Matt Fitzpatrick says improvement must come before he challenges for Majors

The Sheffield golfer saved the best for last at Pebble Beach, carding a three under par 68 in his last round to climb to a tie for 12th alongside Danny Willett, nine shots behind winner Gary Woodland.

But Fitzpatrick took little consolation from his impressive finish and says he has plenty of improving to do if he is to contest at the top of the leaderboard in the elite events alongside the likes of Brooks Koepka and Justin Rose.

“I’m nine behind the leader and that’s a lot of shots,” he said.

“I do feel like I’m quite fight off right now of getting up there.

“I don’t know what it is.

“I feel like I’ve probably not drove it as well this week, but either way it’s not really cost me too many shots because I’ve still gone in with the long irons where it’s not easy to hit it close.

“I just think right now there’s still quite a bit I need to get better at before I can really sort of compete.”

After starting the year well on his move to the PGA Tour in the United States, the 24-year-old has struggled for form in recent months but feels he is getting back on track.

He took a short break from action in the run-up to the US Open and admits it was beneficial.

“The game has been trending in the right direction,” he said.

“I think three weeks prior to to this I’ve not played and not scored too well just through bad putting.

“I don’t think I was probably aggressive enough with how I was hitting my irons here.

“Overall, it was a good week.”

Both Fitzpatrick and Willett will head back to European competition over the next few weeks in the build-up to next month’s Open at Royal Portrush.

Fitzpatrick is in Germany this week for the BMW International Open.