Tour Championship: Alex Fitzpatrick on leaving Matt’s shadow

If Alex Fitzpatrick wanted a glimpse into just how life changing winning on the PGA Tour would be, he did not have to wait long.

While celebrating victory at the Zurich Classic pairs event, in tandem with his older brother and world number four Matt, at a golf club just north of Palm Beach, Florida, Alex felt a congratulatory hand on his shoulder.

“I look over and it’s Michael Jordan,” Fitzpatrick says. “I’m like ‘wow’, it’s insane.

“He walks past the table. He’s got a bag full of cigars, t-shirt untucked, he looks like the coolest person ever.

“He walked past me, saw Gary Woodland, who won the previous week, and was like ‘wow, it’s a room of winners in here’. That was the coolest thing ever.

“When I started to really love basketball, I watched videos of him. I love his shoes. I loved everything about him. It was surreal having that moment.

“I’m not someone who gets starstruck but Michael Jordan, having him say stuff to me, it was a different world.”

It is a world though where Fitzpatrick is looking very much at home.

In addition to his maiden DP World Tour win at the Indian Open in March, Fitzpatrick has five top-10 finishes in 13 starts on the PGA Tour.

While cynics were questioning the merit of receiving a two-year tour card as a result of winning April’s Zurich Classic, 2026 has seen Fitzpatrick prove his place alongside the world’s best.

And so sure is he of his spot among the elite, Fitzpatrick hasn’t actually leaned much on 2022 US Open champion Matt for advice.

“The truth is, we haven’t spoken that much about a lot of stuff. I’ve picked his brain once this year, maybe twice,” he says.

“I feel comfortable out here and comfortable around the group of people playing on this tour.

“I’ve been doing this a long time, I’ve been playing golf since I was four.

“I haven’t asked him a lot of questions about how things work, maybe how to get better with certain things.

“He’s always someone I can text or call but he’s still my brother and that’s more important than the golf side.”