Matt Fitzpatrick: Distance boom in golf is 'a mockery of the game'

Matt Fitzpatrick had some choice words when asked about the distance boom taking golf by storm, highlighted, of course, by Bryson DeChambeau's dominant U.S. Open victory.

"I’m biased because I’m not quite the longest," Fitzpatrick said, according to Golf Digest's John Huggan.

"But in the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, fair play to Bryson, he won and shot 6-under. But the fairways were tight as hell. I drove it brilliantly and actually played pretty well (despite missing the cut by one stroke), but I was miles behind. He’s in the rough and miles up and he’s hitting wedges from everywhere. It just makes a bit of a mockery of the game."

The five-time European Tour winner currently co-leads after 36 holes at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club in England while keeping an eye on DeChambeau, who held the first-round lead across the pond in Las Vegas.

"I looked at Shot Tracker yesterday to see some of the places Bryson hit it," said Fitzpatrick. "He was cutting corners. And when he’s on, there’s no point. It doesn’t matter if I play my best. He's going to be 50 yards in front of me off the tee, and the only thing where I can compete with him is putting. Which is just ridiculous."

The 26-year-old continued: "But we’re going to see people going harder and harder at it. Look at the college kids coming out now, Matt Wolff, Viktor Hovland. They just smash it, basically. Matt is a great player, but it seems to me the game is smash it and get after it and play the next one from wherever it is."

For comparison, Fitzpatrick, who won the 2013 U.S. Amateur and is ranked 20th in the world, sat 121st in driving distance during the 2019-20 campaign with an average of 294.7 yards. DeChambeau was first last season at 322.1 yards.