It may not have ended with him hoisting the Claret Jug in the early evening at Royal Portrush, but the 153rd Open represented a welcome return to major contention for Yorkshire’s Matt Fitzpatrick.

The 30-year-old has endured a miserable season, one that bottomed out with a dispiriting missed cut at the Players Championship in March.

That came shortly after a split from long-time caddie Billy Foster, the fellow Yorkshireman who had been by his side when he won the US Open at Brookline in 2022.

The famous Bingley bagman has often said he nearly spat his tea out when a couple of years earlier in a meeting with the already established young man from Sheffield about whether they should team up together, Fitzpatrick had said he wanted to be a top-five player in the world.

England's Matt Fitzpatrick lines up a putt on the ninth green on day four of the Open. The Yorkshireman would finish in a tie for fourth.

placeholder image — England's Matt Fitzpatrick lines up a putt on the ninth green on day four of the Open. The Yorkshireman would finish in a tie for fourth.

They very nearly got there thanks to their winning partnership at Brookline and at Hilton Head at the RBC Heritage the following season and at the Alfred Dunhill Links later that year.

But it has been an inexorable slide since, one Fitzpatrick, reassuringly, has now arrested.

Portrush represented his second top-10 in a major this season – he finished in a tie for fourth on 11 under par after a closing 69 – but it could have been so much more.

On Friday afternoon he surged to the top of the leaderboard, only to be overhauled by one man - Scottie Scheffler, the world No 1 on a mission to win the Claret Jug that no golfer could stop.

USA's Scottie Scheffler celebrates victory with the Claret Jug on the 18th following day four of The 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush (Picture: PA)

Playing alongside Scheffler on Saturday but starting a shot behind, Fitzpatrick pulled alongside with a chip-in eagle at the par-five second.

“It was awesome, obviously,” said Fitzpatrick of the roar he received on the second.

“It was great to get under par early. You're hoping for par on the first, birdie on the next, but I'll take it that way all over again for sure. It was a nice way to start.”

But once Scheffler went eagle-birdie at the seventh and eighth he never got close to him again – in truth no one did as the world No 1 closed out a four-shot victory - and eventually finished six shots back, with the putts refusing to drop.

England's Matt Fitzpatrick greets Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy after completing their fourth round at the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush (Picture: PA)

“They just wouldn't go in. That's the long and short of it,” he said. “They went in yesterday (Friday). They didn't go in today. I just felt like I left myself too many short, mid-range, like five to eight feet.

“Obviously that starts to build up a lot of pressure as the round goes on, and I never gave myself a lot of chances with the irons to kind of make anything. So you're hoping for a 25-, 30-footer to go in.

“That's just hard to sustain over the course of 18.”

Like everyone else on Sunday, it was just a matter of trying to make birdies and hope Scheffler slipped up, which the double-bogey on eight aside, he did not do.

Fitzpatrick had five birdies yesterday, closing efforts on 16 and 17 taking him into that tie for fourth, against three bogeys, as he and the rest gave futile chase of the American.

Still, Fitzpatrick was able to acknowledge a good week on the Causeway Coast.

“A really good week, it's a really good finish,” he said.

“First time being in contention for The Open. It's a big step forward. I've been in contention for two of the four majors this year, which is really nice.

“Last time I did that was 2022. So a lot of good stuff to build on, knowing that my game is there to give it a go.

“Just got to do a few more things to get it over the line again.

“I was obviously hard on myself today out on the golf course, and Dan (caddie) did a great job of reframing me for the last three, and obviously two birdies in the last three around here is always a nice bonus.

“Particularly from where I've come, it's been much better than where I was.”

On what worked this week, Fitzpatrick added: “My irons have been as good as I've ever hit them. My driving has probably suffered a little bit because of that.

"But I've shown for certainly three days that my approach play was good enough this week to give me a chance.

"I putted really poorly for me this week. I've holed a couple of good ones today. But not felt comfortable with how I know I can putt.

“My game is definitely closer than where it was, and I definitely feel like there's room to improve and can move forward.

“But I think Scottie Scheffler is a different class.

"He's literally a full shot probably better than the next best player in the world, let alone myself, who's not the second best player in the world right now.”

The next big event on the horizon is the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in September.

Fitzpatrick, who has played in three Ryder Cups previously, has downplayed its importance as he concentrated on getting his own game back into shape, but now he has shown a flicker of his old self over four days at Portrush, he can talk more openly about making Luke Donald’s defending European team.

“Hopefully my form so far is good enough to get me in the mix,” he said.

“I feel like there's obviously still a few more weeks to go, and obviously I want to play well in those as well.

“Still a couple months off and still got to keep up the good form, and hopefully it's enough.”