Matthew Fitzpatrick brought the curtain down on a turbulent season by beating Rory McIlroy to win the DP World Tour Championship for a third time in his career on Sunday.
It is easy to forget there was a time when Matthew Fitzpatrick‘s place on Europe’s Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black was in doubt.
Fitzpatrick failed to finish in the top 20 on the PGA Tour before the PGA Championship in May. In fact, he missed four cuts before the second major of the year.
But he went on to enjoy a significant turnaround. Fitzpatrick played alongside Scottie Scheffler in the last group during the third round of The Open Championship before going on to finish fourth.
And of course, the 2022 US Open champion was superb at the Ryder Cup.
Why Max Homa should take huge encouragement from Matthew Fitzpatrick’s victory in Dubai
So his victory at the DP World Tour Championship would have been particularly satisfying for the 31-year-old.
And perhaps the turning point was the decision to start working with coach Mark Blackburn back in April.
That decision also explains why Max Homa should be among those extremely pleased to see Fitzpatrick triumph in Dubai.
Homa recently announced on social media that he has returned to work with Blackburn himself.
Max Homa should be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel on the PGA Tour
The 2025 season has been pretty miserable for Homa. He had just two top 10s in 24 starts on the PGA Tour. He has fallen to 128th in the world rankings.
It has been an alarming decline for the player who had an amazing opportunity to win The Masters in 2024.
Later that year, Homa announced that he had parted ways with Blackburn. Unfortunately for the 34-year-old, that decision has not been vindicated.
Working with Blackburn will not have been the only reason that Fitzpatrick was able to get back on track. But it does appear to have been a real catalyst.
With Homa going into the winter working with the coach again, he can perhaps look at Fitzpatrick’s victory as a reason for cautious optimism.
He has the potential to be one of the best players on the PGA Tour. And he may be back working with the man to unlock that potential again.
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