Matt Fitzpatrick having fun with his brother in New Orleans

Brothers finish first round one stroke off the lead in pairs tournament.

Matt Fitzpatrick continued having fun after his RBC Heritage victory as he teamed up with brother Alex to sit just one shot off the lead in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

The US Open champion and his younger brother, who needed a sponsor’s invitation to play in the tournament, made five birdies apiece in the opening round of fourball.

Their opening 10-under-par 62 leaves them a stroke behind Wyndham Clark and Beau Hossler, who were joined at the top of the leaderboard by Sean O’Hair and Brandon Matthews.

After his win at Hilton Head on Sunday, Matt Fitzpatrick said it was a no-brainer to pair up with his brother who turned pro last year and plays mainly on the Challenge Tour in Europe.

Zurich Classic Golf
Matt Fitzpatrick, left, lines up a shot with his brother Alex Fitzpatrick. (Gerald Herbert, AP Photo)

“It was as much fun as I’ve had on the golf course in, well, about four days, to be fair,” he said. “He played great on the back nine and he bailed me out a few times.

“Obviously this was an opportunity to play with my brother and you don’t know how many of those you’re going to get. It was always one I was looking to try and play.”

As well as the £1million top prize for each player, victory here would earn Alex a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour

RBC Heritage Golf
Aaron Rai is currently tied in third place with his teammate David Lipsky. (Stephen B. Morton, AP Photo)

The duo are tied with four other teams, fellow Englishman Aaron Rai continuing his good form from Hilton Head alongside American David Lipsky.

European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald and Edoardo Molinari were two shots further back ahead of the second round in the more challenging foursomes format.

Defending champions Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay opened their title defense with a 5-under 67 and lie in T56.

Pos.TeamTo ParR1
1Clark/Hossler-11-11
T2Kim/Noh-10-10
T2List/Norlander-10-10
T2Im/Mitchell-10-10
T2Fitzpatrick/Fitzpatrick-10-10
T2Lipsky/Rai-10-10
T2O'Hair/Matthews-10-10
T8Wu/Bramlett-9-9
T8Streb/Merritt-9-9
T8Theegala/Suh-9-9
T8Ryder/Redman-9-9
T8Ramey/Trainer-9-9
T8Griffin/Gerard-9-9
T14Lower/Wu-8-8
T14van Rooyen/Daffue-8-8
T14Duncan/Lebioda-8-8
T14Donald/Molinari-8-8
T14Watney/Hoffman-8-8
T14Herman/Armour-8-8
T14Moore/Nesmith-8-8
T14Burns/Horschel-8-8
T14English/Hoge-8-8
T14Todd/Kizzire-8-8
T14Riley/Hardy-8-8
T14Walker/Points-8-8
T14Pendrith/Gligic-8-8
T14Thompson/Gordon-8-8
T14Lamely/hubbard-8-8
T29Schwab/Norrman-7-7
T29Kang/Bae-7-7
T29Novak/Cone-7-7
T29Dufner/Chappell-7-7
T29Gribble/Haley II-7-7
T29Eckroat/Harrington-7-7
T29Grant/Roy-7-7
T29Goya/Werbylo-7-7
T29Ernst/Garrigus-7-7
T29Hadley/Martin-7-7
T29Cole/Saunders-7-7
T29Kitayama/Montgomery-7-7
T29Dahmen/Mccarthy-7-7
T42Homa/Morikawa-6-6
T42Blixt/Lingmerth-6-6
T42Johnson/Stricker-6-6
T42Smotherman/Higgs-6-6
T42Kim/Kim-6-6
T42Trahan/Collins-6-6
T42Bryan/Murray-6-6
T42Mullinax/Stallings-6-6
T42Taylor/Hadwin-6-6
T42Frittelli/Schmid-6-6
T42Landry/Cook-6-6
T42Spaun/Buckley-6-6
T54Hodges/Shelton-5-5
T54Gómez/Núñez-5-5
T54Schauffele/Cantlay-5-5
T54Tway/Kraft-5-5
T54Stanley/Barnes-5-5
T54Knox/Stuard-5-5
T54Garnett/Sigg-5-5
T54Detry/Perez-5-5
T54An/Kim-5-5
T54Ghim/Hickok-5-5
T54McGreevy/Stevens-5-5
T54Hojgaard/Olesen-5-5
T66Young/Westmoreland-4-4
T66Hall/Bhatia-4-4
T66Percy/Chalmers-4-4
T66Alexander/Yuan-4-4
T66Stroud/Mcgirt-4-4
T66Werenski/Brown-4-4
T66Ogilvy/Stadler-4-4
T73Palmer/Piercy-3-3
T73Wallace/Shinkwin-3-3
T73Blair/Dou-3-3
T76Haas/Byrd-2-2
T76Baddeley/Endycott-2-2
T78Thompson/Amin-1-1
T78Tarren/Taylor-1-1
80Daly/Duval+33
Updated: November 29, 2023
Zurich Classic of New Orleans 2023
Date: 20th April - 23rd April, 2023
Location: TPC Louisiana, Avondale, Louisiana
Purse: $8,600,000. Format: Four-ball (best ball) in first and third rounds, Foursomes (alternate shot) in second and fourth rounds