Matt Fitzpatrick and his younger brother, Alex, got underway at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on Thursday.
The Fitzpatrick brothers posted what was ultimately a fairly pedestrian round of 64.
Four-ball betterball was the order of the day during the opening round at TPC Louisiana Avondale.
Matt Fitzpatrick performed better than Alex overall, and made six birdies on his own on day one in New Orleans.
However, both brothers made disastrous bogeys on their final hole of the day at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans to leave them six shots adrift of the leaders.
Before the event began, Matt Fitzpatrick urged the PGA Tour to include more team events in the schedule.
And now the 2022 U.S. Open champion has highlighted another change, this time specific to the Zurich Classic, that he would like the PGA Tour to make.
Matt Fitzpatrick urges the PGA Tour to make a change to the Zurich Classic
After their opening round on Thursday at TPC Louisiana Avondale, the Fitzpatrick brothers addressed the media.
Matt responded when asked by reporters whether shooting a good score in the foursomes format is more satisfying than doing so when playing four-ball betterball.
“I do think foursomes is probably a bit better from a feeling-wise,“ the 32-year-old admitted.
“I was saying to Dan on the last one, I think it would be nice to have four-ball on the final round. I think probably give more excitement for the fans on a Sunday.
“I think when it’s foursomes and it’s getting tight, it’s kind of — it’s maybe a bit more scrappy and you’re not going to see as many birdies. That’s just the way the format is. It’s really tough.
“I definitely feel like there’s a bit of that. Definitely makes it more difficult for sure.“
Alex Fitzpatrick agrees with Matt’s Zurich Classic suggestion
Matt’s younger brother was in total agreement with the four-time PGA Tour winner’s take on the situation.
“Yeah, I think alternate shot, I agree, I think playing four-ball as the last round might be more exciting,“ the younger Fitzpatrick said.
“I think the tricky thing with foursomes you kind of stop-start. You might hit a tee shot, and then all of a sudden you’re hitting a putt. So you have that little bit of time in between shots that you don’t — you’re not hitting as many shots, so you don’t feel as loose.
“You’re trying to deal with that as well as everything else that’s going on. It makes it tougher.
“For me I probably prefer the four-ball just because it’s a few more birdies to make. Yeah, maybe a bit more exciting.“
However, it’s fair to say that the ‘more birdies equals more excitement’ theory isn’t always accurate.
Sometimes, golf fans like to see PGA Tour players struggle, so that they can actually relate to them!
Perhaps that is the reason why the PGA Tour has opted to play foursomes on Friday and Sunday rather than Thursday and Saturday.
