Sheffield's Alex Fitzpatrick wants Open qualification to cap off sparkling period in USA
Since winning the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with elder brother Matt, the 27-year-old has made his first two appearances in American majors and also recorded three top-10s in six events.
Sheffield's Alex Fitzpatrick is hoping to finish off a life-changing two months in the United States by qualifying for the Open at Royal Birkdale.
Since winning the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with elder brother Matt, the 27-year-old has made his first two appearances in American majors and also recorded three top-10s in six events.
His tied-23rd at last week’s US Open at Shinnecock Hills was an improvement on joint-75th at the US PGA the previous month and has put him on the cusp of returning to the Open Championship for the first time since his only appearance in 2023 – when he came through local final qualifying.
A decent performance in the final Signature Event of the season, the Travelers Championship in Connecticut, to maintain 20th place in the FedEx Cup standings should be enough to earn a place at Birkdale.
“I play Travelers and then I’m going go home to Sheffield,” he told the Press Association.
“I’ll play the Scottish Open and then if I can find a way to get in the Open, hopefully that is the case.
“There’s a couple ways (to qualify): top 20 in the FedEx or top 20 in the DP World Tour rankings get in. I think I’m 20 on both of them so I need a half-decent week somewhere.
“It would mean a lot. That was my first major and it’s so nice playing in front of a home crowd. I would love to be there more than anything.”
Fitzpatrick has had little time to process his whirlwind journey since arriving in the States, with the securing of a PGA Tour card through 2028 setting him up for some of golf’s most lucrative events.
“Hopefully we can start making some plans for the future, so it’s an exciting time for me and I’m just incredibly grateful that I’ve got this opportunity.
“For the rest of this year, my focus is on the PGA Tour. The Scottish Open is dual event (with the DP World Tour) so it’ll be nice to get back and see the guys there.
“I will probably play a couple of DP World tour events in August, September time and I’m excited for that.
“But the goal now is to ideally try and get in that (season-ending) Tour Championship as that leads to some cool things for next year.”