Rory McIlroy will head into this week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational with something he has not had for nine years - a new caddie.
The pair remain on good terms and while McIlroy has not ruled out a return for Fitzgerald in the future, he believes a change was needed as he enters a crucial period of the season with the US PGA Championship looming on the horizon.
"It's a big change," he said. "JP has been a huge part of my life for the last decade. We started in July 2008 and went all the way up until July of this year. A lot of great times, a lot of great times on and off the golf course.
"I still consider JP one of my best friends, one of my closest friends, but sometimes to preserve a personal relationship you might have to sacrifice a professional one and that was the decision that I came to in the end.
"I was getting very hard on him on the golf course and I don't want to treat anyone like that but sometimes this game drives you to that.
"I thanked JP for everything. JP knows how much I think of him, how much he means to me, what we've achieved together and it wasn't an easy decision but at the end of the day I felt like it was a change that I needed to make.
"There's nothing to say that JP mightn't work for me again at some point but, right now, I just felt like I needed a little bit of a change."
McIlroy's close friend Harry Diamond will be on the bag both this week at Firestone Country Club and next week at Quail Hollow Club and McIlroy revealed he could end up with the job full-time.
"He knows me, he knows my game, he's caddied for me before, he knows my personality," he said. "He's a very good player in his own right,
"I just needed someone who knew me and knew my thought process.
"We'll see how the next two weeks go but I'm not ruling anything out. It could be two weeks, it could go longer than that. If we have a couple of good weeks here you never know. We'll see how it goes."
The 28 year old won here in 2014 during a run of three consecutive European Tour wins that included the Open Championship and the US PGA Championship.
That win at Valhalla was his last Major triumph but he feels he is not too far from getting back to those heady heights.
"There's still a long way to go but it could shoot me back into a place where I feel like I belong," he said. "I'm not going to press at all, I feel like I've more than enough capability to play well here, to play well at Quail Hollow, I've shown that before.
"I feel like my game turned a corner at Birkdale, I saw some good fighting qualities. I didn't have my best stuff but was able to finish fourth in the end so it's getting there. Coming to two venues where I've done well at before can only give me confidence."
