Fitzmagic: Fitzpatrick brothers make history with Zurich Classic win

Alex and Matt Fitzpatrick do some of their best work as a pair.

When Alex was 14 years old, he caddied for his brother, Matthew, 17, at the time, at the 2013 U.S. Amateur. Alex still remembers the prize that he received for big bro winning the Havemeyer Trophy.

“My goal for the week was winning an iPhone off my dad, who promised me, if we won the tournament,” Alex recalled. “Obviously he never expected (us) to.”

He got something much better for teaming with his brother to win the Zurich Classic at New Orleans on Sunday, a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour.

Asked if he would accept membership, Alex smiled and said, "I am, indeed, yeah, yeah. I signed as quick as I could. I'm still shaking."

The Fitzpatricks combined to make birdie in the foursome format at the par-5 18th to shoot 1-under 71 at TPC Louisiana in the Crescent City suburb of Avondale to edge Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer and Kristoffer Reitan and Kris Ventura by one stroke and become the first brothers and family members to win the title. Matt, who won for the third time in his last five starts, became the first player in over two years to win in back-to-back events.

Matt splashed out of the front greenside bunker at 18 and spun it to a foot and younger brother Alex tapped in the birdie putt to secure the win with a 72-hole total of 31-under 257.

"I got to the ball, and the lie was unbelievable. I couldn't have placed it on a better tee," Matt said of the bunker shot. "I played it to perfection. What more can I say?"

The Englishmen built a four-stroke lead entering the final round after a Saturday 57 set a tournament-low 18-hole score in the Four-Ball format since 2017. Matt said he didn’t realize until their post-round press conference that they had made birdie at the last five holes.

It looked as if the brothers Fitzpatrick would coast to victory in the Big Easy but closing on Sundays on the PGA Tour is rarely a walk in the park. They made three birdies in the first 11 holes but it began unraveling when Matt drove right and behind a tree at 12. Alex’s punch shot ricocheted off a tree and it cost them dearly – their first double bogey of the week. They escaped with par at 13 after a poor approach shot by Matt thanks to Alex floating a world-class lob shot to tap-in range. However, they weren’t so lucky at the par-3 14^th, where Matt's tee shot into another bunker resulted in bogey, and their lead was gone. 

“You wonder who is feeling more nervous now,” said Daniel Chopra, an analyst on PGA Tour Radio. “Is it Matt playing for his brother or Alex trying to get his first win on the PGA Tour?

Matt said he felt as if he had lost his swing, but as he walked up the 15th hole, his father, Russ, stood along the right side of the rope line and egged on his oldest son to "keep going."

"That was really nice," recalled Matt, who nailed a clutch 8-foot par putt. "That was a really nice moment for me personally."

Alex wasn't the only one seeking his maiden Tour title. Smalley and Springer, both 29, bogeyed the first and sixth but sprinkled six birdies on the card through the first 16 holes to tie for the lead. There was a Norwegian team sharing the same first name and trying to steal the trophy, too. At 18, Reitan, 28, drilled a fairway wood from 232 yards that rolled to 7 feet and Ventura, 31, buried it to close out a 7-under 65. It was their third eagle of the day, offset by two back-nine bogeys, and allowed them to be first to post 30-under 258.

Moments later, Springer gunned his 44-foot birdie putt 10 feet past the hole at 17 and Smalley missed the comebacker. But they carded a birdie at the last to finish off a 4-under 68 and match the Norwegians.

Alex never wavered in his belief that his brother, the third-ranked golfer in the world, would rediscover his mojo. He watched from the gallery this time when Matt returned nearly a decade after winning the U.S. Amateur at The Country Club and won the 2022 U.S. Open there in storybook fashion. When the Fitzpatrick brothers first played in the Tour's lone team event in 2023, Matt described he and Alex, who played at Wake Forest University and was a two-time member of the Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team, as close despite being polar opposites.

“I'm organized, he's unorganized. He's happy, I'm miserable,” Matt said. “Yeah, that's probably a good way to put it really.”

After his bunker shot spun to a stop by the hole at 18 to set up the winning putt, Matt put his arm around Alex just as he had all those times before when they were growing up at Hallamshire Golf Club, their home golf club in Sheffield.

The Fitzpatricks became the 13th set of brothers to each have a victory on the PGA Tour and the first to do so in the past 20 years. Other brothers of recent vintage who have played in the pro ranks include Brooks and Chase Koepka, Nick and Curtis Thompson, whose sister Lexi has been the most successful of the bunch, and British Open winner Francesco Molinari and brother Eduardo, who were Ryder Cup teammates. The LPGA is flush with some prominent sister duos: Nelly Korda, who won the Chevron Championship on Sunday, and sister Jessica and major winner Ariya and Moriya Jutanagarn. Brother-sister tandems included Australians Min Woo and Min Jee Lee and American’s Danielle and Alex Kang.

"To win a team event on the PGA Tour with my brother, I don't know if it does get better than that," said Matt, who claimed his fifth Tour title.

This marked the ninth year the Zurich Classic was played in a two-man team format, which was introduced in 2017 (canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19). Teams played Four-Ball (best ball) in the first and third rounds, and Foursomes (alternate shot) in the second and final rounds. 

Alex secured his first win on the DP World Tour at the Hero Indian Open just one week after Matt’s victory at the Valspar Championship last month. Now they are both PGA Tour winners, and for Alex it means exemptions into next week's Cadillac Championship, three remaining signature events this season, the 2026 PGA Championship, and the 2027 Players Championship.

"I couldn't feel my hands; I couldn't feel my legs; I couldn't feel anything," Alex said. "It's a pretty life-changing thing."