Zurich Classic of New Orleans, second round
-16 Smalley/Springer (US); -15 Eckroat/D Thompson (US), Hoge/Horschel (US), A Fitzpatrick/M Fitzpatrick (Eng)
Selected others: -14 Reitan/Ventura (Den); -13 Power/Schmid (Ire); -12 Rai/Theegala (Eng); -11 Brown/Parry (Eng), Penge/Wallace (Eng), -9 Lowry/Koepka (Ire/US)
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English brothers Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick joined forces to continue their fine individual seasons by carding the round of the day in a PGA pairs event.
They hit a seven-under 65 to move one shot off the lead in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, behind American pair Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer, who lead on 16 under after two rounds.
The event is played over four rounds at TPC Louisiana, with teams of two alternating between four-ball (best ball) in the first and third rounds and foursomes (alternate shot) in the second and fourth rounds.
The Fitzpatricks were six shots behind overnight leaders Smalley and Springer after carding a 64 in their opening round, but fired an eagle and six birdies, with just one dropped shot, to move up the leaderboard on Friday.
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Matt Fitzpatrick has risen to number three in the world rankings following two victories on the PGA Tour this season.
The 31-year-old from Sheffield won at the Valspar Championship in March and beat world number one Scottie Scheffler in a play-off to claim the RBC Heritage last weekend.
Meanwhile, his younger brother Alex, 27, claimed his first career title on the DP World Tour in March at the Hero Indian Open.
“Obviously playing here as a family has been great for us, not seeing each other that much in the year,” said Alex.
The English pair are in a three-way tie for second place on 15 under, alongside Americans Davis Thompson and Austin Eckroat, and Billy Horschel and Tom Hoge.
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Six other teams are two shots off the lead on 14 under.
Englishman Aaron Rai is on 12 under with American partner Sahith Theegala, while the English pairings of Matt Wallace and Marco Penge, and John Parry and Dan Brown are on 11 under.
The top 33 teams and ties made the 36-hole cut, which landed at 10 under par.
Irish Ryder Cup star Shane Lowry teamed up with American five-time major winner Brooks Koepka for the first time, but the pair missed the cut by a single shot after rounds of 66 and 69.
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