The Open: Goosebumps moment ‘will live with me forever’ – Matt Fitzpatrick

The recently-crowned US Open champion emerged from the pack after a level-par opening round that took six hours and nine minutes, to shoot seven birdies in a six-under-par 66 that took him into heart of the chasing pack.

Cameron Smith’s round of 64 which set the lead at 13 under may mean Fitzpatrick needs a couple more rounds in the mid-60s over the weekend, but after what he achieved at Brookline last month, nothing is beyond him.

“I do feel different out there,” he said of the feeling of competing as a major champion.

“I can compete, and I can win. It’s definitely been a positive. It doesn’t hold me back. It’s not something I’m nervous about.

“I’ve got to show myself a bit more. It’s just given me that extra confidence, I guess.”

The major status has not elevated him so high that he is above Woods’s entourgae however. Such is the increased interest in Woods this week, it took Fitzpatrick time to adjust on Thursday to the amount of people inside the ropes.

“You’ve got to get your head around where everyone is and who’s marshalling what because he’s got his own marshals,” said Fitzpatrick.

“I had a go at one guy, and he gave me some chat back saying he works with Tiger, to which I didn’t know what to say.

“So getting my head around that first was a bit strange. After that, certainly today just becomes playing like any other round really.”

There was also reverence to the legend he was playing with, the three-time Open champion who may have played his final round in a St Andrews Open.

“It was amazing. It gave me goosebumps,” said Fitzpatrick. “Just looking around, seeing everyone stood up, and giving him a standing ovation coming down 18. Yeah, it was incredible. It’s something that will live with me forever, for sure. It’s thoroughly deserved, and I think towards the end of it, you could see he was a little bit emotional as well.

“It was a big deal.”