A major champ is contending at The Open. His brother is beating him

HOYLAKE, England — Matt Fitzpatrick, fresh off a nifty four-under 67, climbed up on top of the platform to speak with the media on Saturday afternoon at Royal Liverpool.

Brian Harman was still way out in front, but Fitzpatrick, after a pair of 72s the first two days, now sat at two under and was finally back on track. But so was Fitzpatrick’s brother, Alex, who teed off nine groups behind him. Alex had a few holes remaining, though.

“I saw his name pop up on the leaderboard, which is nice to see,” Matt said. “Yeah, wouldn’t mind if he finished two under. We might be able to sneak playing the last round together.”

Alex had other plans.

He finished the third round of his Open debut in a flurry, making birdies on 15, 17 and 18 to shoot 65 and get into the clubhouse at four under. When he finished, he was tied for fourth, behind only Harman (nine under), Jon Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood, who were both at six under.

“Super special round,” said Alex. “I’m not familiar with this environment and the amount of people out here, but me and my caddie had a great time out there and things went our way, which was super cool. Just a bit lost for words really.”

Alex, as the world is finding out — and something the Fitzpatrick family has known for quite some time — has some game too. He’s come a long way from caddying for Matt when the latter won the 2013 U.S. Amateur at The Country Club. And Alex was there at The Country Club again last year, watching, as Matt won the U.S. Open for his first major championship.

In 2018, Alex made it to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur himself. He played college golf at Wake Forest and was a member of two Walker Cup teams. He was fourth in the amateur world rankings before he decided to turn professional in 2022.

All week, Matt’s been peppered with questions about Alex, who had to answer the same ones about Matt after he turned pro.

“I totally get how it is, and I’m sure for him growing up it was probably very annoying,” Matt said on Monday. “It’s hard for him to kind of have his own identity and have his own game. People kind of putting him into, oh, he’s got to be like his brother and stuff, when actually we are polar opposites.”

Alex played a handful of events on PGA Tour Canada in 2022, and he’s now a Challenge Tour member, making starts on that tour and the DP World Tour. He missed the cut at the Valspar in 2022, and his only other PGA Tour appearance came in April, when he teamed up with Alex (who could pick his own partner) to finish T19 at the Zurich Classic. Alex qualified for The Open by tying for fourth in a 36-hole qualifier at nearby West Lancashire.

He opened with a 74 but shot 70 on Friday, not only making the cut but tying Matt after older brother made a mess of the par-3 17th on Friday and made triple.

They’ve had a large cheering section this week consisting of family, friends, girlfriends and locals. On Thursday and Friday they had split tee times, so it was easy for family to follow both. On Saturday, Alex teed off 95 minutes after Matt. Their parents, Russ and Sue, followed Alex early, went back and caught Matt’s start and finished with Alex. Matt, playing in his eighth Open already, agreed that was a good idea.

Sitting at two over to start the day, Alex birdied three holes on the front to turn in three-under 32, then followed a birdie with a bogey to begin the back. He birdied the 15th by draining a 25-footer and did the same on 17 — the hole his brother had been critical of this week — with a putt from 27 feet. On 18, with the grandstand watching, he rolled in a 14-footer to shoot 65, the second-best round of the day behind only Rahm’s 63.

And if you are wondering, the answer is no, there will be no bragging rights in this family.

“No rivalry or anything like that. We’re brothers at the end of the day as much as we’re golfers,” Alex said. “I root for him, he roots for me. We’re both supporting each other, and we both want what’s best for each other.”

They haven’t played in many tournaments together the past several years, but Alex did beat Matt in last year’s DP World Tour’s Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, where Alex tied for 37th and Matt missed the cut as the defending champion.

But for Alex, there’s actually more of a rivalry with his girlfriend, Rachel Kuehn, who is a senior on the Wake Forest women’s golf team. She’s here this week too, but also spending time practicing for the upcoming Evian Championship.

“Lots of chipping competitions, lots of putting competitions,” Alex said. “She claims she wins all the time, but she knows the truth.”

Bunched on the leaderboard, the Fitzpatrick brothers tee off within a few pairings of each other on Sunday. The family will have more work to do jumping back and forth. That’s a good thing.

“It doesn’t matter how tomorrow goes,” Alex said. “Obviously I would like to play well, but at the end of the day it’s been an amazing week, and memories that I’ll always remember. Being with my brother and my family and all that sort of stuff, it’s been a super cool week. I hope to do more of these as the years go by.”