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Defending U.S. Open champ Matt Fitzpatrick sinks a hole-in-one, doesn't see it go in

Nikki Chavanelleby: Nikki Chavanelle06/16/23NikkiChavanelle

The 15th hole at the Los Angeles Country Club is playing very well this week. Defending U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick managed to sink the hole’s third hole-in-one of the tournament, following Matthieu Pavon and Sam Burns’ earlier in the competition.

Fitzpatrick’s reaction was pure gold as the former U.S. Amateur champ did not see the ball go in and instead realized what he’d done when he heard cheers erupt from around the green.

The ball Fitzpatrick hit flew the 124 yards to the par-3 hole before spinning back and rolling right to the cup.

Fitzpatrick, now 28 years old, is chasing a second consecutive U.S. Open title. He won in 2022 with a one-shot victory. The annual event was at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, which is the course where he won the U.S. Amateur in 2013.

The Sheffield, England native is having a good year so far. In April, he won the RBC Heritage, taking down Jordan Spieth in a playoff.

Fitzpatrick is currently the No. 8 golfer in the world, per the official World Golf Ranking. He’s moved up one spot since 2022.

Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele break U.S. Open record

Rickie Fowler showed the world he is back in a big way on Thursday. The former Oklahoma State star played his best golf in a major in several years on Thursday at Los Angeles Country Club. He fired an opening round of 62 in the 123rd version of the U.S. Open. He was joined by a player who is no stranger to remarkable consistency in the majors, Xander Schauffele.

The opening round 62 by both players gives them the lowest round ever shot by any golfer in U.S. Open history. They tied Branden Grace’s 62 at the 2017 British Open Championship for the lowest round in major championship history.

Fowler’s talent has always been undeniable throughout his career. But his game mysteriously disappeared the past few years, as it can for even the very best of golfers from time to time. It can be a confusing and confounding game for many. Fowler is an excellent example of that.

He plummeted all the way down to 185th in the world rankings at one point the past few years. Fowler didn’t even qualify for the 2022 U.S. Open and failed to make his way into the tournament through sectional qualifying. He also didn’t qualify for the 2022 Masters, the first time in 11 years that he hadn’t done so.

Fowler has regained his excellent form in the past year on the PGA Tour. In the past two tournaments, he’s finished T6 (Charles Schwab Challenge) and T9 (The Memorial). Early in 2022, he also had a pair of top 10 finishes–a T2 at the Zozo Championship and a T6 at the Fortinet Championship.

On3’s Wade Peery contributed to this report.