Matt Fitzpatrick will take all of the breaks he can get in bid to win second RBC Heritage

Matt Fitzpatrick could argue that the term “momentum” is a concoction of sportswriters and broadcasters to overwise explain how an athlete’s brain and body somehow click together in a way that sustains a bit of success.

“It's funny,” Fitzpatrick was saying on Saturday at the RBC Heritage. “I remember having a conversation with [well-known coach] Phil Kenyon that effectively momentum doesn't actually exist. It's probably psychological, isn't it.”

Whatever “it” is, the 31-year-old Englishman is experiencing it both this week at Harbour Town and over the last month of the PGA Tour season. Fitzpatrick lost a close battle in the Players Championship, rebounded one week later with a victory in the Valspar, and now he’s the 54-hole leader in a tournament he loves and has already won.

On Saturday, the 2022 U.S. Open champion recovered from a rocky front nine by twice holing out from off the green on his inward route to shoot three-under-par 68. In taking a three-shot lead, he also earned a Sunday pairing with World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who fired the day’s low score of 64 to move up 12 spots.

Fitzpatrick will be trying to win his fourth PGA Tour title and follow up his 2023 playoff victory over Jordan Spieth in the RBC. Scheffler is gunning for tour win No. 21 and his second of the season after opening the year with a victory in The American Express and a runner-up in last week’s Masters.

As usual, the leaderboard for the $20 million tour signature event is tightly packed, with nine players behind Fitzpatrick who are five shots or closer to the lead.

It didn’t look like Fitzpatrick had any shot to get a sizeable lead when he bogeyed two of the first three holes and stood at two over for the round through 8.

“The bogeys that I made today, I didn't feel like I kind of hit it off the planet and I was scrambling and stuff,” he said. “I just felt that they were holes that I didn't really make my par on, and I felt like I was making good enough swings to make a turnaround on the back nine. Obviously, some nice momentum with the hole-outs on 14 and 15.”

There, he used it: the word momentum. Fitzpatrick birdied the ninth and 12th and then putted in a 27-footer from off the green at the par-3 14th, followed by a chip-in from 29 feet at 15.

“I guess that is momentum,” he said, “when you're feeling good with the putter, when you're feeling good with the driver, with your irons, you make a birdie, you hit it close, the next hole, you've got the same number you hit that to, you're feeling comfortable; that's the momentum, isn't it, I guess.”