{"id":54759,"date":"2026-04-24T05:52:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/54759\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T05:52:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:52:28","slug":"fitzpatrick-brothers-6-shots-behind-smalley-and-springer-at-zurich-classic-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/54759\/","title":{"rendered":"Fitzpatrick brothers 6 shots behind Smalley and Springer at Zurich Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

AVONDALE, La. (AP) \u2014 Matt Fitzpatrick<\/a>, fresh off his RBC Heritage victory, 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<\/a> 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<\/a> Tour’s 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<\/a> and Brooks Koepka<\/a>, 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<\/a> and Austin Eckroat<\/a> were a shot behind after a round in which they followed Eckroat’s eagle on the par-5 seventh with eight straight birdies.<\/p>\n

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

Billy Horschel<\/a> \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<\/a> shot a 61 \u2014 highlighted by Hoge’s eagle on No. 2 \u2014 to put them in a seven-way tie for sixth.<\/p>\n

Aaron Rai<\/a> and Sahith Theegala<\/a> 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<\/a> and Andrew Novak<\/a> 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 1\/2-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. \u201d<\/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 after four years with LIV Golf \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 1\/2-foot birdie putt on 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’s 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

A shirtless Michael Brennan<\/a> made a splash \u2014 literally and otherwise \u2014 when he elected to hit a ball on the water’s 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

___<\/p>\n

AP golf: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/golf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AVONDALE, La. (AP) \u2014 Matt Fitzpatrick, fresh off his RBC Heritage victory, teamed with younger brother Alex to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[25116,30652,28381,30657,28385,27865,24238,30659,30654,30750,30748,30660,28383,30008,30664,30749,3079,25115,30656,24227,27866,51],"class_list":{"0":"post-54759","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-zurich","8":"tag-aaron-rai","9":"tag-alex-smalley","10":"tag-andrew-novak","11":"tag-austin-eckroat","12":"tag-ben-griffin","13":"tag-billy-horschel","14":"tag-brooks-koepka","15":"tag-davis-thompson","16":"tag-eric-cole","17":"tag-event_recap","18":"tag-gordon-sargent","19":"tag-hank-lebioda","20":"tag-matt-fitzpatrick","21":"tag-michael-brennan","22":"tag-nick-dunlap","23":"tag-pga-rbc-heritage-04-16-2026","24":"tag-pga-tour","25":"tag-sahith-theegala","26":"tag-sam-stevens","27":"tag-shane-lowry","28":"tag-tom-hoge","29":"tag-zurich"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116458130232369340","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54759","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=54759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}