Matt Fitzpatrick fires shot over incident surrounding Scottie Scheffler after £2.7m boost

Matt Fitzpatrick has fired a cheeky shot to American Ryder Cup fans at the RBC Heritage after a frosty reception for the Englishman at the Harbour Town Golf Links. The 31-year-old from Sheffield defeated Scottie Scheffler in a play-off to take home £2.7m in prize money.

The duo were tied on -18 after the final round, and the home crowd made it clear they were behind American Scheffler, with chants of 'USA, USA, USA' on the final day. However, it was Fitzpatrick who reigned supreme, just as he did against Cameron Young at last month's Valspar Championship, and appeared to put his finger to his ear after winning.

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Fitzpatrick was asked about the crowd at the RBC Heritage, and said: "No it didn't get out of line in terms of, no one was chanting on the back swings or anything like that, which you know, is great. I'm all for it. I love that people are supporting Scottie, that's great.

"You want golf to have an atmosphere, in my opinion. I grew up watching football. I'd pay so much money to be out in front of those crowds, having them chant at you every week, it's a great feeling. However, there's no better feeling than coming on top against that. You know? There isn't a better feeling.

"To describe in my terms, it's like winning away against your biggest rival. Nothing to do with Scottie or the players, it's the fans that have spurred me on there. It was nice to obviously win but it never crossed the line. It was just loud."

When asked if he found it strange to be met with chants of 'USA' during a year without the Ryder Cup, Fitzpatrick said: "No. Americans are incredibly patriotic and I think that's amazing. I guess the only issue is they have short term memories because we won in October so."

Fitzpatrick's three-shot advantage at the start of the day had been trimmed to just one by playing partner Scheffler - runner-up at the Masters a week earlier - by the final hole, where he fluffed a chip and bogeyed to fall into a play-off on 18-under after posting a 70 to the American's 67.

Yet a superb four-iron into the same green during the play-off was enough to dispatch Scheffler and propel him to third in the world rankings, the highest position of his career, and further his impressive run of form from 85th in the world last May.

"I feel like I can still improve. There's areas that I want to get better at. I feel like I'm playing very well right now," Fitzpatrick added.