Brothers create some 'Fitz-magic' and history
Zurich win in the Big Easy was anything but at the end for England's Fitzpatricks
Matt Fitzpatrick celebrates his brother Alex’s clinching putt in New Orleans (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
This is turning into quite a year for Matt Fitzpatrick. And for his little brother Alex, too.
The English siblings combined for a victory at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on Sunday at the PGA Tour’s only team event, one that had a relatively weak field but wasn’t without drama.
A record-setting performance turned shaky over the back nine at TPC Louisiana, where the alternate-shot format that can be incredibly tricky proved to be so.
And with a PGA Tour card on the line for Alex Fitzpatrick — not to mention spots in the upcoming signature events and the PGA Championship — those final holes were nervy. Especially for the major-winning big brother who seemed to feel the weight of his little brother’s immediate tour future on his shoulders.
So it was for Matt — the winner of the Valspar Championship last month and the RBC Heritage last week — to hit the stellar 35-yard bunker shot on the 18th hole, setting up an easy birdie 14-inch putt for Alex to convert for a one-shot victory over the Norwegian duo of Kristopher Reitan and Kris Ventura and Americans Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer.
“It was a struggle,” Matt said. “I was doing absolutely zero to help him. Apart from the [8-foot par] putt I made on 15 there, I wasn’t really providing much support. He was fantastic on the back nine, as he was yesterday as well.
“It means the world. Absolutely speechless. It was a grind today, and [Alex] was unbelievable. I couldn’t be more proud. That was just truly unbelievable today.”
Norwegians Reitan and Ventura set the clubhouse mark at 30-under with their third eagle of the day on the last, with Reitan hitting his approach from 230 yards to 6 feet. Then Smalley and Springer matched them with a birdie at the last.
In a three-way tie heading up the final par-5, Alex Fitzpatrick’s approach from 257 yards found the front bunker, leaving his big brother a 35-yard shot.
“When I got there, the lie was just absolutely obscenely good,” Matt said. “It was literally like sat on a tee peg. I knew that it was going to spin, and I knew I had to kind of be aggressive with it.
“I’d say, you know, it’s as good a bunker shot as I’ve ever hit, but that may be lying. But to hit it the way I did and to finish where it did to make it the most stress-free tap-in of all time pretty much for such a big occasion was really, really nice.”
Alex, 27, was shaking over the 14-inch winner.
“I don’t even know how to describe it. I thought I was going to miss the putt, stood over it, even though it was so short. I couldn’t feel my hands, couldn’t feel my legs, couldn’t feel anything,” he said.
“Yeah, it’s just been a whirlwind. I think, yeah, at some point it will set in, but it’s a pretty life-changing thing. Kind of excited to see what doors open and just try and play as good of golf as I can and chase him.”
Alex and Matt Fitzpatrick will now play together on the PGA Tour (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
The sibling tour rivalry should be interesting. A Fitzpatrick brother has now won somewhere in the world four of the last six weeks. A week after Matt won the Valspar on the heels of his runner-up in the Players Championship, Alex won the Hero Indian Open for his maiden victory on the DP World Tour. Now Matt goes back to back weeks on the PGA Tour and carries his little brother with him.
Alex was scheduled to play in this week’s Turkish Airlines Open, but those plans changed with the Zurich win which gets him in this week’s Cadillac Championship as well as the Truist Championship next week prior to the PGA Championship. He’s also be in the Memorial Tournament as well as the Travelers, next year’s Players and is exempt on the PGA Tour through 2028.
“Winning a couple of weeks ago on the DP World Tour was the first time that I had an exemption for over a year,” the younger Fitzpatrick said. “It’s always been a battle to have some form of status somewhere, so it was nice to have some eligibility that I know that I’m going to be okay for a year and a half or two years.
“So I obviously didn’t expect to be sitting here knowing that I’ll have exemption for, I don’t know, a year, two years on this tour. So, yeah, it’s pretty surreal. I don’t think it will set in for a long time.
“But, yeah, to be sitting here doing it with him is the craziest thing ever.”
Making their fourth consecutive start in the Zurich team event together, the brothers had twice before finished in the top 20.
This time, the Fitzpatricks seized control with a tournament-record 15-under 57 in Saturday’s better ball round, opening a four-shot lead heading to Sunday’s alternate shot finale. Matthew made six birdies and an eagle in the third-round, draining a 33-foot eagle putt on the seventh hole to be 5-under on his own through the first seven holes. Alex made seven birdies, five of them on the back including three straight to finish off the record round.
“I didn’t really do much the first nine holes. I just kind of just let him do his thing,” Alex said of his older brother. “Yeah, it was pretty cool to watch. You know, playing alongside my brother, who happens also to be one of the best players in the world, is pretty fun. When he’s playing well, it’s pretty cool to watch.”
“Yeah, an amazing day. Amazing day,” said Matt. “Probably not kind of sunk in how well we played today, if I’m honest. Yeah, it was just hole after hole.”
Team Fitzpatrick entered the final round already at 30-under par, which matched the tournament-record finishing total set by Nick Hardy and Davis Riley in 2023. By the fifth tee Sunday, the Fitzpatricks’ gap was five shots.
The pressure, however, quickly ratcheted up on the back nine.
The brothers found big trouble on the difficult par-4 12th hole when Matt’s drive flared right and settled behind a tree. Alex’s punch shot hit another tree and ended up just 21 feet away on the cart path. Matthew laid up in the fairway and after Alex wedged it to 14 feet, the 2022 U.S. Open champ missed the putt to save bogey. The double proved to be a three-shot swing as Smalley and Springer birdied 13 to close within a shot.
Matt put his brother in trouble again on 13 when he airmailed the green from 105 yards. But Alex took relief from a TV tower and hit a gutsy 30-yard flop shot to 2 feet to save par and the lead.
Alex couldn’t bail Matthew out on the par-3 14th after the elder tugged his tee shot left, leaving a long bunker shot. Alex hit it 24 feet past the hole from the sand and the bogey dropped them into a tie with Smalley and Springer at 30-under. On 15, Matt buried an 8-footer to save par and keep them tied at the top and they got up-and-down from 85 feet to save another par on 16.
While Matthew Fitzpatrick has surged from 85th in the Official World Golf Ranking exactly a year ago to a career-best No. 3 with three victories and a runner-up in the Players Championship this season, Alex has made his own big move upward. Nearly outside the world top 300 and fearing he might lose his card on the European tour late last season, he made a switch in October to Matt’s former swing coach, Mike Walker.
The work paid off with a victory last month in the Indian Open and now a partnership win with his brother on the PGA Tour. While the team victory doesn’t improve his current No. 141 world ranking, he’s trending up toward his career-high 117th with more OWGR points at stake on the PGA Tour.
“You know, it’s just tricky … when you’re not playing well and you feel like things need to change,” Alex said. “Last year it got kind of too close for liking where there was only about three or four events left in the year, so I felt like I needed to do something just to keep my card. Luckily, I made it. It was a good change.
“Mike has done a really good job with my driver and the rest of my game as well to where I feel in control of my driving, and I feel like I hit a lot of fairways now, and that gives me the opportunity to hit a lot of greens. I felt like I’ve put a lot of work in, and happy that it’s starting to show.”
His performance this week left his big brother gushing. “He played brilliant golf both last two days,” said Matt. “His game has really turned a corner these last few months, and I believe in him to continue that trend.”