{"id":54714,"date":"2026-04-24T03:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T03:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/54714\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T03:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T03:57:11","slug":"alex-smalley-and-hayden-springer-tie-tournament-record-at-zurich-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/54714\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer tie tournament record at Zurich Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

AVONDALE, La. \u2014 Matt Fitzpatrick, fresh off his RBC Heritage victory<\/a>, teamed with younger brother Alex to shoot an 8-under 64 in better-ball play Thursday in the Zurich Classic, leaving the English duo six shots behind Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer.<\/p>\n

Smalley and Springer matched the tournament record with a 58.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a long way to go before the tournament is over, but it\u2019s a fun format,\u201d Smalley said about the PGA Tour\u2019s only team event. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to kind of mix it up a little bit, to have a team event like this instead of doing the same monotonous thing that we do week in and week out, just kind of doing our own thing, playing our own ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shane Lowry and Brooks Koepka, who comprise the most accomplished team at the par-72 TPC Louisiana, shot a 66 to leave them outside the top 40 and in danger of missing the cut \u2014 unless they can make a strong push Friday in alternate-shot play.<\/p>\n

The format returns to better ball Saturday, and back to alternate shot Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing is getting those two rounds under your belt, seeing where you lie, and kicking on from there,\u201d Matt Fitzpatrick said.<\/p>\n

Davis Thompson and Austin Eckroat were a shot behind after a round in which they followed Eckroat\u2019s eagle on the par-5 seventh with eight straight birdies.<\/p>\n

Three teams were tied for third at 60: Sam Stevens and Zach Bouchou, along with Eric Cole and Hank Lebioda, and Nick Dunlap and Gordon Sargent.<\/p>\n

Billy Horschel \u2014 the only player to win the Zurich in both single-play and team formats \u2014 was again in the hunt when after he and Tom Hoge shot a 61 \u2014 highlighted by Hoge\u2019s eagle on No. 2 \u2014 to put them in a seven-way tie for sixth.<\/p>\n

Aaron Rai and Sahith Theegala each made eagles \u2014 Rai by spinning in a 106-yard approach shot on the par-4 13th \u2014 and posted a 62.<\/p>\n

Defending Zurich champs Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak shot a bogey-free 65 and will need to move up some to make the cut in the only team event of the season.<\/p>\n

Smalley, who has never won on the PGA Tour, made a 19-foot eagle put on the par-5 second hold after sinking a 16\u00bd-footer to bridie No. 1. His tee shot on No. 3 landed within 7 feet to set up another birdie to put his team at 4 under.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to have another player to lean on a little bit,\u201d Smalley said. <\/p>\n

The pair of 29-year-old Americans then combined to birdie 10 of their final 14 holes. Springer, also seeking a maiden tour triumph, accounted for the final four birdies, highlighted by his 36-foot putt on the par-3 17th.<\/p>\n

A large gallery gathered at the first hole to watch the Fitzpatricks tee off in the same group with Lowry and Koepka on a sunny, breezy, 80-degree afternoon.<\/p>\n

Koepka \u2014 in his first season back on the PGA Tour<\/a> after four years with LIV Golf<\/a> \u2014 entered the week needing a good showing to earn his first exemption for a signature event, the next of which takes place next week at Trump National Doral in Miami.<\/p>\n

Lowry carried their team early, with birdies on five of the first eight holes. Koepka finally pitched in with a 31\u00bd-foot birdie putt on No. 10, but the pair did not better that par the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

The Fitzpatricks, playing together a fourth straight year in New Orleans, got to 9-under with Matt Fitzpatrick\u2019s three straight bridies on the 15th through 17th holes. But then both hit their second shots in the water on the par-5 18th and closed with a bogey.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally disappointing way to end with two balls in perfect position,\u201d Matt Fitzpatrick said. \u201cIt\u2019s not good enough, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MichaelMichael Brennan sends mud and water flying as he tries to hit his ball out of floating debris on the 18th hole, only to have it land back in the water, during the first round of the Zurich Classic at TPC Louisiana.Matthew Hinton\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

A shirtless Michael Brennan made a splash \u2014 literally and otherwise \u2014 when he elected to hit a ball on the water\u2019s edge on 18 and sent muddy water flying everywhere while his ball popped straight up and plopped back in the water.<\/p>\n

Still, he and teammate Johnny Keefer finished the round just three shots behind the leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was dropping it if I was just playing in a normal tournament,\u201d Brennan said. \u201cBut Johnny had a birdie putt on the green. So I was, like, \u2018Well, I guess we can try it.\u2019 But, yeah, it was fun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AVONDALE, La. \u2014 Matt Fitzpatrick, fresh off his RBC Heritage victory, teamed with younger brother Alex to shoot…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[86,307,51],"class_list":{"0":"post-54714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-zurich","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-zurich"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116457678069549504","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}