Despite becoming the second Englishman to win the US Open since 1970, Matt Fitzpatrick was left out of the shortlist for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.
And many have taken issue with that.
Last month, The Telegraph reported that Fitzpatrick, 28, would decline an invitation to the awards ceremony, even if he were nominated, as the award has not favored golfers in the past.
The last golfer to win the award was Nick Faldo in 1989, the year in which he won the first of three Masters. Rose was nominated after winning the 2013 US Open, however he finished 9th in the voting out of 10 nominees. Since then, the award has been whittled down to six nominees.
This year’s nominees were gymnast Jessica Gadirova, soccer player Beth Mead, curler Eve Muirhead, cricketer Ben Stokes, snooker player Ronnie O’Sullivan and long distance runner Jake Wightman.
Fitzpatrick captured his first major championship and PGA Tour victory at the U.S. Open, which was played at The Country Club, the same place where the U.S. Amateur of 2013. On the 72nd hole, Fitzpatrick arguably had the shot of the year: a squeezy fade into the bunker from 156 yards that landed 18 feet from the hole.
In 2022, the 28-year-old also broke into the top 10 world rankings for the first time and had 10 top-10 finishes on Tour, including a T-5 at the PGA Championship.
Once again, Ian Poulter expressed his dissatisfaction with the award.
In 2012, Poulter was left out of the shortlist despite winning all four of his matches in Team Europe’s Ryder Cup victory.
Two years later, Poulter took to Twitter when Rory McIlroy, who won the Open and PGA Championship that year, lost the honor to Formula 1 star Lewis Hamilton. Poulter received backlash at the time for his opinion that McIlroy should have won.
Eight years later, voters won’t have the chance to pick Fitzpatrick as Sports Personality of the Year, like they did McIlroy in 2014, because he wasn’t even nominated.
However, it doesn’t appear that Fitzpatrick is sweating the snub. Shortly after the nominees were announced, he took to Twitter to thank those who made 2022 unforgettable.
