Brothers Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick of England birdied the final hole after their three-stroke lead vanished on the back nine Sunday, leading them to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans at Avondale, La.
The birdie on the par-5 18th hole gave them a 1-under-par 71, pushing their tournament total to 31-under 257 at TPC Louisiana in the PGA Tour’s only team event.
Matt is a PGA Tour winner on back-to-back Sundays after winning the RBC Heritage a week earlier. As for Alex, a DP World Tour player, he’ll receive a PGA Tour card through 2028 and a number of exemptions, including into the PGA Championship.
Sitting in a three-way tie going to the last hole, Alex’s approach went into a bunker in front of the 18th green for the team’s second shot, but on the next swing Matt put the ball within 2 feet of the cup and they avoided a playoff.
Alex Smalley/Hayden Springer (68) and the Norwegian pair of Kristoffer Reitan/Kris Ventura (65) shared second place at 30 under.
Reitan and Ventura pulled even with an eagle 3 at the 18th. Reitan’s shot onto the green left Ventura less than 7 feet for the putt.
Smalley/Springer were tied atop the leaderboard until a bogey on No. 17. They recovered to forge a three-way tie at the top when Springer’s approach shot on the 18th left Smalley a tap-in for birdie.
The Fitzpatrick team still had two holes to finish and they cashed in on the final one.
The Fitzpatrick brothers, who began the day with a four-shot lead, played the first 11 holes in a bogey-free 3 under. Then a double bogey on the 12th — initiated with Matt’s tee shot into the rough and taking a stroke for a drop — and a bogey on the 14th suddenly wiped out their advantage.
The Fitzpatricks set a tournament record by posting 57 in Saturday’s four-ball competition.
Ben Martin/Trace Crowe (66) and the Danish tandem of Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen/Jacob Skov Olesen (66) tied for fourth place at 28 under. Martin/Crowe had eight birdies but two bogeys, while Neergaard-Petersen/Skov Olesen did not make a bogey.
There was a three-way tie for sixth place at 27 under with Billy Horschel/Tom Hoge (68), Eric Cole/Hank Lebioda (68) and Doug Ghim/Jeffrey Kang (70).
The start of the final round was delayed a couple of hours because of morning storms. That led to adjustments with groups beginning on Nos. 1 and 10.
