Brothers Matt y Alex Fitzpatrick (-15) continue dreaming big at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. The British pairing carded a solid 65 on Friday, seven under the course par, making the most of the foursomes format, to sit at 15 under par overall, one shot behind Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer (-16), the solo leaders of the tournament.
The Englishmen arrived at the tournament with morale sky-high after a brilliant individual start to the season and are showing they can also transfer that momentum to team play. After opening on Thursday with a 70 in fourballs, the Fitzpatrick consolidated near the top of the leaderboard with an almost flawless second round featuring six birdies, an eagle and a single bogey.
“I think we played very well today. We hardly missed a shot”, explained Matt Fitzpatrick after the round. “We holed the putts when we needed to, took advantage of good birdie opportunities and felt we played very solid golf in all aspects”, added the Englishman, who already has two wins on the PGA TOUR this season, including last week’s playoff victory at the RBC Heritage. For his part, Alex opened his 2026 account on the DP World Tour and sits seventh in the Race to Dubai.
“Great round today”, insisted Matt. “It was a shame how we finished yesterday, but we’re very well positioned for the weekend. If we repeat this level, it’ll be fun”, he detailed. The Fitzpatrick have found a special setting in New Orleans. The city and the tournament have become a fixture on the family’s calendar.
“Coming here as a family has been fantastic for us, because during the year we don’t see each other much”, commented Alex. “From the first time we came, about four years ago, they made us feel incredibly welcome. Almost as if they had received us with open arms. Now it’s almost like a second home”, he insisted.
Matt fully agrees: “We love coming here. The tournament atmosphere is different, less intense. Having a partner who backs you up helps a lot, and even better if it’s your brother”. The Fitzpatrick already made history this year by becoming the first brothers to win in consecutive weeks between the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. Now they want to add a new chapter by claiming the title together in New Orleans.
They have 36 holes ahead in which to try to recover the one-shot deficit with which they arrive at the weekend and to contain other rivals such as Davis Thompson and Austin Eckroat (-15) or Billy Hoschel and Tome Hoge (-15), pairs with whom they share second place on the leaderboard, as well as a good number of other opponents, with up to 14 pairs within just three shots.
Those who will no longer be able to fight for victory are Brooks Koepka and Shane Lowry (-9), one of the tournament’s star pairs who missed the cut by a single shot, or the duo formed by Tony Finau y Max Greyserman (-9), who also fall short after not reaching the 10-under threshold set for Friday’s cut. Illustrious names say goodbye to this Zurich Classic of New Orleans which heads into the weekend with a very tight leaderboard.
