If another wave of players defecting for LIV Golf is on the horizon, it isn’t going to include Matt Fitzpatrick.
On the same day Rory McIlroy denied reports of an $850 million offer from the Saudi Arabian-backed league and with rumors swirling about a potential defection by Viktor Hovland, Fitzpatrick reiterated that he has no intention of signing with LIV.
“There’s been no rumors about me,” Fitzpatrick said on Tuesday ahead of his title defense at the RBC Heritage. “For me, I want to stay out of it. I don’t really have any interest.
“I want to play tournaments like obviously the RBC Heritage, I want to play The Players Championship, I want to go and play BMW Wentworth. That’s what’s important to me, that’s what I want to go do and that’s what I’ll continue to do.”
Fitzpatrick said he felt like the direction of the PGA Tour was clarified for him a bit after talking to Andy Cohen of the SSG Group, which is investing billions into the for-profit PGA Tour Enterprises.
“I felt like he made things a lot more clear to me and I felt a bit more positive and comfortable about the future with that partnership,” Fitzpatrick said. “That’s kind of the only thing that I’ve really gone off that I’ve felt good about.
“I just don’t want to get involved in it. I’m not smart enough to get involved in it for one. Two, I just think that what am I going to do? What’s my opinion going to matter anyway? So there’s no point.”
Fitzpatrick is 12th in the Official World Golf Ranking entering the RBC Heritage, one spot below countryman Tommy Fleetwood. However, he’s also 29th in the FedEx Cup standings as Fleetwood looks ahead at a four-month grind that includes signature events mixed with three majors before the start of the playoffs.
The 2022 U.S. Open champion does believe something will eventually have to give when looking at a yearly calendar that requires consistent competition on the PGA Tour from January through August before heading back to Europe to play in a select handful of events.
“I’m full focus over here. You want to be in events like this. You want to be here. You want to be part of the signature events. You want to be playing the best events, the best fields. There’s no doubt about it, the best money,” Fitzpatrick said. That’s what you want to do. There’s no hiding that.”
“There’s nothing that sort of entices me to go to European play between January to August other than the Scottish Open. I think, obviously, in an ideal world I would love it if the PGA Tour went and did something a bit more in the summer, maybe June or something, go and play in Italy or Germany or France or wherever. That would be great.
“I think in the long run then if it stays like this, then obviously there’s going to become a tipping point where, do I really want to go and play another four or five in Europe at the end of the year, because this is where I’ve got to concentrate. Yeah, I don’t know how that’s going to look.”
–Field Level Media