amateur – Golfing Networks

The selfish reason Alex Fitzpatrick caddied for Matt at US Amateur

admin — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 15:11:50 +0000

Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick’s emotional victory at last week’s Zurich Classic was not the first time the brothers teamed up for a big win. Back in 2013, a 13-year-old Alex caddied for Matt during his U.S. Amateur victory at the Country Club.

If you thought that would be a dream-come-true for the pre-High School Alex, you thought wrong.

It turns out that the Fitzpatrick parents had to bribe their young son with a shiny new device to convince him to carry Matt’s bag that week, as Alex explained on Tuesday at the 2026 Cadillac Championship.

Alex Fitzpatrick ready to break out of Matt’s shadow after PGA Tour promotion

For most of their lives, Alex Fitzpatrick had to live in the shadow of his big brother. Matt Fitzpatrick showed signs of greatness early on.

He backed them up with a career-changing victory at the 2022 U.S. Open, at the exact same course, the Country Club in Brookline, where he won the U.S. Amateur with Alex on the bag nine years before.

Here’s everything a PGA Tour win gave Matt Fitzpatrick’s brother Alex

By:

James Colgan

Matt is currently on the hottest streak of his career, having won three PGA Tour events since late March to rise to World No. 3. But Alex is on a tear of his own.

After capturing his first DP World Tour win in March, he teed it up with Matt at the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans last week, for what he was expecting to simply be a good opportunity for “spending time with my brother.”

Alex got the family time he was looking for, but he also walked away with a victory, giving him a PGA Tour card for two years, over $1 million in prize money and spots in the remaining Signature Events.

So while Matt is taking it easy this week following his third win of the year, Alex is in Florida to play the Cadillac Championship.

Alex Fitzpatrick reveals parents’ bribery scheme to get him to caddie for Matt

During his pre-tournament press conference, Fitzpatrick was asked about his original partnership with his brother Matt at the 2013 U.S. Amateur.

For outsiders, it was a fairytale week that harkened back to Francis Ouimet’s U.S. Open win at Brookline one hundred years before, when 10-year-old Eddie Lowery famously carried his bag.

For Alex, the vibe was very different. In fact, he didn’t want to caddie for Matt that week at all. Their dad, Russell Fitzpatrick, was then forced to take an extreme measure to make it happen: bribery. He promised to buy Alex a new phone if he caddied for Matt in the tournament.

“I only caddied for [Matt] at the U.S. Amateur because my dad promised me a new phone,” Alex revealed in his Tuesday press conference at Trump Doral. “That was only reason why I caddied for him, because it was too expensive to buy a caddie for the week, so I got dragged into that one.”

Alex added that he did indeed get his new phone after Matt won, calling it a “win-win.”

“And then he won and then I got a new phone, so it was a win-win all around,” he joked.

Alex Fitzpatrick’s parents had to bribe him with a new phone to get him to caddie for Matt at the U.S. Amateur.

Matt Fitzpatrick took home the Havemeyer Trophy. Alex got a new phone. pic.twitter.com/DG4dj698gP

— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) April 29, 2026

It’s been a whirlwind few days since the Zurich triumph, but now Alex is set to chart his own PGA Tour career without his brother by his side beginning at the Cadillac Championship.

While Matt won’t be there in person, he did send Alex a touching note of encouragement for the Cadillac the morning after their Zurich victory.

“He just said, you know, he said enjoy it. He sent me a really nice text the morning afterwards that was like, you know, as much as this win is both of us, you deserve to be here, you’re playing some great golf, go out there and show them what you have and just try and enjoy it as much as you can really, that was the biggest message from him,” Alex said on Tuesday.

Fitzpatrick tees off for the first round of his new PGA Tour career on Thursday at 1:20 p.m. ET.

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Meet the 20-year-old becoming the best amateur golfer of this generation

admin — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 13:35:20 +0000

Here, in ascending order, is DataGolf’s official ranking of the best amateur golfers since 2010.

Four, Patrick Cantlay; three, Jordan Spieth; two, Jon Rahm … and one, Jackson Koivun.

Wait, what?

Yep, on Friday afternoon, the 20-year-old junior at Auburn University watched his career enter historic trajectory. The principle act was Koivun’s victory at the 2026 SEC Championship, his third SEC Championship in as many collegiate seasons, making him the first player in more than 50 years to accomplish the three-peat.

In doing so, Koivun also moved into first of DataGolf’s all-time Amateur Golfers ranking, which uses strokes gained data to quantify a collegiate player’s skill relative to their fellow division 1 competitors. The ranking, which has captured all amateur golf data since 2010, helps to quantify Koivun’s success at the collegiate level next to some of the stars that have emerged from the NCAA over the last two decades. Now, that ranking has a new job: To quantify just how much better Koivun has been than each of those players.

Per the DataGolf ranking, Koivun’s strokes gained index of +3.25 ranks nearly a tenth of a shot (.09) better than Jon Rahm’s decorated amateur career at Arizona State, and .14 shots better than Jordan Spieth’s at the University of Texas, which springboarded the young Texan into three major championships in the dawn of his pro career.

Of course, the evidence of Koivun ‘s prodigious skill goes much further than just DG. In less than three years at Auburn, Koivun is the program’s all-time winningest player with 10 victories, and is also the holder of the NCAA 36-hole scoring record (25 under), beating a three-decade-old mark set by none other than Tiger Woods. He’s also served as the anchor of a winning Walker Cup team (with three points earned), recorded a top 5 finish in just nine PGA Tour starts, and locked up his future Tour status by proxy of the PGA Tour University Accelerated program. All this to say nothing of his SEC Championship three-peat, which was the first since 1967.

In fact, Koivun has might be trending in an outright historic direction as an amateur player had he found more success in USGA events. At the time of this writing, the biggest gap between Koivun and some of the most decorated amateurs in golf history is his performance at the U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Amateur Championships. While the legends of yesteryear (Woods, Nicklaus, Mickelson) each recorded wins in the biggest amateur events (including, in Woods’ case, a record 18 straight matches), Koivun has yet to advance past the quarterfinals.

Should he retain his amateur status through the summer, Koivun should have at least one last chance at amateur glory. The U.S. Amateur will return to Merion outside of Philadelphia in mid-August — giving Koivun a chance to record at victory at one of the USGA’s most historic host sites before the PGA Tour fall season would provide no shortage of playing opportunities, should Koivun turn pro then.

Either way, the resume is already stacked for the next great young player to enter the PGA Tour from the amateur ranks. Whether you’re counting by stats or by hardware, it’s clear the list of most decorated amateurs of the modern era has added a new name: Koivun.

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2026 Augusta National Women’s Amateur Saturday TV coverage

admin — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 03:14:19 +0000

The final round of the 2026 Augusta National Women’s Amateur goes down Saturday morning, April 4, at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. Here’s everything you need to know to watch the tournament on Saturday, including full Augusta National Women’s Amateur TV coverage, streaming info and Round 3 tee times.

How to watch ANWA on Saturday

Heading into the final round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, 17-year-old Asterisk Talley has some unfinished business to accomplish.

One year ago, the star American amateur came up one shot short of the ANWA title, despite shooting a final-round 68 at the home of the Masters. This year is a different story.

Talley cruised through 36 holes at Champions Retreat on Wednesday and Thursday, making zero bogeys and finishing with a one-shot lead.

Her 11-under total through two rounds matches her total score at last year’s ANWA. Now, the final round at Augusta National is the only thing that stands between her and history. Meja Örtengren and Maria Jose Marin are tied for second at 10 under.

After the full field played a practice round on Friday at Augusta National, the 32 players who made the cut will compete at Augusta National Golf Club over 18 holes to determine this year’s champion.

You can watch the final round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur on TV via NBC, which will air coverage beginning on Saturday at 12 p.m. ET. You can also watch a live simulcast NBC’s TV coverage on ANWA.com or Peacock.

Below you will find everything you need to know to watch the final round of the 2026 Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

How to watch on TV Saturday

NBC will provide final-round TV coverage of the 2026 Augusta National Women’s Amateur from 12-3 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 4.

How to stream online Saturday

You can stream the final round of the 2026 Augusta National Women’s Amateur via ANWA.com and Peacock, which will offer a live simulcast of NBC’s Saturday TV coverage starting at 12 p.m. ET.

2026 Augusta National Women’s Amateur Round 3 tee times for Saturday (ET)

Tee No. 1

8:20 a.m. – Patience Rhodes, Yurina Hiroyoshi
8:30 a.m. – Macy Pate, Catherine Park
8:40 a.m. – Anna Davis, Emily Odwin
8:50 a.m. – Yujie Liu, Dianna Lee
9:00 a.m. – Aphrodite Deng, Achiraya Sriwong
9:10 a.m. – Seojin Park, Elise Lee
9:20 a.m. – Reagan Zibilski, Farah O’Keefe
9:30 a.m. – Paula Martin Sampedro, Aira Nagasawa
9:50 a.m. – Yunseo Yang, Ava Merrill
10:00 a.m. – Vanessa Borovilos, Kiara Romero
10:10 a.m. – Chloe Kovelesky, Raegan Denton
10:20 a.m. – Gyubeen Kim, Amelie Zalsman
10:30 a.m. – Soomin Oh, Arianna Lau
10:40 a.m. – Avery Weed, Lauren Kim
10:50 a.m. – Maria Jose Marin, Andrea Revuelta
11:00 a.m. – Asterisk Talley, Meja Örtengren

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ROYAL PORTRUSH AND ROYAL CINQUE PORTS TO HOST MAJOR AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPS – Golf News

admin — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 20:53:15 +0000

The 132^nd Amateur Championship will be staged at Royal Portrush – host to The 153^rdOpen last summer – from 14–19 June.

Stroke play qualifying will take place over the Dunluce and Valley links, with the match play stages on the Dunluce. A pre-qualifier will also be held on 11 June over the Valley.

The renowned Northern Ireland venue has held The Amateur Championship on three previous occasions, most recently in 2014 when Scotland’s Bradley Neil triumphed.

The 124^th Women’s Amateur Championship will be hosted at Royal Cinque Ports for the third time next year.

Royal Cinque Ports will host The 124th Women’s Amateur Championship in 2027 Pic: R&A

The famed links on England’s south-east coast – a Final Qualifying venue for The Open – will welcome the world’s best women amateurs for the first time since 1988. It will also mark the 125^th anniversary of the staging at the venue in 1902.

The R&A Girls’ and Boys’ Amateur championships will be held at Burnham & Berrow and Prince’s respectively from 9-14 August.

The R&A Women’s and Men’s Senior Amateur championships will be played concurrently at Blairgowrie from 6-9 July.

Johnnie Cole-Hamilton, Chief Championships Officer at The R&A, said, “It is important for The R&A to continue to underline the status of our amateur championships and international matches as leading events in amateur golf.

“They provide a pathway for elite golfers and give life-changing opportunities, including those that offer exemptions to The Open and the AIG Women’s Open.

“We aim to attract the best amateur players from around the world in 2027 and look forward to staging our championships at some of the sport’s most prestigious venues.”

International matches between GB&I and the Continent of Europe will also take place in 2027 with the Jacques Léglise Trophy and the Junior Vagliano Trophy contested at Golf de Morfontaine in France from 20-21 August.

The dates and venues for the St Andrews Trophy and the Vagliano Trophy in 2027 are still to be confirmed, as are the dates for The Women’s Amateur Championship.

For this year’s championships in Great Britain and Ireland, entries open at the end of this week. Full details can be viewed at www.randa.org

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