Wake Forest’s Alex Fitzpatrick, younger brother of PGA Tour pro Matt Fitzpatrick, is set to make his Tour debut at this week’s Valspar Championship.
The exemption comes via a win at the 2021 Valspar Collegiate, which Fitzpatrick finished at 12 under par for a three-shot victory.
Interestingly, he didn’t find out an exemption into the Valspar Championship was on the line until after the first day of the Valspar Collegiate, which he lead by two shots entering the final round.
“Yeah. It was a funny one,” Fitzpatrick said. “I didn’t really know until I had finished the first day, which was 36 holes, and they kind of sat everyone down. It was like a dinner, and they announced that the winner would get an exemption. So then I was, my eyes kind of lit up a little bit, and I was a bit taken back.”
Fitzpatrick is in a rare spot with an older brother as a Tour pro, and he acknowledged Wednesday that he’s in a “lucky” position.
“I would say that I’m probably in a luckier situation to where I can call upon someone as close as my brother to ask for advice all the time,” Fitzpatrick said. “He’s always willing to help and do anything to help my game get better. I’m very lucky with that.”
Fitzpatrick currently sits at No. 5 in the PGA Tour U rankings. The top five in those rankings at the end of the collegiate season will receive Korn Ferry Tour membership and be exempt into all open, full-field events beginning the week after the National Championship through the end of the regular season. The top five will also be exempt into final stage of the current season’s Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament.
Fitzpatrick hopes to remain in the top five of PGA Tour U, but plans to turn pro in June regardless.
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