British Open 2025: Major winner's wife gives him specially-marked golf balls for Royal Portrush
Ben Jared
After starting his Thursday with an eagle on the second hole en route to a first-round 67, Matt Fitzpatrick is right at the top of the British Open leaderboard. A four-under start at Royal Portrush is nothing to sneeze at, and we might have found the secret reason why: Personalized balls “packed and sealed with love.”
That’s right. Matt Fitzpatrick’s better half, Katherine Gaal, has already made her mark on the final major of the season with special golf balls marked up with red hearts, “I love you” and “MF is cute.” The clip starts with Katherine asking her husband how many golf balls he’ll need, to which you hear a just-out-of-frame Matt respond with, “Hopefully not many!” So far, so good.
“Let’s mark my husband’s golf balls up for the Open,” Katherine announces. She then jokingly adds, “I always mark my husband’s golf balls up for every tournament he plays. It’s just like a special way for me to get involved. Most of the time, I do hearts and stars, but sometimes if it’s more of a serious tournament, I’ll do fish.”
Matt’s father, a flummoxed Russell Fitzpatrick, calls her out, but she follows through on the major care package: “Well, anyway. I’m still going to give you a pack of special balls, Matt. You don’t have to use them, but it’s packed and sealed with love.”
Perhaps this is the start of a trend for Golf WAGs everywhere. Jake Knapp’s girlfriend, Makena White, was enamored by the idea, commenting, “Ok this is cute can I plz.”
If Fitzy goes on to make a run at the Open, let alone win, these might be the first of many lovingly decorated golf balls popping up on tour. It's just a cute idea now, but if Fitzpatrick wins a seocnd major, it becomes brilliant.