A confident Matt Fitzpatrick eyes Dubai Open glory at the Els Club

With his confidence on a high after earning playing privileges on the European Tour, Matt Fitzpatrick is primed to take on a fresh challenge when he competes in the DUBAi Open, the Asian Tour’s final event of 2014, at The Els Club Dubai next week.

The former world number one amateur lived up his enormous potential in the 108-hole Q-School marathon to secure his card in style, birdieing three of the last five holes in Spain, an achievement which will see Fitzpatrick testing his skills against some of the best golfers in the 2015 season.

“I don’t want to just worry about keeping my card, I want to contend next season. I don’t want to be here same time next year, so I want to do my best, play well and get to work,” said the 20-year-old Sheffield native, who will make his debut as a European Tour member at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa on December 11 before flying to Dubai for the newest Asian Tour event.
“I am excited at the prospect of meeting and playing alongside some of the great players on the Asian Tour. I have a great respect for the tour which has grown a lot over the years as reflected in the success of its players both at home and abroad,” said Fitzpatrick, who is also a golf in DUBAi ambassador.

“I have been playing well and if can keep the momentum rolling in the DUBAi Open, it will be great, but I don’t want get ahead of time and will take things as they come. For me, it’s about building on good rounds, until you get four in a row,” said the Englishman, who also featured in the MENA Golf Tour’s Shaikh Maktoum Dubai Open in September.
“All I know is that, it will be fun playing in Dubai and I am looking forward to visiting the city where so much the golf action is happening,” he said Fitzpatrick, who will join India’s Jeev Milkha Singh, a four-time winner on the European Tour, and American David Lipsky, who is currently the Asian Tour Order of Merit, among other elite golfers.

Widely regarded as one the most accomplished amateurs before turning professional at this year’s Irish Open, the Englishman shot to global fame when he became the first golfer since Bobby Jones in 1930 to concurrently hold the low amateur medals for the Open Championship and US Open – a rare double he completed at Pinehurst in 2014.
Introduced to golf at the age of nine by his parents, Fitzpatrick also holds the distinction of being the first Englishman since 1911 to win the US Amateur  — the USGA’s oldest trophy — at Brookline, Massachusetts, in 2013.

Mohamed Juma Buamaim, vice chairman and CEO of golf in DUBAi, congratulated Fitzpatrick on securing the European Tour card, saying: “ Matt has already shown his extraordinary talent and if he continues like he has been he’ll have a tremendously bright future.
“We look forward to welcoming this young prodigy back again in Dubai. I feel like this is just the beginning and we will see more of him in years to come. I wish him and all other players in the field a pleasant stay in Dubai.”