Eight days ago, brothers Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick won the Zurich Classic in New Orleans. big The winner was Alex, the younger brother of the 2022 U.S. Open champion.
Since Zurich was a team event, both players on the winning team not only earned a spot in the signature event, but also earned valuable two-year memberships on the PGA Tour. So while the win in Zurich was a small step for Matt, who is currently ranked fourth in the world, it was an important moment for Alex, who was 141st this week.
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Alex Fitzpatrick has been in the midst of a strong season on the DP World Tour, including a tie for sixth at the Joburg Open and a win at the Hero Indian Open in March, but last week we got to see him for the first time as a PGA Tour member and in a signature event alongside the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Young and Collin Morikawa. And how did he fare in his 12th career PGA Tour start?
He tied for ninth place and won $500,000.
“I still have a lot of expectations for myself,” Alex said Friday at the Cadillac Championship when asked if he would be able to play more freely now that he earned his tour card. “I couldn’t believe I was going to win, but when you come out here you’re expected to compete, you’re expected to play well, and there’s always that feeling of wanting to try and perform every week. Everything is a bonus for me at this stage and it helps, but at the end of the day I’m still a golfer and I’m sure I’m going to hit some bad shots and it’s still going to be frustrating.”
Alex, 27, is four years younger than his brother, who took a day off last week, but he posted back-to-back rounds of 72-66-74-67 at Trump National Doral’s Blue Monster Course. He finished at 9 under par, 10 points behind Young, who led the way, but just four points behind Scheffler, who was alone in second place. He also ranked first in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (+4.15) and Driving Accuracy, and finished 63rd in Putting.
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“I’m doing the right thing with my golf game,” he said Friday. “I’m working towards the right things. It’s exciting. I feel like I’ve been playing well for a while now. I think I haven’t had the results I wanted on the golf course for a few months, but I’ve really turned it around in the last two months. I feel like I’m in control of my ball, which is great.”
After winning in Zurich last Sunday, Alex Fitzpatrick said he planned to board a plane to Turkey to participate in the DP World Tour’s Turkish Airlines Open. He didn’t catch it because he didn’t need to catch it anymore. Michael Lindbergh won the tournament on Sunday, earning $466,437. Fitzpatrick took home $500,000 for T9. And that’s after he earned $1.372 million in New Orleans.
Also, all the texts and congratulations I’ve received from my win are finally catching up to me. Some of them still arrived during the Cadillac Championship, where he was busy proving that he fit in well.
“I think this year will be a whirlwind for me because the overwhelming feelings of joy and happiness haven’t gone away yet. I think we’ll be successful no matter what happens,” he said. “I can’t believe how many people came up to me and congratulated me, the players, the caddies, the staff. It was unbelievable. So they made me feel really welcome, which was really nice.”
The post Will there be another big winner on Sunday? He became golf’s first familiar face.
