Matt Fitzpatrick rides a good
bounce and great golf to a 63 to lead Viktor Hovland at Hilton Head
[April 18, 2026]
By DOUG FERGUSON
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Matt Fitzpatrick had one good break
and a lot of great golf for an 8-under 63 to take a one-shot lead
Friday over Viktor Hovland on a blistering day of heat and big
numbers in the RBC Heritage.
Fitzpatrick was cruising along when his tee shot on the par-3 14th
turned hard to the left, headed for sand and trees when it caught
what appeared to be the edge of a cart path that sent the ball back
down a slope onto the green and headed for the water.
It was slowed just enough by a sprinkler to stay dry, and he holed a
30-footer for a most unlikely birdie. Fitzpatrick birdied two of the
next three and completed a bogey-free round.
“Yeah, it was lucky, there's no two ways about it,” Fitzpatrick
said. “Sometimes you need that in a week, so it's nice to get, and
then even nicer to take advantage of it.”
Hovland had it far tougher in the afternoon when the wind got
stronger, and it doesn't take much around tree-lined Harbour Town
for players to get indecisive or catch the wrong gust.
Hovland got the right club on the exposed par-3 17th to 12 feet for
his eighth birdie of the day and a hard-earned 65. That included a
birdie on the par-5 fifth when he was still 205 yards out for his
third shot and wound up holing a 30-footer.
“I wouldn’t say I striped it today, but at least I kind of kept the
ball in front of me, and that’s what you’re trying to do on this
golf course,” Hovland said.
Fitzpatrick, who won the RBC Heritage in a playoff over Jordan
Spieth in 2023, was at 14-under 128.
Harris English got the wrong gust on the 11th hole and went from
scrambling for par to figuring out how to escape with double bogey
from a plugged lie in the sand. He overcame that, had a 68 and was
three shots behind.
Scottie Scheffler, who played alongside Fitzpatrick, hit all 14
fairways for only the fourth time in his career — two of those were
on the runway-wide fairways of Kapalua — and had a steady diet of
birdie chances in the 18-foot range. He managed a bogey-free 67 and
was seven behind.
Fitzpatrick and Scheffler both hit the ball so well it looked they
were playing a Tuesday money game, with birdie chances on every hole
and exchanging birdies early on before the wind acted up.
On the par-4 eighth, Scheffler hit enough of the left corner of the
green that it hopped right to 7 feet. Fitzpatrick followed on the
same line and was 6 inches closer, and Scheffler looked back at the
Englishman and smiled.
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Matt Fitzpatrick, of England, hits from the 18th tee during the
second round at the RBC Heritage golf tournament Friday, April 17,
2026, in Hilton Head, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
But it was Fitzpatrick who surged ahead with a
batch of three straight birdies on the front and three straight
birdies on the back. The longest par putt he had was 4 feet on the
final hole.
He called it a continuation of good iron play that began when he
finished one shot behind Cameron Young at The Players Championship,
then won the following week at Innisbrook in the Valspar
Championship.
Patrick Cantlay, who took a big step last week with consecutive
bogey-free rounds at the Masters after opening with a 77, shot 64
and was four shots behind along with Sepp Straka (67) and Ludvig
Aberg, who was closing in on Fitzpatrick until three bogeys on the
back nine led to a 71.
Robert MacIntyre also was in the mix, three shots behind, until the
wind died enough to keep his ball from finding the 17th green, and
then he took two to get out of a bunker for a double bogey. That
wiped out a lot of good work, and a bogey on the 18th dropped him to
a 68, six behind.
There were 20 double bogeys on the day from the 82-man field on 11
of the holes at Harbour Town. Spieth made three of them and
scratched out a 73.
Akshay Bhatia had 11 birdies to offset his double bogey in a round
of 63.
“Man, it got tricky there on the back nine, as it can here at Hilton
Head,” English said. “Gusty winds. You don’t really know what
direction it’s coming from.”
Fitzpatrick has a history at Hilton Head Island beyond winning three
years ago. His family used to come over on holiday. He suspects his
father typed in the words “tennis” and “golf” and “nice weather” and
off they went. He recalls going to the tournament, even getting a
golf ball signed by Boo Weekley. And now here is, a major champion
looking for another plaid jacket for the winner.
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