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Clearly the event is not of the same stature as the U.S.
Masters but the 21-year-old Englishman was happy to draw
comparisons between his victory on Sunday and American Jordan
Spieth's triumph in the year's opening major in April.
"Winning wire-to-wire is something I think most players dream of
and it's not often it gets done," Fitzpatrick told reporters
with a beaming smile.
"Spieth won the Masters that way and for me to be in the same
category is pretty special. It's a great achievement."
What made Fitzpatrick's maiden victory even more spectacular was
that the tour rookie, the youngest player in the field, believed
he was not even firing on all cylinders at Woburn.
"I really didn't think I had my 'A' game," he said. "I know a
lot of people will probably say, 'you won so you must have', but
there were phone calls to my coach on Thursday evening, Friday
evening, Saturday evening, all saying, 'what do I do?'.
"We were working on trying to fix a couple of things because I
really didn't think I was hitting it that well."
Fitzpatrick broke Justin Rose's 2002 record as the youngest
player to win the British Masters, an event that has been on the
tour since 1972 and returned to the schedule this season after a
seven-year hiatus.
English fans, who have had little top-notch golf to watch live
in recent years, turned up at Woburn in their droves and
tournament host Ian Poulter hailed the week as a great success.
"We had 57,000 fans out there through the week and so many kids
and that's what this is about, trying to get more kids out here
playing golf who can aspire to be a young Matt Fitzpatrick,"
said Poulter who finished down the field.
"Matt played exceptionally well ... he came in on an invite and
took his chance with both hands. He was a very worthy winner."
Poulter now stands down as host, handing over to Rose, Luke
Donald and Lee Westwood for the next three years although it is
not yet known which member of the trio will pick up the baton in
2016.
(Editing by Ed Osmond)
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