April 29, 2026

Welcome to the twenty-fourth edition of The Tee Sheet - your weekly read on what matters in the world of golf right now.

Big week in golf. The Tour returns to Doral for the first time in a decade with a brand new $20M signature event. The Fitzpatrick brothers pulled off one of the season's best finishes at the Zurich. McLaren just launched a golf company. Furyk gets a second crack at the Ryder Cup captaincy.

Let’s dive in!

Tourney Recap

Matt Fitzpatrick arrived at The Zurich Classic as the hottest player in golf — fresh off a playoff win over Scottie Scheffler at the RBC Heritage the week before, his second Tour victory of 2026. He brought younger brother Alex as his partner, a 27-year-old DP World Tour regular who'd only just claimed his first professional win at the Hero Indian Open in March. The Zurich is the one week a year the PGA Tour runs team golf, and the Fitzpatricks treated it like a gift. Saturday's best-ball round was otherworldly — a tournament-record 15-under 57 that put them four clear of the field heading into Sunday's alternate-shot finale.

Then the back nine happened. A double bogey on 12 and a bogey on 14 wiped out the lead. Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer, and Norwegians Kristoffer Reitan and Kris Ventura — who'd eagled the 72nd hole and shot the round of the day — were waiting at 30-under in the clubhouse. Alex Fitzpatrick, who had never held a PGA Tour card, was watching a life-changing opportunity slip away in real time.

The brotherly duo reached the par-5 18th needing a birdie, tied with two other pairings at -30. Matt found himself hitting out of a a greenside bunker from 35 yards out on the third shot of the hole. What followed was Matt at his best, spinning it 14 inches from the cup — leaving his brother the simplest putt of his life, with everything riding on it.

The Fitzpatricks became the first brothers ever to win on the PGA Tour together, finishing at 31-under, one shot clear. For Matt, it's his third win of 2026 and the FedExCup lead. For Alex, it means a two-year Tour exemption through 2028, entries into the next four signature events, the 2026 PGA Championship, and the 2027 Players. He got his card after his older brother hit a bunker shot to a foot.

"I couldn't feel my hands. I couldn't feel my legs. I couldn't feel anything," Alex said. "It's a pretty life-changing thing."

It was.

The Cadillac Championship is brand new, lands on a course the Tour hasn't touched in a decade, carries a $20 million purse, and somehow the story going in is who isn't showing up. Masters champion Rory McIlroy is sitting it out — his second Signature Event skip since winning Augusta — along with Xander Schauffele, Bob MacIntyre, Ludvig Åberg, and Matt Fitzpatrick. That's five of the world's top fifteen, gone. The reason is simple and structural: three $20 million events in 25 days between two majors is too many. Most players aren't willing to play three in a row when the third week ends at a major championship. The Tour created this problem by confirming Doral late and stuffing it into an already brutal stretch. They'll likely fix it in 2027.

For now, what's left is still very much worth watching. The Blue Monster was redesigned by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner in 2014, restoring some original strategic bite. Water dominates the 7,739 yards, and South Florida wind can turn it into a tough track. The last time anyone played it at Tour level, Adam Scott won the 2016 WGC here.

The field has plenty of intrigue here with Scottie Scheffler entering as the favorite. He's been knocking on the door all season — runner-up at the Masters, lost a playoff at the RBC Heritage. Justin Rose is back for the first time since Augusta, where he finished T3, and he knows this course — he won here in 2012. Cameron Young, Collin Morikawa, and Tommy Fleetwood — fourth, sixth, and seventh in the world respectively — round out a field that, absences and all, still represents most of the best players on the planet.

The backdrop is a Tour still figuring out its own calendar. The golf should be good anyway. $20M on the line.

⛳ Jim Furyk named 2027 US Ryder Cup captain

🏆 Nelly Korda wins the Chevron Championship

🏎️ McLaren Golf launches - with Justin Rose as its first Tour player

Three Signature Events in 25 days. Brothers making history in New Orleans. The PGA Championship a few weeks away.

The pace doesn't let up. Doral is next — $20 million, the Blue Monster back on the schedule for the first time in a decade, and a field that still has most of the best players in the world even with a handful sitting it out. There's a lot of golf left to cover.

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