4 min readGurugramMar 29, 2026 05:10 PM IST
Alex Fitzpatrick made his professional golf debut two weeks after his brother, Matt, won his first Major at the 2022 US Open. The brothers insist that domestic rivalries are not intense; the requisite maturity to keep their competitive sides in check, has been established over time.
Given the circumstances of Matt winning his third PGA Tour title last week though, the assumption that Fitzpatrick would spend most of his career in the shadow of his brother was not entirely off base. On Sunday, he made his first move to step out of it.
As he soaked in the praise of the public at the DLF Golf and Country Club, and in the champagne that was popped by members of his team despite his double bogey on the 18th green, when he had a fishy lead, the significance of the moment for the 27-year-old Briton’s career was lost on nobody.
Alex winked in from four shots behind with eight birdies from 12 holes to win Indian Open golf, as Eugenio Chacarra of Spain, erred on the 15th hole amidst a 6 bogey-spree to shift momentum.
On a sensational final day at the Hero Indian Open, Fitzpatrick came up with a valiant last round of three-under 69, to end a cat-and-mouse chase with defending champion Chacarra on top. He roared back from a four-stroke deficit at the start of the day to lift his first DP World Tour title; a life-changing moment by his own admission.
“I’m a little lost for words here. Starting to sink in a little bit. I’m super proud of myself just to come through in the battle out there,” Fitzpatrick told reporters here on Sunday.
He’s happy to keep the Fitzpatrick name in the winner’s circle; Matt having won the Valspar Championship PGA Tour event just last week. “I don’t think there are that many brother that have both won on the tour. I am extremely lucky to have him. I should probably use his information more than I do,” he added.
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Having won here last year, Chacarra came up with three-and-a-half days of solid, measured play on a tricky course that was unusually brutal even by its own standards: not a single player carded an under-par score in each of their four rounds. But a blip in the final stretch, with Fitzpatrick behind him in the ascendancy, complicated matters. As the momentum shifted, it was the Briton who held his nerve.
Despite the heady confidence of his four-stroke lead, Chacarra had insisted on Saturday that the run-in could change dramatically over the course of a single hole. A 15-minute stretch towards the end of the final round would prove his words prophetic. Even as Fitzpatrick went on a birdie-offensive, the result of this tournament was still firmly in Chacarra’s hands until the 15th hole. Chacarra hit his tee shot into the rough and then saw his approach shot land on the green and roll back 30 yards to drop a shot just as his rival came up with yet another birdie. Once the lead changed hands, the Spaniard felt the pressure, missing a routine par putt on the 16th to give Fitzpatrick a two-shot cushion.
What was looking like a routine title defence collapsed calamitously on the next hole as Chacarra fumbled again and Fitzpatrick birdied to give him the decisive advantage. A first tour-level title came by, and ambitions of going further – earning a PGA Tour card – have been strengthened.
“This course can beat you up in so many diffferent ways. Even till the last putt today, there was not a single shot I was able to rest on. If you’re not 100% focussed, it gets hard. Super proud of myself for digging in there and being patient throughout the whole week,” Fitzpatrick said.
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“There’s still a long way to go, but winning here helps. Hopefully it keeps going and I get there (PGA Tour),” he added.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
