Eight days ago, brothers Matt Fitzpatrick and Alex Fitzpatrick won the Zurich Classic in New Orleans, although the big winner was Alex, the younger brother to the 2022 U.S. Open champion.
With the Zurich being a team event, both players on the winning squad received the valuable two-year membership on the PGA Tour, not to mention spots in Signature Events. So while the Zurich win was a minor step for Matt, now the No. 4 player in the world, it was a significant moment for Alex, who was 141st entering the week.
Alex Fitzpatrick was in the midst of a good season on the DP World Tour — having tied for sixth at the Joburg Open and winning the Hero Indian Open in March — but last week we got to see him for the first time as a PGA Tour member, and at a Signature Event alongside the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Young and Collin Morikawa. And how did he fare in just his 12th career PGA Tour start?
He tied for ninth and won half a million dollars.
“There’s still loads of expectations that I put on myself,” Alex said Friday at the Cadillac Championship, when he was asked if he plays freer now that he secured his Tour card. “It was unbelievable to win, but then you come out here and you’re expected to compete and you expect to play well and there’s always that you want to try and perform every week. For me everything’s a bonus at this stage, which does help, but I’m still a golfer at the end of the day and I’m sure I’ll hit bad shots and I’ll still get annoyed.”
Alex, who at 27 is four years younger than his brother — who took last week off — fired rounds of 72-66-74-67 at Trump National Doral’s Blue Monster course. He finished at nine under, which was 10 behind runaway winner Young but only four back of Scheffler, who was solo second. He also led the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (+4.15) and driving accuracy, finishing 63rd in putting.
“I’m doing the right things with my golf game,” he said Friday. “I’m working towards the right things. It’s exciting. I feel like my game has been good for a while now. I think for a few months it didn’t really translate on the golf course how I would have liked, but it’s really taken a turn the past two months. I feel in control of my ball, which is nice.”
Last Sunday, after winning the Zurich, Alex Fitzpatrick said he had a flight to catch to Turkey for the DP World Tour’s Turkish Airlines Open. He didn’t catch it because he no longer needed to. Mikael Lindberg won that tournament Sunday, earning $466,437. Fitzpatrick took home $500,000 for his T9. And that’s after winning $1.372 million in New Orleans.
He’s also finally catching up from all the text messages and congratulatory notes received from his victory. Some of those still arrived during the Cadillac Championship, where he was busy proving he fits in just fine.
“The overwhelming feeling of like joy and happiness is yet to go away, so I think for me this year it’s going to be a whirlwind and no matter what happens it will be a success,” he said. “I can’t believe how many people have come up to me and congratulated me and players and caddies and staff, it’s been incredible. So yeah they really made me feel welcome, and that was really nice.”
