Valspar Championship: Matt Fitzpatrick's brother Alex set for PGA Tour debut

Alex Fitzpatrick, who is the younger brother of former British Masters champion Matt, earned a sponsorship exemption in the field after he won the Valspar Collegiate Invitational – a prestigious American college tournament – last year.

Matt is also scheduled to take part in the tournament at the Innisbrook Golf Resort in Florida, which gets under way on Thursday.

Former Tapton School pupil Alex, aged 23, now studies at Wake Forest University in North Carolina and has represented Great Britain and Ireland in the Walker Cup on two occasions, in 2019 and 2021.

He has been a member of Hallamshire Golf Club since the age of eight and is currently ranked sixth in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, having been as high as fourth earlier this year.

He produced a 12-under score of 201 in March 2021 to earn his first collegiate victory, which saw him qualify for this week’s event.

Five of the the top-10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking table are also in the field, including Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland, who are at two and three respectively.

Now in his fourth year of study, Alex previously spoke of his plans to turn professional when he finishes his degree programme.

He has five top-20 finishes in the last six events.

Matt, who is ranked twenty-sixth in the world, will be looking to bounce back after he failed to make the cut at The Players Championship last weekend.