‘Disappointing on the USGA side’: Matt Fitzpatrick criticizes 2023 U.S. Open atmosphere, course

LOS ANGELES – One of the signature moments of this year’s U.S. Open came Friday morning when Matt Fitzpatrick made an ace on the short par-3 15th.

The defending champion couldn’t see his ball go into the hole. Only roars from the crowd alerted Fitzpatrick he’d be writing a 1 on the scorecard.

One day later, Fitzpatrick launched some criticism toward the Los Angeles faithful – or lack, thereof – in attendance.

“Very poor … It’s disappointing on the USGA side,” Fitzpatrick told Barstool and Sports Illustrated about the U.S. Open atmosphere.

Full-field scores from U.S. Open

“They want a great tournament—from what I’ve heard a lot of members bought tickets and that’s why there’s so many less people. Hopefully, it’s not the same for other U.S. Opens going forward.”

Fitzpatrick also had some choice words for the course itself, calling LACC “interesting, to be polite.”

“There’s just too many holes for me where you’ve got blind tee shots and then you’ve got fairways that don’t hold the ball. There’s too much slope,” he said. “Some of the tee shots are just — I think they’re a little bit unfair. You hit a good tee shot and end up in the rough by a foot and then you’re hacking it out.”

Fitzpatrick’s comments come in the aftermath of Brooks Koepka saying Friday, “I’m not a big fan of this place.” Koepka held similar reservations as Fitzpatrick, citing blind tee shots and fairways that push shots of different trajectories into similar end results.

Viktor Hovland joined the two major champions with similar resentment Saturday.

“I’m not a big fan of this golf course, to be honest. I think there’s some good holes. I don’t think there’s any great holes. I think there’s a few bad holes,” Hovland said.

Meanwhile, Hovland and Fitzpatrick both had solid rounds Saturday. Hovland shot a 69 to bring his tournament score to 2 under, while Fitzpatrick’s 68 puts the defending champion at 1 under.