Matt Fitzpatrick gets a weight off his golfing shoulders after bizarre error with his driver… as the Englishman enjoys a timely return to form at the Players Championship

From the most bizarre mistakes has come the most timely revival for Matt Fitzpatrick, who has rediscovered his form and fixed his driver a month before the Masters.

Given his closeness to the lead after two rounds at the Players Championship, the Englishman can now laugh about a blunder that held him back for a year without him even realizing it.

The “mistake that no one knew about” was shared during the rounds here at Sawgrass and was related to an experiment he undertook last February, when the former US Open champion added weights to his clubs.

After trying the new approach for a month, he decided to take them off again, only to forget to remove a four-gram bar from his driver’s handle. He only realized this oversight when his grips were replaced last month and since then his play off the tee has improved dramatically.

“It’s only myself to blame,” he said on Friday, after adding a three-under-par 69 to his opening score of 66. With many of the contenders still on the course, including Rory McIlroy, Fitzpatrick was second in the clubhouse. at nine under, five behind leader Wyndham Clark, who has gone through two rounds 65-65.

Fitzpatrick, known for his meticulousness, said of the moment of revelation: ‘I took it to Titleist, they picked it up for me again and said, “Oh, you know there’s a weight in there.” I almost had a heart attack.

‘I’ve been riding it a lot better since I took it out. I got it when I won Harbor Town and won the Dunhill (both last year). If I had finished it, I might have won four times!’

Fitzpatrick’s driving here has been considerably straighter, although it is his putting that has put him among the leaders of the self-styled fifth major.

After starting on the 10th, he carded three birdies and a single bogey on his front nine, before gaining more strokes with birdies on two and three. His only sticking point came on the fourth when he threw it into the greenside water from deep rough and double bogey.

A closing birdie limited the damage to US Open champion Clark, who played holes one through nine at six under.

Fitzpatrick added: “I felt like I did everything right – I played solid overall. I made a few putts when I needed to, controlled the ball well and my approach game was good.”

World number 1 Scottie Scheffler is ominously at eight under after a score of 69, but there are doubts over his fitness after he was treated for a neck problem on course.

“I hit a shot on my second hole and felt something on my neck,” he said. “I spent most of the day trying to get the club off my back.”

He carded a three-under par 69 to his opening 66 and was five behind leader Wyndham Clark

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is ominously at eight under after a second-round 69

A day after his rules controversy with Jordan Spieth, leader McIlroy made a turbulent start to his second round overnight. He opened with a bogey, got the shot back on the next and then had to take a frog off his ball in the greenside Rough before making the par-three third bogey. He regained progress with birdies at four and five to reach eight under, but missed an eight-foot par at the sixth.

Meanwhile, Sky Sports analyst Wayne Riley revealed Spieth went ‘mad’ at him for siding with McIlroy during the first of two opening round disputes.

In both cases, Spieth questioned whether McIlroy dropped a ball in the right spot after entering the water, with Riley recounting a conversation he had with the American on the 18th hole.

“I was asked to say where the line crossed and Jordan got furious with me,” Riley said. ‘All I can do is answer the question. These spirited golfers!’