Matt Fitzpatrick Tees Off on Abusive Sports Bettors Ahead of Open Championship

Matt Fitzpatrick is the latest professional golfer to express his frustration with abusive sports bettors.

Fitzpatrick is in his native England for the 154th playing of The Open Championship, which tees off tomorrow (July 16) and runs through Sunday (July 20). The Englishman will be a fan favorite this week at Royal Birkdale, and with his odds at +1750 (DraftKings), a bounty of money will be on the 31-year-old from Sheffield to win the Claret Jug.

Fitzpatrick, however, spends much of his time in the United States, where he’s seen as more of a villain for his four Team Europe Ryder Cup appearances.

Fitzpatrick acknowledges that many Americans root for the US player over him on a Sunday final pairing, which most recently happened in April at the RBC Heritage at Harbor Town when he was paired with Scottie Scheffler and chants of “USA, USA, USA” were heard.

Fitzpatrick: Golf Has a Sports Betting Problem

Fitzy, as he’s affectionately known, says sports betting has only increased heckling and abusive behavior towards players.

“For me, it’s definitely becoming a problem and the issue is, particularly in golf, it would be very easy to influence a bet, whether it’s shouting during someone’s backswing or shouting during a putting stroke. It’s really easy. Obviously that is really hard to monitor, but it is definitely an issue,” Fitzpatrick said during his Open media time with reporters.

The 2022 US Open winner explained that the abuse and harassment aren’t reserved for unpopular players or players competing on foreign soil.

“Every golfer who’s played a professional tournament has had a message of abuse from someone that is related to gambling. I mean, you could see it this week. You go and type in a player’s name who maybe isn’t playing well, maybe someone who’s favored to play well, you type the name into Twitter, and you’ll just see their name followed by abuse after abuse after abuse,” Fitzpatrick said. “Oh, you didn’t make a birdie. You cost me this.”

Fitzpatrick joins a lengthy list of PGA Tour members who have expressed worries about sports betting’s explosive growth.

Earlier this month, Jordan Spieth said something has to be done to limit angry bettors from hurling nasty comments at players. The 2017 Open winner faced backlash for the comments, as he’s long been a brand ambassador for FanDuel.

Open Championship Odds

With only hours to go before The Open Championship begins, defending champion Scheffler is the betting favorite at +680. 2014 Open Championship winner Rory McIlroy is next at +830, and Fitzpatrick’s fellow Englishman Tommy Fleetwood is tied with him for the third-shortest odds at +1750.

Spaniard Jon Rahm is at +1950, followed by a trio of Americans, including Xander Schauffele at +2400, and Chris Gotterup and Cameron Young at +2900.