ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 22, 2023

Matthew Fitzpatrick

Alex Patrick

TPC Louisiana

Quick Quotes

Q. Comments about the third round and birdieing the final.

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, it was a great back nine. Great back probably 12, I think. What were we there, probably --

ALEX FITZPATRICK: A lot.

MATT FITZPATRICK: I think we were 9-under for the last 12. Is that right? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, it was just a great comeback.

Kind of before I decided to three-putt on 6, I was thinking if we could get kind of get to the turn at 4 -- yeah, 4 or 5 -- 4-under, we could kind of kick onto the back nine and fortunately did that, birdieing 7, 8, 9.

Yeah, we really pushed on on the back. Alex played great.

Q. It would seem, Matt, obviously you appreciate how high the stakes are for your brother, and it seems like you're feeling that but in a good way. How would you describe how you're handling that? I'm thinking about when you laid down on 16 after the missed eagle and stuff like that, the emotion?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Sure, I wanted it to go in. I want to win this week. Of course I do. I want to win every week.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm not worried about this week for Alex. I've seen him out there now. He can hold his own. He can definitely be out here. He had some great results last year on the European Tour.

I just want him to enjoy this week, and I think by enjoying it, you're going to give yourself a better chance. We played great in the four ball. We just didn't quite have it yesterday. I feel like it's a positive going into tomorrow. We're kind of used to the foursomes now.

I just want to enjoy it as much as possible, and I think because of that, I think that's why we've done so well.

Q. It would seem to be quite difficult for you guys to have this much family time together with your parents during the golf season. Could you speak to that and how you're embracing it?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah. Again, it's amazing to be able to spend time as a family. It really is. It's really, really special.

The difficulty for mom and dad is both of us live over here in the states, and they're back in Sheffield. They make as many trips as possible to come see us, and the fact that we can play a tournament together makes it a helluva lot easier for them to see us both, and very exciting we get to be on the same team for once and not playing just singles golf.

Q. Alex, rolled in a few putts there at the end and all around really. Does this, how you're performing so far, kind of give you any validation for, hey, my game is good enough to be out here all week?

ALEX FITZPATRICK: Yeah, I feel like kind of over the winter break and then towards obviously these coming months, I worked pretty hard. There's some things in my game that I would like to improve still. Obviously watching him and watching all the top players, there's a lot of room -- there's a lot to work on.

Yeah, I've had some decent results so far this year, and that kind of gave me some confidence coming into this. Again, there are stakes, but at the same time, we've got nothing to lose. We're coming out and enjoying ourselves. If we play well, great. If we don't, it's not the end of the world. I get to spend time with my brother, spend time with my family and stuff. Yeah, it's been a great week.

Q. How far back is too much? Where do you think you'll be by the end of the day?

MATT FITZPATRICK: I honestly don't know. This is the first time I've played this tournament, so scoring is kind of a little -- yeah, I really don't understand the scoring. I was amazed at how bunched it is. The average win score is 25-under. We're at 21. So shoot 4-under tomorrow, then that's a decent effort.

But that's not easy. I think it's going to be the same wind as it is today, which I think is probably a harder wind. I think there's quite a few holes that play a bit longer. Again, add foursomes into that, and it's definitely more difficult.

I think we'll be a few behind. I think we've definitely gained on our position today. Like Alex said as well, just want to go and enjoy it, as cliche as it is. It's obviously cliche for a reason. We'll just go out there and one shot at a time and try to enjoy we're playing on the same team for a change.

Q. Have you guys had some good New Orleans food this week?

MATT FITZPATRICK: We've had a couple places, haven't we?

ALEX FITZPATRICK: We went to some nice restaurants and good food. So pretty impressed.

Q. Best ball, you're playing your own ball, that's normal for you guys. How much can maybe yesterday's round, Alex, can kind of help you guys get comfortable for what you're going to see tomorrow?

ALEX FITZPATRICK: Again, I don't think either of us have played that much match play.

MATT FITZPATRICK: Match play?

ALEX FITZPATRICK: Well, like foursomes. Sorry, foursomes.

So after not playing in that format for a while, I think it takes a little bit of time to get used to. Like he said, we both experienced it yesterday, and we know what it's about now.

We'll go out tomorrow, and hopefully we learn a few things and play okay and post the number and see what happens.

Q. Matt, just an off week for Billy?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, just a lot of travel for him. Made sense for him to have this one off.

Q. Who do you have on the bag?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Scott -- I'm not going to Butcher his second name. He's an Aussie lad. He's been great this week.

Q. How are you holding up after the last three weeks?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Me? Yeah, I think if it was a regular stroke play event, I'd probably be more tired. But the excitement of being here and being able to play with my brother, potentially not too far off contention here going into tomorrow, it's definitely exciting.

We'll just go out there tomorrow, enjoy it. Enjoy it by being disciplined as well and hit good shots. So we'll see.

Q. You all got a house together? Are you all able to go out and enjoy?

MATT FITZPATRICK: Yeah, we're staying in the hotel downtown. We've gone out for dinner every night and stuff. It's been great.

Q. I noticed you all playing really well off each other. On the greens in particular, you talked about reading. Is there some brother synergy there? I know you said you haven't played much together.

ALEX FITZPATRICK: He makes it easy for me. He reads the putts, and I line it up, and he tells me it's good and hits it. So far it's been going good. We'll keep hitting that tomorrow.