Matthew Fitzpatrick is an English professional golfer known as "The Baby-faced Assassin" due to his boyish looks.
Fitzpatrick turned professional in 2014 and claimed a first win on the European Tour within two years.
He turned heads with his performance at the 2016 Masters, finishing seventh, and later that year made Europe's Ryder Cup team.
He quickly solidified his status as a seasoned professional and picked up his sixth European Tour win in December 2020.
Amateur career
Born in Sheffield, Fitzpatrick won the 2012 Boys Amateur Championship at Notts Golf Club, earning himself a spot at the 2013 Open Championship, where he finished as the low amateur with a 10-over-par total of 294, finishing T44th.
But the undoubted highlight of his early career was victory in the 2013 US Amateur at the Country Club of Brookline, notably defeating Corey Conners in the semi-final match. The win vaulted him to the top of the amateur world golf rankings.
Fitzpatrick is famed for being a superb putter.
In September 2013, Fitzpatrick enrolled at Northwestern University with an eye to playing golf for the Northwestern Wildcats, but left in January 2014 to take up amateur golf full-time.
He was the low amateur at the 2014 US Open, finishing T48th.
Turning pro
Fitzpatrick joined the paid ranks in 2014 after the US Open, but endured an inconsistent start to his professional career.
He made his professional debut at the 2014 Irish Open and T11th at the European Tour Qualifying School later that year, but he started 2015 by missing six cuts in the first eight events.
He began to regain form and finished third at the Lyoness Open, following that up with second at the Omega European Masters, finishing a single shot behind winner Danny Willett.
In October he made the breakthrough, landing the British Masters at Woburn, earning £500,000 in prize money and moving into the top 100 of the world rankings.
2016: Masters and Ryder Cup
Fitzpatrick announced himself to the wider world with tied seventh at the 2016 Masters and shortly afterwards claimed a second win in the Nordea Masters. It propelled him into the world's top 50 offering him the chance to further his career.
"I didn't think I was playing very well last year at Augusta and then suddenly I was seventh," said Fitzpatrick the following year.
He made birdie at four of the last five holes and said: "Those holes turned an okay round into a fantastic round, turned a good Masters into a great one.
"Both Masters experiences were awesome but there was a big difference between being amateur and professional," he said. "Last year, to be able to do what I did on the Sunday of a Major, was pretty special. Things like that give you confidence.
"There's no doubt that I've exceeded my expectations, I didn't know what to expect really, I just tried to keep the card in my first year, then I was in the top 50 and before I knew it I'd won the British Masters."
As a result of his performances throughout 2015 and 2016, Fitzpatrick earned automatic selection to the European Ryder Cup team. However, he lost both of his matches at the tournament as the USA emerged victorious.
Recent form
In late 2016 Fitzpatrick won the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, comfortably the most important win of his career. It is the season-ending tournament for the European Tour and deemed the most important by Chief Executive Keith Pelley.
In 2017 he defeated Scott Hend in a playoff to win the Omega European Masters and he successfully defended the title a year later.
He went two years without a win before picking up his first Rolex Series title and his second DP World Tour Championship victory in December 2020.
"It was just a grind. I wanted to win for my family, for all the hard work they put in supporting me on and off the course," said Fitzpatrick.
"It was just trying to make pars, not losing ground. It was a bit up and down on the back nine, but it was just about staying in it and maintaining the lead I built early on."
An on-going concern, however, was that it the first top 10 at the Masters remained his only top 10 at a Major Championship, but he changed that when contending all week at the 2022 PGA Championship.
Fitzpatrick and DeChambeau
Late in 2020, he attracted significant attention by commenting on Bryson DeChambeau's style of play, suggesting that his driving gave him an unfair advantage that needs to be addressed by golfing authorities.
"I'm going to be biased because I'm not quite the longest," Fitzpatrick said. "At Winged Foot, the fairways were tight as hell and I drove it brilliantly and I actually played pretty well, and yet I'm miles behind.
"He's in the rough and miles up and he's just hitting wedges everywhere. It just makes a bit of a mockery of it, I think. I just looked at Shot Tracker yesterday, some of the places he hit it and how he's cutting corners.
"When he's on, there's no point, is there? It doesn't matter if I play my best, he's going to be 50 yards in front of me off the tee. You know, the only thing I can compete with him is putting, and that's just ridiculous."
He was asked if he wanted a clamp-down on DeChambeau's style of play from the R&A and USGA.
He replied: "I really hope they do. It's not a skill to hit the ball a long way in my opinion. I could put on 40 pounds. I could go and see a bio-mechanist and I could gain 40 yards; that's actually a fact.
"I could put another two inches on my driver. I could gain that, but the skill in my opinion is to hit the ball straight. That's the skill, he's just taking the skill out of it in my opinion. I'm sure lots will disagree. It's just daft."
Matthew Fitzpatrick personal life
Fitzpatrick's boyish looks once had him mistaken for the ball boy of Tiger Woods, he revealed while speaking to Golf Channel.
He is reported to be dating Lydia Cassada, who he met at Northwestern University during his only semester there.
He's a fan of English football club Sheffield United, his hometown team, and is a former season ticket holder.
Fitzpatrick's younger brother, Alex, is an amateur golfer at Wake Forest University who played in the 2019 Walker Cup.
Matthew Fitzpatrick's net worth
According to Spotrac, Fitzpatrick's career earnings amount to over $15million.