Matt Fitzpatrick has been one of the best players on the PGA Tour this season, and fresh off a win at the RBC Heritage he will spend another weekend in contention in New Orleans, this time paired alongside his brother Alex.
The Fitzpatrick brothers came into Friday’s second round at the Zurich Classic trailing by six shots, but the Englishmen put together the round of the day in the alternate shot format with a 7-under 65 that vaulted them into T2 on an incredibly bunched leaderboard at 15 under, one shot behind leaders Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer.
The Fitzpatricks started their day on the back nine and put together a steady, clean card through their first eight holes before Matt chipped in for eagle on the 18th to move them to 4 under on the day and really allow them to think about going low. That eagle also made up for what seemed at the time like a disastrous bogey on the 18th to end their first round in the best ball format after both players went in the water on their second shot.
Those couple of loose swings dropped them well off the pace, but they rallied on Friday and had hardly any missteps in their second round to surge to the top of the leaderboard.
“I felt we played great today. We barely missed a shot,” Matt Fitzpatrick said. “Made the putts when we needed to, made some good birdie looks, and yeah, just felt like we played really solid all around today.”
Overall they produced six birdies, an eagle and just one bogey, which is a remarkable feat in alternate shot. The brothers showed how comfortable they are with each other’s games getting around TPC Louisiana.
The 2026 season has been good to the Fitzpatricks, with Matt picking up two wins already at the Valspar and RBC Heritage to double his career win total on the PGA Tour, while Alex got his first career win on the DP World Tour at the Indian Open back in March.
Now they’ll look to maintain that kind of form on the weekend and pick up a win together. That would be a particularly special one for Matt, as adding a third win on the season would be spectacular, but more importantly it would set Alex up to make the move to the PGA Tour.
Cut line drama
The change in format from best ball to alternate shot led to some serious swings on the leaderboard, and the result was a wild Friday on the cut line. The top 33 teams and ties earned their way to the weekend, and that ultimately settled at 10 under — just six shots off the lead.
The most notable team to miss the cut was that of Shane Lowry and Brooks Koepka — the co-favorites alongside the Fitzpatricks coming into the week. After a slow start in best ball, the two stars put forth a solid effort in alternate shot to shoot 3 under, but it wasn’t enough to get them to the weekend as they fell one stroke shy at 9 under. This week was supposed to be a chance for Lowry and Koepka to end long winless droughts on the PGA Tour, but instead both managed to give up ground in the FedEx Cup race after missing the cut.
They were far from alone in a disappointing exit from New Orleans. Tony Finau and Max Greyserman also made a charge to the weekend with a 68 in alternate shot, but they also needed one more to make the weekend and a 10-footer for birdie slid by on the last for Finau, sending them home early as well. On the other end of the spectrum, two teams that were in the top 10 coming into the day — Jackson Suber and Stephan Jaeger, Michael Brennan and Johnny Keefer — struggled mightily and dropped all the way outside the cut line with over par rounds in alternate shot.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom on the cut line, as a number of teams were able to produce the late birdies needed to earn a spot on the weekend. The most impressive of those came from David Lipsky, who holed out from the bunker on the 18th for birdie to put he and Rico Hoey inside the cut on the number.
The leaders
1. Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer (-16)
A roller-coaster round for the 18-hole leaders saw the leaderboard tighten up behind them, but despite not having their absolute best in alternate shot, the duo closed strong with two late birdies on the 7th and 8th holes (after starting on the back nine) to get back into the solo lead heading into the weekend. A year ago, we saw Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak break-through together for their first PGA Tour wins, and Smalley and Springer will hope to do the same over the next two days.
Weekend contenders
T2. Matt Fitzpatrick and Alex Fitzpatrick, Davis Thompson and Austin Eckroat, Billy Horschel and Tom Hoge (-15)
T5. Eric Cole and Hank Lebioda, Matt McCarty and Mac Meissner, Doug Ghim and Jeffrey Kang, Nick Dunlap and Gordon Sargent, Kristoffer Reitan and Kris Ventura, Sam Stevens and Zach Bouchou (-14)
T11. Brice Garnett and Lee Hodges, Adam Svensson and Adam Hadwin, Ben Martin and Trace Crowe, Matti Schmid and Seamus Power (-13)
15. Aaron Rai and Sahith Theegala (-12)
The truth is, everyone who made the cut is in contention for the win because of the format. As we saw on Thursday, a team can shoot a 58 in best ball on Saturday and quickly climb the leaderboard. We also saw on Friday that alternate shot can derail a team and drop them just as fast.
That’s going to produce an exciting weekend where every team will know they have to go crazy low on Saturday in best ball and then figure out how to avoid disaster on Sunday when they are back to playing alternate shot. While the teams in the top 15 will feel extremely solid about their position, even those who got in on the number at 10 under will be just six shots back entering Saturday and could post a number early that gets them firmly into contention going into the final round.
Updated Zurich Classic odds, picks
- Matt Fitzpatrick and Alex Fitzpatrick (31/10)
- Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer (9/2)
- Davis Thompson and Austin Eckroat (13/2)
- Sam Stevens and Zach Bouchou (19/2)
- Kristoffer Reitan and Kris Ventura (19/2)
- Matt McCarty and Mac Meissner (10-1)
- Billy Horschel and Tom Hoge (11-1)
- Eric Cole and Hank Lebioda (15-1)
Confidently picking a winner at this point feels almost impossible, but I tend to lean on the teams that played better in alternate shot because that’s going to be the decider on Sunday. Horschel and Hoge, Reitan and Ventura and the Fitzpatrick brothers produced three of the best alternate shot rounds of the top 10. Further down the board, Karl Vilips and Michael Thorbjornsen (55-1) got inside the cut line with a 66 on Friday and if they can score like they’re capable of in best ball on Saturday, that team could be a real threat this weekend.