Fitzpatrick, DeChambeau on growing list of players rounding into form for Masters

PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) — Matt Fitzpatrick was one putt away from a chance at winning The Players Championship. Seven days later, his final putt made him a winner at the Valspar Championship. That would seem to bode well for him with the Masters next on the horizon. "Yeah, I'm probably going to win," Fitzpatrick said. No sarcasm meter was required. Fitzpatrick can speak from recent experience that form is fleeting in this fickle game, and the 2022 U.S. Open champion at Brookline doesn't have the best track record at Augusta National. A tie for seventh in 2016 was his best showing in 10 appearances as a pro. But there is something to be said about hitting full stride when turning onto Magnolia Lane the first full week in April. Five of the last six Masters champions had won multiple times going into the first major of the year. The exception was Hideki Matsuyama in 2021. Scottie Scheffler in 2022 and Jon Rahm in 2023 each had three wins in the months before they won their first green jacket. Scheffler also won at Bay Hill and The Players in 2024 when he won the Masters for the second time. He won a lot that year. Rory McIlroy's grand achievement last year was preceded by wins at Pebble Beach and The Players. It can be easy to overlook Dustin Johnson in 2020 when the Masters was moved to November because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He not only had won twice that year, he didn't finish out of the top 6 in the six tournaments leading to the Masters. So there's something to be said for form. And that's why it's hard to ignore what Bryson DeChambeau has been doing on the other side of the world the last two weeks. DeChambeau birdied the final hole in Singapore and then won in a playoff. A week later, he saved par on the final hole and won a playoff over Jon Rahm with a 3-wood from nearly 300 yards out of a wet lie in the rough to 12 feet. His U.S. Open titles are enough to warrant attention, and so are some of the shots he can hit. "The greats who can do things, you just kind of scratch your head," Paul Casey said Sunday. "There's a list of players, and Tiger ... he'd pull things off and you'd just go, 'I understand the game, I can hit a lot of great shots, but I can't do that.' "The 3-wood on 18," he said of DeChambeau's shot, "I can't do that. I'm not sure there's anybody else in the field who can hit that shot, or maybe on the planet who can hit that shot." Scheffler won his first start of 2026 in the California desert by turning a tight final round into another rout. He does that a lot. Scheffler had to withdraw from the Houston Open on Tuesday as his wife prepared for their birth of their second child. He will go to Augusta coming off three straight finishes out of the top 10. Cause for alarm? It brings back memories of 2001 when Tiger Woods had gone six whole tournaments without winning — his worst finish was a tie for 13th — and there were whispers of a slump. Then he won Bay Hill, The Players and the Masters to complete the Tiger Slam. Fitzpatrick knows what a slump is like. A year ago, he was around No. 70 in the world, missing cuts and never contending. It reached a point where he changed his team — a new caddie, a new swing coach — and slowly worked his way back to where he felt he belonged. That runner-up finish to Cameron Young at the TPC Sawgrass and his victory at Innisbrook put the Englishman at No. 6 in the world. How long ago does a year ago feel now? "About five minutes ago," Fitzpatrick said with a laugh. "It was tough this time last year. I didn't really know what was going to happen. It's hard. That's why I hate the game and I love the game. That's why I always tell people I prefer football as opposed to golf. "It is a frustrating game, but we keep coming back because for moments like on the last today," he said of his 15-foot birdie putt to win. Also worth noting in the weeks leading to Augusta National are a pair of newcomers. Chris Gotterup is only the third player since World War II to have won four times before ever playing the Masters. Two of those wins came this year. He has the power and touch for Augusta National, just not a track record (John Daly had extreme power and touch and never really came close to winning). Jacob Bridgeman is getting attention as another Masters newcomer, particularly with how comfortable the 26-year-old looked in his first win at Riviera, and how he quietly got into the picture at The Players Championship. He hasn't finished out of the top 20 in eight starts this year. Throw in Young fresh off his win at The Players; former Masters champion Patrick Reed winning twice in the Middle East as he moves away from LIV Golf; Rahm winning in Hong Kong; and Justin Rose winning at Torrey Pines. There's a long list of players rounding into form at just the right time. Winning doesn't hurt. ___ On The Fringe analyzes the biggest topics in golf during the season. More AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf