Matt Fitzpatrick’s US Open triumph gets ‘gorilla’ off caddie Billy Foster’s back

It takes a lot for one as stoical as Billy Foster to admit that failure brought him to tears. But he says he was in that state – all the way from Sandwich home to Yorkshire, in fact – after Thomas Bjørn passed up the opportunity to win the 2003 Open Championship. “I thought about that every day for six months,” Foster said. “It broke my heart.”

Matt Fitzpatrick was rightly lauded for his US Open victory at Brookline, but it felt like even more goodwill was flying towards Foster. One of the most popular characters in golf had broken his duck.

In close to 40 years of caddying for high-profile golfers such as Seve Ballesteros, Lee Westwood, Bjørn and Darren Clarke, there had been no victory in a major. More than 40 title wins and a key role in Ryder Cup moments that are the stuff of legend, but never one of golf’s big four titles. That a 27-year-old fellow Yorkshireman afforded Foster his moment led to appreciation from across the sport. An emotional Foster kissed the flag at the 18th hole as victory was confirmed by a Will Zalatoris putt squeezing just past the hole.

“I’d seen a lot of my mates win majors,” Foster said. “I had gone so close over the years. Darren had his chances, Thomas at Sandwich, Westy with Mickelson at the Masters and three-putting at Turnberry in 2009. There was a lot of heartbreak in there, a lot of scar tissue. Once Will’s putt missed it was just utter relief. The gorilla is now off my back. Not a monkey, a gorilla.”

Foster missed his scheduled Sunday-night flight home. He was unclear on whether he would make the Monday-night flight home. “I’m going on holiday on Wednesday so I’d better be home by then,” he said.

The bond between Fitzpatrick and Foster is strong. “This means the world to Billy,”