Gurugram, March 29 Alex Fitzpatrick started the final day four shots behind leader and defending champion Eugenio Chacarra, but the former entered the 18th green with a four-shot lead to win his maiden DP World Tour title at the Hero Indian Open here on Sunday.
Fitzpatrick double bogeyed in the final hole, but he already had done enough to grab the trophy by two shots.
England's Fitzpatrick and Chacarra have a long rivalry going back to their amateur days.
In 2022, Fitzpatrick turned pro three weeks before Chacarra became a pro with the LIV Golf, which he quit at the end of 2024.
A year ago, when Chacarra won the Hero Indian Open 2025, Fitzpatrick was Tied-17th.
Fitzpatrick received the Trophy from Dr. Pawan Munjal, Executive Director, Hero MotoCorp, and a cheque of $ 433,500.
He also earned 585 points and moved to sixth place on the Race to Dubai rankings.
If Fitzpatrick finishes in the Top-10 of R2D he could receive a PGA Tour card and join his elder brother, Mathew, in the United States.
The younger Fitzpatrick’s win came exactly a week after his elder and more famous brother, Matthew won the Valspar Championship on the PGA Tour.
Speaking of his feeling after the win, he said, “I feel ecstatic. A little lost for words but it's kind of starting to sink in a little bit. So super happy, super proud of myself just for the battle out there. And yeah, it'll be fun.”
“Hopefully, I can continue to push on. I felt like my game was kind of in a good spot coming into this week. I was in contention in Joburg, had a couple of bad holes that kind of set me back. Hopefully I keep doing that (as in Hero Indian Open) for the rest of the year.”
When asked about his win a week after his brother’s win on the PGA Tour, he said, “I wouldn't say there's many brothers apart from the Hojgaards that that can say both brothers have won on tour, which I think is really cool.
“I'm extremely lucky to have someone who's got so much knowledge of the game and so much experience that is just a call or a text away. I should probably use his information more than I do, but at the end of the day, he's still my brother and I'm very lucky.”
Fitzpatrick shot 3-under 69 to total 9-under for the week with rounds of 70-68-72-69, while Chacarra had a nightmarish final day with six bogeys, four of them on the back nine and he dropped shots on three of his last four holes. With rounds of 67-69-75 he finished at 7-under after starting the final day at 10-under.
Om Prakash Chouhan (81) and S Manoj (76) ended T-43rd, while Kshitij Naved Kaul (80) was T-82 as only three Indians made the cut out of the 30 who started the week.
Three players, South African MJ Daffue (73) seeking to win on the DP World Tour a week after triumphing at the DP World PGTI Open on the Hotel Planner Tour, was tied for third with Frenchman Ugo Coussaud (69) and a resurgent Englishman Andy Sullivan (71), who all finished a 5-under 283.
It was not the best of starts for either Fitzpatrick or Chacarra.
Fitzpatrick bogeyed twice in the first four holes, while Chacarra dropped a shot on the first, as the Spaniard went five ahead with 14 holes left.
Then the pendulum swung the other way. Fitzpatrick birdied three times in four holes from the sixth and Chacarra after his opening bogey had two birdies and a bogey in the remaining holes. Fitzpatrick had cut the deficit from four to three when the players made the turn.
Then the momentum swung completely towards Fitzpatrick, who after dropping a shot on the tenth, birdied five times in the next even holes. As he birdied the 15th, Chacarra dropped another shot on the same hole.
That two-shot swing carried Fitzpatrick from one behind to one ahead as Chacarra bogeyed three times in a row from the 15th and simply collapsed.
Fitzpatrick had a four-shot cushion, and even when he double bogeyed it, the margin shrunk to two but was good enough for the Englishman to win the title.