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Golf Monthly
Golf Monthly
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Jonny Leighfield

'It Can Be Hard Sometimes When You're Constantly Chasing Someone's Accolades, But Luckily It's My Brother' - Emotional Alex Fitzpatrick Reacts To Landing First DP World Tour Title

(left) Alex Fitzpatrick reacts to the winning putt at the Hero Indian Open while (right) he poses with the trophy.

Exactly a week on from Matt Fitzpatrick claiming the PGA Tour's Valspar Championship, the Englishman's younger brother Alex secured his maiden DP World Tour title at the Hero Indian Open.

The 27-year-old Fitzpatrick brother completed his achievement in dramatic style, too, trailing by as many as six strokes during the final round before reeling roaring back to win by two strokes.

Fitzpatrick's margin of victory could have been wider as well given he was leading by four heading down the last thanks to eight birdies in his round, but even a double-bogey on the 72nd hole could do nothing to ruin the party.

As it was, the Sheffield-born pro signed for a closing 69 (-3) on the brutal DLF Golf & Country Club and walked away with the trophy thanks to his nine-under total.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick became the first brothers ever to win on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour in consecutive weeks.

Reacting to his victory and trying to follow in his brother's footsteps, Fitzpatrick said afterwards: "It’s great to join my brother Matt as a winner on the DP World Tour.

"It can be hard sometimes when you're constantly chasing someone's accolades but luckily it's my brother, so it's not horrific.

"It's extremely nice to join him in the winners' ranks and hopefully I can continue to push on. I idolize him, so just trying to be like him in every way, so hopefully we can keep doing well."

Having started four strokes back of defending champion Eugenio Chacarra on Sunday, it certainly did not appear as if it would be Fitzpatrick's day early on thanks to consecutive bogeys on the third and fourth.

Yet, the former Wake Forest University golfer rallied towards the end of the front side with three birdies as Chacarra continued to tread water.

Fitzpatrick firmly applied pressure via four birdies in five holes as the final group made the turn for home, and bogeys on 15, 16 and 17 from Chacarra - coupled with gains on the first and last holes in that sequence by the Englishman - saw the tide firmly turned.

The winning moment saw Fitzpatrick tap in from close range before putting his hands to his face as the emotions flowed.

In his winner's press conference, Fitzpatrick referenced how tough he has found tour life since winning the British Challenge on the HotelPlanner Tour in 2023.

He said: "It feels amazing, I feel a little more composed now than I was on the green. I’ve put in a lot of hard work and had a lot of doubts, I feel like I really stuck with it, especially over the past couple of years.

"I've just got a really great team around me, a great bunch of people, so I’m really lucky to be in this situation and I’m over the moon.

"Hopefully I can continue to push on, I feel like my game's in a really good spot and I'm super-excited for the rest of the year, there's a lot of great events to come and a lot of events I'm excited for."

Last year's winner, Chacarra, wrapped up second on seven-under despite a disappointing final day while South Africa's MJ Daffue, England's Andy Sullivan and France's Ugo Coussaud all shared third on five-under.

The Scottish pair of Ewen Ferguson and Calum Hill were accompanied by Francesco Molinari on three-under in a tie for sixth, while Scotland's David Law and Italy's Matteo Manassero completed the top-10 on two-under.

There will now be a three-week break on the DP World Tour due to The Masters, and the circuit is set to return with the Volvo China Open on April 23-26.

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