GOLF.AI • Apr 20, 2026

The Putter That Saved a Season

Matt Fitzpatrick’s victory at the RBC Heritage was more than just another win; it was the culmination of a crucial mid-season correction that saved his year. After a frustrating start to 2026, the English star found himself on the wrong side of the putting statistics, a place no elite golfer wants to be.

In his first four starts of the season, Fitzpatrick wielded a new Bettinardi BB48 mid-mallet putter. The results were stark: in every single one of those events, he lost strokes to the field on the greens. The search for an edge had led him astray. Recognizing the slump, Fitzpatrick made a pivotal decision: he shelved the new mallet and returned to an old friend.

The putter he went back to was a Bettinardi BB1 Flow prototype, a blade-style flatstick that holds deep significance. It's a custom replica of the Yes! Golf Tracy II model he used to win the 2022 U.S. Open and throughout his college career. It was his comfort club, a tool synonymous with his greatest successes.

The turnaround was immediate and dramatic. In the four events since switching back to his trusted blade, Fitzpatrick has been a new player on the greens. He has gained strokes putting in every tournament, a run that includes two victories at the Valspar Championship and the RBC Heritage, a runner-up finish, and a T18 at the Masters. The victory at Harbour Town, sealed in a tense playoff, wasn't just a win—it was validation that sometimes, the key to moving forward is trusting what worked in the past.