The team of English brothers Matt Fitzpatrick and Alex Fitzpatrick began to break away from the pack by shooting 15-under 57 during the third round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on Saturday at Avondale, La.
The Fitzpatrick were sparked by Matt’s eagle on the par-5 seventh hole and maintained the momentum during the four-ball format to carry a four-stroke lead into the final round at TPC Louisiana. This is the PGA Tour’s only team event.
The Fitzpatrick team is at 30 under. Davis Thompson/Austin Ackroat (61) and second-round leaders Alex Smalley/Hayden Springer (62) are next at 26 under. The team of Doug Ghim/Jeffrey Kang (61) is at 25 under.
The Fitzpatrick brothers could be headed toward special territory given that last year’s winning score was 28 under from the team of Ben Griffin/Andrew Novak.
The Fitzpatricks posted birdies on eight of the nine holes on the backside. They were without a bogey and had four pars.
They each provided the best score seven times.
Matt Fitzpatrick has been on a roll recently, including winning last week’s RBC Heritage.
Seven teams were in the lead or one shot back by mid-afternoon Saturday.
Then there was the case of Davis Chatfield and Belgium’s Adrien Dumont de Chassart. They were 9 under through 11 holes after Dumont de Chassart ‘s eagle on No. 2, which was the pairing’s 11th hole of the day. But they played the rest of the way at 1 over without another birdie.
Until some of the final groups came in, the day’s best score of 61 belonged to Canada’s A.J. Ewart and South Africa’s Casey Jarvis. That moved them to 22 under and in a tie for 10th place.
