Matt Fitzpatrick is one of the favorites heading into the PGA Championship at Aronimink this week.
That’s because of the stellar season that Fitzpatrick has enjoyed so far, with three PGA Tour wins to his name already.
However, his preparation for the PGA Championship has been far from ideal.
Matt Fitzpatrick really struggled at the Truist Championship last week, and finished in a tie for 52nd.
The Englishman’s game was extremely sloppy in overall, and with the PGA Championship lying in wait this week, he will be slightly concerned.
Fitzpatrick has established himself as one of the most clutch players on the PGA Tour this year.
When he’s in contention, he certainly doesn’t struggle from stage fright.
However, actually getting into contention at Aronimink may be challenging for the 32-year-old Englishman this week.
Matt Fitzpatrick forced into big change before the PGA Championship
Fitzpatrick’s performance at Quail Hollow came as a big surprise after his stunning form throughout the 2026 season so far.
However, it seems like there was a very good reason why he found the going so tough in Charlotte, North Carolina.
After his final round at the Truist Championship, Fitzpatrick responded when asked how he feels about his game heading into the PGA at Aronimink.
“Yeah, obviously looking forward to next week,“ he said.
“Never played it. Heard some good things. So that’s always nice before you head to a tournament. Yeah, didn’t have, just didn’t play well this week.
“My driver cracked on Wednesday before the pro-am, didn’t have time to really do any testing or anything. Put one in, not a hundred percent comfortable with it, so kind of struggled with that a little bit this week.
“Didn’t feel like I hit my irons as close as I could have. I chipped it okay. Didn’t hole a putt. So probably explains why I’m almost last.“
At the highest level of the game, changing drivers can be a really challenging task.
Just ask Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler…
Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler warnings for Matt Fitzpatrick
Rory McIlroy was forced into changing drivers ahead of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow in 2025.
The Northern Irishman’s driver was deemed to be non-conforming and he really struggled for the remainder of the season from then on out.
Meanwhile, Scottie Scheffler has had his own issues with his driver as well.
Interestingly, Scheffler has still not made the full-time switch to the new TaylorMade Qi4D driver.
He has been using the Qi10 driver all season, apart from one week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March.
It cannot be a coincidence that his 24th-placed finish at Bay Hill was his worst result of the season so far.
Matt Fitzpatrick being forced into changing drivers just before the PGA Championship could be extremely problematic for him.
We’ve seen players struggle when putting new clubs in the bag time and time again in the past, but the Englishman will be hopeful of bucking that trend.
