The star-studded pair of Shane Lowry and Brooks Koepka missed the cut by one shot as they exited the Zurich Classic of New Orleans ahead of the weekend.
Lowry won this event two years ago when playing alongside Rory McIlroy, who is missing this year’s event. The Masters champion’s absence led to Lowry teaming up with five-time major winner Koepka.
The pair followed an opening 66 in Thursday’s fourballs with a 69 in the foursomes to sit nine under at the halfway stage, one shy of the cut mark at 10 under.
Matt Fitzpatrick and his younger brother Alex shot a seven-under 65 on Friday to surge up the leaderboard and into a share of second after 36 holes..
Matt Fitzpatrick and his brother Alex carded a seven-under 65 during Friday’s foursomes to move into a share of second
American pair Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer retained their place at the top after back-to-back birdies to close their round of 70 took them to 16 under, one clear of the Fitzpatrick brothers and two other pairs.
Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick trailed Smalley and Springer by six shots going into Friday’s foursomes, but they carded the lowest round of the day to cut that gap to one stroke going into Saturday.
Victory in New Orleans would cap a memorable few months for the Fitzpatrick family, with Matt having climbed to No 3 in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) following his victories at the Valspar Championship and last week’s RBC Heritage, where he outlasted world No 1 Scottie Scheffler in a play-off.
Alex has also been in excellent form, winning his maiden DP World Tour title at the Hero Indian Open in March. The Sheffield-born brothers entered the event last year, but missed the cut by two strokes.
Tied with the Fitzpatricks for second are Davis Thompson and Austin Eckroat, as well as Billy Horschel and Tom Hoge, all locked on 15 under.
There’s further English interest in the form of Aaron Rai who, alongside American partner Sahith Theegala, is 12 under, while Matt Wallace and Marco Penge are only one shot worse off at 11 under par.
How does the event work and what is the format?
The Zurich Classic is the lone team event on the PGA Tour calendar, with teams competing in a four-ball format during the first and third rounds. Each golfer will play their own ball, with the lowest score on each hole counting.
The second and final rounds move to a foursomes format, which will see players alternate shots using only one ball. The total strokes taken will result in the team’s score for each hole, and players will alternate tee shots throughout the round.
After the first two rounds, the top 33 teams and ties will progress to the weekend. Should there be a draw after 72 holes, a sudden-death play-off will take place to establish the winning team.
What is the prize?
There is a lot at stake this week, with PGA Tour chiefs having raised the prize purse for The Zurich Classic from $9.2m (£6.83m) to $9.5m (£7.05m).
The winners will share a 14.45 per cent slice of that prize, which is expected to be around $1.372m (£1.02m).
Players from the winning team will also each receive 400 FedExCup points, but no OWGR points are available.
The champions will also gain entry to some of the biggest tournaments for the 2027 season, including The Players Championship and The PGA Championship. They will also receive an exemption to play at The Zurich Classic for the next two years.
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