Last month, two-time winning European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald invited 15 prospective players on a scouting trip to Adare Manor, the Irish resort that will host the 2027 Ryder Cup .
Among those 15 top European talents were two brothers: Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick.
The Fitzpatricks are already household names to most golf fans. Matt won the 2022 U.S. Open and then rocketed back up the world ranking this year with three PGA Tour wins .
Matt captured one of those wins, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, alongside his brother and teammate Alex . The win instantly earned Alex a PGA Tour card, and he didn't waste the opportunity. The younger Fitzpatrick excelled on Tour for the remainder of the year, adding five more top-10 finishes, including a T4 at the Tour Championship.
By qualifying for the Tour Championship, Alex earned a spot in all four majors in 2027. There's no doubt he'd love to join Matt as a major champion (the 2027 Open at St. Andrews would be fitting), but he has an even bigger goal in mind for next year.
On Wednesday at the 2026 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, played at the Old Course at St. Andrews and two other nearby courses, the Fitzpatrick brothers made it clear what was at the top of their golf priority list next year: playing the Ryder Cup together.
The Fitzpatrick brothers are both playing this week's Dunhill Links in St. Andrews, and so too are mom and dad, who are teaming up with their sons in the pro-am event.
During their press conference on Wednesday at St. Andrews, Alex was asked about the recent Adare Manor Ryder Cup scouting trip, and he had only positive things to say about the experience.
"Yeah, incredible. It's not often you get to be with some of the best players, and obviously the place was incredible. I had heard so many great things about Adare. I had seen photos of the golf course but seeing it and being there was incredible. We had a lot of fun," Fitzpatrick said. "That's something hopefully I'll keep in mind to September next year."
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Though Alex, 27, has been a pro for several years, he has never made a European Ryder Cup team. Matt, on the other hand, has been a part of four of the last five European teams, dating back to 2016. But after a stellar season that has put him firmly in the conversation, Alex is "hungry" to finally make the team in 2027.
"That's probably the one thing next year I want to do more than anything. I think having that experience makes you hungry to be on that team," Alex said on Wednesday. "That's the goal, just keep doing the same things I've been doing and hopefully that leads to being at Adare. We'll see."
But eventually the Fitzpatrick brothers revealed an even bigger, albeit related, goal they have for next year: to make the Ryder Cup team together and get paired alongside each other at Adare Manor.
"Yeah, couldn't get much better. I feel like, I'm looking to achieve a lot in the game, and I think that would be as good as it gets. Winning a PGA Tour event together, that's pretty high on the list but to be able to play Ryder Cup and to be able to have a chance at winning Ryder Cup together would be, yeah, would be pretty incredible," Matt said.
While the Ryder Cup is incredibly important to pro golfers, especially Europeans, you'd be hard-pressed to find many who would rank it above winning major championships.
But Matt made it clear that winning the Ryder Cup with Alex would be more desirable than winning another major, and Alex quickly followed suit.
"Yeah, I haven't been fortunate enough to win a major yet so I don't know how that felt, but it's at the top of the list," Alex said of the opportunity to play the Ryder Cup with his brother. "Make a decent case for ourselves — yeah, it's definitely top of the list."
But with 12 months between now and the start of the 2027 Ryder Cup, a lot must go right for both Fitzpatrick brothers to make it to Adare Manor.
Matt is already a lock for the team, provided he stays healthy. He's currently ranked 4th in the Official World Golf Ranking , better than any European player other than Rory McIlroy. And he ranks 1st in the official European Ryder Cup standings . The top 6 players from that ranking will automatically qualify for the team.
Alex's Ryder Cup outlook, however, is not as good. He's currently ranked 57th in the OWGR and comes in at 31st in the European team standings. He'll need a very strong season next year to move into the top 6, though he will have plenty of opportunities to earn valuable points in a full season on the PGA Tour.
Of course, Alex doesn't need to rise all the way to the top to make the team. Given his natural chemistry with Matt, Alex would be an obvious captain's pick for the European team.
The fact that Donald, the European captain, invited him to the Adare Manor scouting trip is certainly a good sign for his chances of making the team. But he will still have to maintain his current form over the next several months to ultimately convince Donald to select him.
The post 'Top of the list': Fitzpatrick brothers' goal is bigger than major wins appeared first on Golf .
