‘So Sad About That’: Hours Before the US Open, Defending Champion Matt Fitzpatrick Disappointed About Following the Tradition

The third major championship is all geared up to welcome the sea of spectators and a field full of talent. With more than a day left for the 2023 U.S. Open to commence, all queries and interests have been impelled toward it. Hence the reason why varied questions have been surrounding the golf stars.

One of the latest subjects of intrigue has been a U.S. Open tradition without which the competition would be incomplete. Since it was Matt Fitzpatrick, the defending champion, who took to the mic on Monday, the question made even more sense. While traditions form an important segment of every sport including golf, not every custom is enjoyed by those who follow it. The English just appeared to be on a similar end when asked about this particular golf tradition.

Matt Fitzpatrick isn’t quite happy over one of the customs of the U.S. Open

With just a couple of days left before the 123rd U.S. Open officially begins, the defending champion sat for a pre-tournament press conference. While most of the questions were regarding the recent billion-dollar merger and the golfer’s current form, a couple of questions enquired about the 2022 U.S. Open winner’s trophy.

One of the reporters asked Fitzpatrick about how he felt when he had to return the U. S. Open Trophy and if he did anything fun with it for the previous year. The English athlete expressed his dismay over returning the trophy. “Yeah, I didn’t feel like I spent enough time with it, really,” he added wistfully. However, the 28-year-old did mention how he spent a vacation with one of the traditional trophies of golf.

Fitzpatrick continued, “Literally probably the month right after the Open, after St Andrews, I went on holiday to Italy with some friends, so yeah, I took it there for a week. That’s about as exciting as it got.” When another interviewer did not feel satisfied with the answer, he went on to dig more into the answer about the places the golfer visited during his vacation. To which the athlete replied, “It went a few places, actually. We were on a boat, so to Capri, Amalfi, Positano. Had a few nice day trips out.”

While the U.S. Open Trophy did get to meander along the shores of Italy, the history of the trophy is proof of numerous incidents it has witnessed based on the winners who claimed it. Apart from that, there are interesting facts about the famous Cup of the third golf major.

Some facts down the lane of the history of the U.S. Open Trophy

The beautiful two-handled silver cup is in the shape of a jug. It was first produced by the USGA-commissioned Gorham Company based on sterling silver. However, later in 1946, the trophy met with a horrific fire accident and the original cup was destroyed in the same. It was the time when Llyod Mangrum was crowned the winner and he took the original cup to his home clubhouse Tam O’Shanter.

Unfortunately, the clubhouse caught up fire and the sterling silver original cup awarded for the first time in 1895 also got ruined. After that, almost an exact replica of the Gorham-made trophy was created. For the first time, it was hoisted in 1947 by Lew Horsham who was the champion of the tournament for that season.

The current USGA trophy is present in its museum since 1986. Although the player who wins the U.S. Open holds a replica of the same for an entire year. The 18 inches high and six inches diameter trophy for the past year had been in the possession of Matt Fitzpatrick. It weighs almost 8.5 pounds and has a figurine on top of it which represents Victory.