The third round of the Zurich Classic saw new leaders, as the Fitzpatrick brothers stormed to a four-shot lead at 30-under at a rainy TPC Louisiana.
Waterford’s Séamus Power and Germany’s Matti Schmid pieced together a strong eight-under-par best ball third round to see them head into the final day on 21-under in T16.
Aided by a Schmid eagle at the par-5 seventh, the twosome took the turn at five-under after making birdies on holes two through five.
The pairing made three more birdies on the back nine to post a bogey-free 64.
Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick hold the lead into the last 18-holes after an astonishing 15-under-par third round to see them take a four shot lead.
The brotherly duo made 13 birdies and an eagle to post a 57 to set a Zurich Classic fourball record.
“Yeah, an amazing day. Amazing day. Probably not kind of sunk in how well we played today, if I’m honest. Yeah, it was just hole after hole,” said Matt.
“The score, I only just realized we finished with five in a row. You know, you kind of are thinking about the next shot, so you’re not really thinking about that… yeah, a special day,” he added.
Davis Thompson and Austin Eckroat share T2 with 36-hole leaders Hayden Springer and Alex Smalley as both pairings sit at 26-under.
Posting an 11-under 62, Thompson is hoping for a quick Sunday start to get them amongst it on the final day.
“So tomorrow will be a different animal. You know, hopefully we can get off to a good start tomorrow and put some pressure on those guys,’ said Thompson.
Springer and Smalley, who lead after two rounds made 11 birdies on their way to shoot a 10-under-par 62.
“Yeah, I mean, pretty pleased overall. I think if you would have told us we would have shot 10-under to start the day, we would have taken it, so pretty pleased with how the day went overall,” said Smalley.
Speaking on the scoring conditions, Springer said ;”the rain obviously made it a lot softer, so we could be more aggressive. You know, even like it’s just kind of stopping in the fairway where it lands, so you don’t have to worry about the run-out on some of these bunkers and stuff. So definitely made it a lot easier.”
USA’s Doug Ghim and Jeffrey Kang sit just one-stroke ahead of a five-way split for T5, as they sit at T25.
Zach Bauchou had the event’s first hole-in-one since 2024 on the par-3 third hole. He and Sam Stevens finished with a 64 and were eight shots behind.
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