feel like sometimes I’ve heard it on commentary all week, you can hit good shots and get bad bounces and you can hit bad shots and get good bounces. And like I say, I felt like for the first seven holes I didn’t really miss a shot and I’m walking off seventh green plus one. It’s tough to take. It’s tough to stay patient. I managed to make a few putts coming in. That always makes you feel a little bit better."
Fitzpatrick also did not like some of the pin positions on day three.
"Some of the pins as you can see are incredibly tucked just over slopes," added the Englishman.
"The green on 12, I just have got no putt. It’s tucked on the top of a hill. I hit what I thought was a good putt and it’s gone to 12 feet. There is a lot of stuff like that that’s being done obviously to protect it from going lower."
As for making up a seven-shot deficit and winning back-to-back major champions, Fitzpatrick believes he will need a bit of fortune.
"It will be harder tomorrow," he said. "I'll need guys to come back to me."
