Major champion has surely booked his Ryder Cup ticket this week despite nightmare start to the season

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There are just four members of Luke Donald’s victorious 2023 European Ryder Cup team who have registered two top 10 finishes in the majors this year.

Obviously, Rory McIlroy won The Masters and had a good week at The Open Championship. Meanwhile, Jon Rahm was in contention on Sunday at the PGA Championship and finished well at the US Open.

And Robert MacIntyre‘s development into a world-class golfer has arguably gone a little under the radar, with the Scot ending up in second place at Oakmont.

But it is fair to say that the final man on that list has handed Luke Donald a massive boost ahead of the Ryder Cup given that he seemed to be in no form at all earlier in the year.

European Ryder Cup hopeful has jumped nearly 80 places in the FedEx Cup in the last three months

Following the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in late April, it appeared that Donald was likely going to have to leave out a major champion from his 2023 lineup for Bethpage in September.

Sitting in 121st in the FedEx Cup standings was Matthew Fitzpatrick. The Englishman had already missed four cuts on the PGA Tour this year, while his highest finish at that stage was tied for 22nd at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

However, concerns about Fitzpatrick appear to have been put to bed.

He would have surprised many by finishing tied for eighth at the PGA Championship. And he is now on course to make it four top 10s in a row, as he goes into the final round of the Wyndham Championship in a tie for seventh.

Matthew Fitzpatrick has surely booked his ticket to Bethpage

Of course, the high point came at The Open Championship. The 30-year-old finished tied for fourth and found himself in the final group with Scottie Scheffler on Saturday at Royal Portrush. Fitzpatrick admitted a poor putting performance cost him as the world number one put his foot down in the third round.

Fitzpatrick is projected to move into the top 40 in the FedEx Cup standings as things stand at Sedgefield. So he seems to be hitting form at the ideal time for Donald. Obviously, that is going to boost his hopes of qualifying for the signature events once again next year.

There appears to be a very good chance that Donald will opt to stick with at least 10 of the players who won the Ryder Cup back in Italy nearly two years ago.

Fitzpatrick has definitely made one of those decisions a lot easier with his form in the last few weeks.