ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 24, 2024

Matt Fitzpatrick

Alex Fitzpatrick

TPC Louisiana

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'd like to welcome Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick into the interview room. They're making their second straight start at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, finishing T19 last year. Alex, take us back to last year and playing with your brother at this tournament.

ALEX FITZPATRICK: Yeah, last year was an incredibly exciting time. The first time we kind of teed it up together in a tournament, which was pretty cool. I would like to think that we gave it a good go last year, but the foursomes kind of let us down a little bit. Hopefully we'll try to improve on that.

But yeah, it's always a fun week, and I think we're both excited to get the week started.

THE MODERATOR: Matt, talk about being back with Alex this year.

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, excited to get the week underway. Last year just had a lot of fun. Actually before the new Netflix series came out, they were kind enough to show me the episode, and they showed a lot of clips of us here, and just made me think that -- this was January. Just made me think how excited I was for this week to be here and to play with my brother.

Q. Matt, talk about this season. Two top 10s in 11 starts. You're coming off a T28 finish last week in your title defense. Just talk about the season up to this point.

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, it's been so-so I think for me so far this year. It's not been exactly the start I wanted. But still a long way to go. Just trying to fine tune the game.

I think it's a busy period from now, to be fair, to the end of the season, the Playoffs. There's a lot going on. There's a lot of tournaments and a lot of travel. Just trying to balance the energy and balance the practice, as well, to try to keep improving.

Q. Alex, 44th on the DP World Tour in the Race to Dubai. You're coming off of a T23 finish in Punta Cana on this tour. Talk about your season up to this point, as well.

ALEX FITZPATRICK: Yeah, I think it's kind of been one of those where I feel like I've played a lot of decent golf. I had a lot of top-20 finishes which is great for the most part, but trying to sneak into that top 10 is always nice.

At the moment I would love to kind of push the belt a little bit and try and break into that top 10 a bit more. I feel like my game is in a good spot. I've got a great team around me who I'm excited for for the future, and hopefully a good week this week will set the tone.

Q. Matt, last year when you guys were here, it felt like a lot of us were being introduced to Alex. I'm curious how you've seen in the past year as he's stepped and done well in the Race to Dubai, how you've seen him grow as a golfer getting to this stage?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, I think it's all learning experiences for him last year, and even this year to an extent, but obviously through that, his game has changed over time. He's had more time to work with his coach and more time to work with his team and just grown as a player, I think, more understanding his own game, how tour life works, how he manages his time.

I think there's all these things that he's had to try and figure out, and even I'm still learning, and this is my 10th year as a professional. I'm still learning a lot. I don't think you ever get to the point where you've cracked it, so I think he's still very early on in his career, and he'll keep learning.

Q. Alex, where are you at in terms of I guess mentally just feeling like you belong to be at these events because you are proving it?

ALEX FITZPATRICK: Yeah, I mean, I think when I look back at kind of a year ago where I was, like Matt said, I'm kind of still finding my feet a little bit, and you're always trying to figure the game out, but I think definitely this year I feel like I've developed a lot as a player and as a person. I feel like I've kind of got my stuff together a little bit, better than I did last year, definitely with my team around me and the people who help me. We have a good blueprint for where I want to go and what I want to do, and I feel like that's just the goal at the end of the day is just to keep improving and see where that takes me.

Q. With both of you playing on the PGA TOUR and the DP World Tour, how often do you get to see each other in a year, and whenever you do, what do you enjoy doing together?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, we don't see each other a lot. He's currently living at my house, but he's never really there.

But yeah, we'll play together in the summer in Switzerland, the Dunhill, Wentworth, hopefully the Open, hopefully the Scottish Open --

ALEX FITZPATRICK: Hopefully U.S. Open.

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, all that stuff, too. So yeah, there's a bunch of times we'll see each other there on the road, but in terms of our off weeks, we actually looked at the schedule at the start of the year, they just don't coordinate at all. When I'm off, he's playing. When he's off, I'm playing. For whatever reason, it's just worked out like that.

Q. What do you enjoy doing when you are together?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Not a lot.

Q. Do you have a favorite activity other than golf?

ALEX FITZPATRICK: No, the issue is we're opposite people. He loves looking at Excel spreadsheets, and I like playing video games. There's probably not too much in common.

Q. You mentioned the spreadsheets. How do you develop a strategy and how analytically minded would that strategy be for an event like this? Matt, you've played Ryder Cups where obviously advanced analytics can play a huge role in pairings and how you play holes, but you guys know each other's games I would imagine backwards and forwards. How deep into it do you really get?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, I got advice from Edoardo Molinari for this week in terms of which holes to tee off which. That's about the extent it goes to. I'm not going to play with anyone else. I'm always going to play with my brother regardless of the state of his game or my game.

But I think for me, it's kind of a combination of I've been out here for a few years now, so I understand how PGA TOUR tournaments are set up, how the greens tend to run. I've got more of a feel for it than him, so I feel like some of it is guiding him around, as well, and just helping him with maybe where to aim, where we're going to play, particularly in foursomes when it's about keeping the ball in play or even in four-ball when it's like, no, he's probably going to make more birdies than me because he's a bit more aggressive and can kind of -- I can play the safe ball and he can kind of go for it.

It's kind of a combination of things as the week goes on and kind of where you sit. There's going to be points where we need to make birdies, and there's going to be points where we just need to scramble a par.

Q. Alex, we hear guys all the time talking about my partner and I have an agreement we're not going to say sorry. You guys are brothers. After the games and the matches are over, has there been an instance when you're sitting on the sofa back at the house where you're like, what the hell were you thinking?

MATT FITZPATRICK: No, no, none of that. I said that last year, there was no sorries. I'll save that for another time. Not this week.