Matthew Fitzpatrick sank a par putt to claim a four and three decision over Oliver Goss to win the US Amateur Championship, becoming the first Englishman since 1911 to capture the trophy.
The 18-year-old Fitzpatrick curled in a putt on the 33rd hole Sunday to claim the Havemeyer Trophy and earn an exemption to the 2014 US Open tournament. Runner-up Gross of Australia also gets an exemption to the major championship.
“It is absolutely amazing,” Fitzpatrick said. “I can’t really describe how I feel. That’s something everyone wants in golf.”
You can add Fitzpatrick’s name to the list of English players who have launched an assault on North American golf of late. The most prominent is Justin Rose who won this year’s US Open.
Fitzpatrick joins countryman Harold Hilton, who won the US Amateur 102 years ago in Rye, New York.
Fitzpatrick led 19-year-old Goss by one after the morning round at The Country Club course. Goss was bidding to become just the third Aussie in history to win the US Amateur.
West Australian Goss squared the match on the opening hole of the second round when Fitzpatrick missed a seven-foot putt.
Fitzpatrick, the low amateur at the British Open last month, then won the next two holes to take the lead for good.
“It just didn’t work out,” Goss said