NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) — Alex Fitzpatrick was whisked around Aronimink by golf cart to make some national media hits — life is good when you're trendy in the golf world — and could only laugh at one stop when asked about comments made by his older brother earlier in the day suggesting that Alex is the messy one in a shared house.
“Here we go again,” Alex Fitzpatrick said with a laugh.
Hold up, the younger Fitzpatrick said.
Time to clear the air — and
clean the room — it's actually big brother Matt who can be a bit unkempt, especially in the bathroom.
“I’m a normal brush my teeth at night guy,” Alex said after practice rounds Monday. “He's got all these different things on the side of the counter and stuff. I'm not as bad as what he makes it out to be. He's exaggerating a lot. He's a bit of a neat freak.”
The brothers out of Sheffield, England can agree more these days that it might be better to share a trophy — as they did in April when they won the Zurich Classic team event — than share a house.
Only one can win at the PGA Championship this weekend at Aronimink Golf Club and each brother is a strong contender to win the first major in the Philadelphia region since the 2013 US Open at Merion.
Matt Fitzpatrick has three PGA Tours wins this season while Alex shared one win with his brother and entered Sunday with the lead at Quail Hollow before a double bogey on 17 derailed his shot at winning the Truist Open.
It’s rare for brothers to win in tandem on the PGA Tour. There haven’t historically been many team events, but brothers Danny and David Edwards did it at the Walt Disney World Team Championship in 1980.
“I think a lot of people feel like that once they get to this stage or even to the DP World Tour that they need to change a bunch of things and that’s going to help success,” Alex said. “I just felt like I keep doing what I’m trying to do. I’ve got a circle around me that I really trust. All the advice that I get is great.”
Alex has finished tied for ninth and fourth in his first two signature events since the Zurich Classic and has won about $2.84 million over that span. Pretty good for a golfer who wasn't on the PGA Tour before that date.
A day later, Alex tried to put the late fade at Quail Hollow behind him as he practiced for the PGA.
“I think if I looked back two months ago and someone said you’d finish fourth at the Truist Championship, I’d have kicked myself," if he was crushed, Fitzpatrick said. “I was disappointed in just in that I wish I’d have scored a little better. Overall, it was a great week and I have no complaints.”
Little brother's recent hot streak has sparked a bit of a role reversal in their dynamic.
Alex Fitzpatrick is 27 — about 4 1/2 years younger than Matt — which has led to years of answering questions about his brother.
Matt Fitzpatrick was a U.S. Amateur champion in 2013 and the U.S. Open champion in 2022, both at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. He beat Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world, in a playoff in April at Harbour Town.
“It can be such a blur at times, and I think it is trying to take a step back and kind of remember those moments, even on a week like this and think about, oh, yeah, I won the Valspar or I won Harbour Town, whatever it may be,” Matt said.
Fitzpatrick has enjoyed the roles this season of watching, winning — and analyzing — his younger brother.
“I have to get used to that now because he’s had it for much longer than me,” Matt said. “I’m probably known as Alex’s brother now, as opposed to him being Matt’s brother. I love talking about my brother. It’s an amazing position to be in to have that privilege to talk about how well he’s doing. I’d so much rather have these questions, conversations, than the opposite of, you know, why is he not playing well."
Maybe one of the brothers can talk Sunday about the feeling of winning a major.
“I’d say my head is still spinning and I haven’t woken up from the dream yet,” Alex said.
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
