It might not get much better than this for English brothers Matt Fitzpatrick and Alex Fitzpatrick.

The duo began to break away from the pack by shooting a tournament-record 15-under 57 during the third round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on Saturday at Avondale, La.

“I think I can think of one bad shot that we both hit, and that was me,” Matt Fitzpatrick said. “Yeah, it was an awesome day.”

The Fitzpatricks were sparked by Matt’s eagle on the par-5 seventh hole and maintained the momentum during the four-ball format to carry a four-stroke lead into the final round at TPC Louisiana. This is the PGA Tour’s only team event.

The Fitzpatrick team is at 30 under. Davis Thompson/Austin Eckroat (61) and second-round leaders Alex Smalley/Hayden Springer (62) are next at 26 under. The team of Doug Ghim/Jeffrey Kang (61) is at 25 under.

The Fitzpatrick brothers could be headed toward special territory given that last year’s winning score was 28 under from the team of Ben Griffin/Andrew Novak.

“He played brilliant golf both of the last two days,” Matt said of this brother. “His game has really turned a corner these last few months, and I believe in him to continue that trend.”

The Fitzpatricks posted birdies on eight of the nine holes on the backside. They were without a bogey and had four pars.

They each provided the best score seven times.

Matt Fitzpatrick, the older of the brothers, has been on a roll recently, including winning last week’s RBC Heritage.

“Playing alongside my brother, who happens also to be one of the best players in the world is pretty fun,” Alex said. “When he’s playing well, it’s pretty cool to watch.”

The Fitzpatricks placed 11th in the Zurich Classic in 2024 and then missed the cut last year.

The format goes back to foursomes for the final round.

“Your mindset is kind of changed from day-to-day, so (Sunday) will be a different animal,” Thompson said. “Hopefully we can get off to a good start and put some pressure on those guys.”

Smalley said there won’t be an overhaul in strategy.

“I think if we just kind of stick to what we’re doing, just trying to give ourselves as many looks as we can,” he said. “I think that will serve us pretty well.”

The teams pursuing the Fitzpatricks don’t want to become overly consumed by the chase.

“At the end of the day, you have to hit your good shots and try to pick up after your partner if you need to,” Kang said.

Seven teams were in the lead or one shot back by mid-afternoon Saturday.

Then there was the case of Davis Chatfield and Belgium’s Adrien Dumont de Chassart. They were 9 under through 11 holes after Dumont de Chassart ‘s eagle on No. 2, which was the pairing’s 11th hole of the day. But they played the rest of the way at 1 over without another birdie.

Until some of the final groups came in, the day’s best score of 61 belonged to Canada’s A.J. Ewart and South Africa’s Casey Jarvis. That moved them to 22 under and in a tie for 10th place.

“Kind of ham-and-egged it, as some would say,” Ewart said. “Kind of working in shifts and not birdieing the same holes, but making sure we’re setting our partners up to kind of free will it and go at it.”

–Field Level Media

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Corey Day claimed the first NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory of his career on Saturday, driving to the yellow and checkered flags in the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway — his No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet leading only the last lap as he earned his first trophy in his first full-time season.

The 20-year old Californian sprint car driver delivered the multi-time NASCAR Cup Series championship Hendrick team its first O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory at Talladega and this weekend earned a win for a special “guest” crew member, former Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce, who dressed out in Hendrick blue and helped transport tires for the team on pit road Saturday.

“I sure as heck didn’t think it [first win] would be at a superspeedway,” said a grinning Day, who also won a sprint car race in Nebraska earlier this week. “My 17 guys just built a rocket ship.

“I feel like we’ve been close, had a good day at Rockingham (North Carolina race) and had a couple other good days and just didn’t finish it off, so this is super cool.”

The time of the race was 1 hour, 58 minutes, 33 seconds.

Rookie Brent Crews finished a career-best runner-up in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, with Haas Factory Team driver Sheldon Creed third in a typical photo finish-type conclusion on the 2.66-mile Talladega high banks. Creed’s work was good enough to claim the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash incentive prize for his effort — the second straight week he did so.

“Hard to be too mad at second here when so much happens and very easily could have been in one of those crashes at the end,” he said. “Getting to take home the Dash 4 Cash is really special, and thank the guys in the shop for that.”

JR Motorsports driver Sammy Smith was fourth in the No. 8 Chevrolet, extending a top-10 streak for the team to 68 races, second best all-time in the series. Owner-driver Jeremy Clements was fifth in the South Carolina-based No. 51 Jeremy Clements Racing team Chevrolet, earning the independent team’s best showing since 2022.

Dean Thompson, Jesse Love, Brandon Jones, Parker Retzlaff and Austin Green rounded out the top-10, with J.J. Yeley earning the only Ford in the 38-car field an impressive 11th-place finish.

Love started on pole position in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, led the most laps (37), and was out front late before getting shuffled backward with six laps remaining. The field split his car high and low on track, with Creed moving into the lead with five laps remaining.

Creed’s Haas Factory Team teammate, Sam Mayer, who had been impressive throughout the afternoon, was scored the leader with two laps to go in a three-wide front row also featuring Creed and Day. And then as often happens at Talladega, contact during the final frantic laps of competition shuffled the front pack, slammed Mayer’s No. 41 Chevy and two-time former winner Jeb Burton’s No. 27 Jordan Anderson Chevrolet into the outside wall.

Mayer settled for 25th despite leading three times for eight laps on the day. Burton, a photo-finish runner-up last year in the race, settled for 26th.

JR Motorsports teammates Carson Kvapil (stage one) and Justin Allgaier (stage two) claimed the two wins, but both were unable to recover from a mid-race green flag penalty for “impeding” cars on track during the final stage of racing.

The four caution periods were the fewest since 2022. The 38 lead changes were the most at the track since 2013.

Despite recording the lowest finish of the season (23rd), Allgaier retains the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship lead by 105 points over Creed.

The series moves to Texas Motor Speedway for next Saturday’s Andy’s Frozen Custard 340. Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson is the defending race winner.

Day, Crews, Creed and Smith will be eligible for the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash award next week.

–By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service, Special to Field Level Media

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race – AG-PRO 300

Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway

Saturday

1. (3) Corey Day, Chevrolet, 113.

2. (18) Brent Crews #, Toyota, 113.

3. (5) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 113.

4. (13) Sammy Smith, Chevrolet, 113.

5. (15) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 113.

6. (17) Dean Thompson, Toyota, 113.

7. (1) Jesse Love, Chevrolet, 113.

8. (22) Brandon Jones, Toyota, 113.

9. (19) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 113.

10. (31) Austin Green, Chevrolet, 113.

11. (25) JJ Yeley, Ford, 113.

12. (23) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 113.

13. (6) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 113.

14. (35) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 113.

15. (34) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 113.

16. (27) Patrick Emerling(i), Chevrolet, 113.

17. (10) Mason Maggio, Chevrolet, 113.

18. (28) Kyle Sieg, Chevrolet, 113.

19. (29) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 113.

20. (37) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 113.

21. (12) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 113.

22. (8) Carson Kvapil, Chevrolet, 113.

23. (11) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 113.

24. (32) Lavar Scott #, Chevrolet, 113.

25. (2) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, Accident, 112.

26. (24) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, Accident, 112.

27. (30) Harrison Burton, Toyota, Accident, 112.

28. (16) William Sawalich, Toyota, 112.

29. (26) Taylor Gray, Toyota, 112.

30. (7) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 112.

31. (9) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 112.

32. (33) Tyler Ankrum(i), Chevrolet, 112.

33. (36) Natalie Decker, Chevrolet, 112.

34. (38) Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, 112.

35. (4) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 112.

36. (21) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 111.

37. (14) Patrick Staropoli #, Chevrolet, 105.

38. (20) David Starr, Chevrolet, Overheating, 14.

Average speed of race winner: 152.128 mph.

Time of race: 1 hour, 58 minutes, 33 seconds. Margin of victory: Under caution seconds.

Caution flags: 4 for 15 laps. Lead changes: 38 among 16 drivers.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 1,8,00,88,26,31,41,24,2,51

Stage #2 Top Ten: 7,39,00,26,99,1,24,51,87,21

After a shocking 10-17 start to the season, the Boston Red Sox have fired manager Alex Cora and five coaches, the club announced on Saturday evening.

In addition to Cora, the club dismissed hitting coach Peter Fatse, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson, third base coach Kyle Hudson, bench coach Ramon Vasquez and hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin.

Chad Tracy, 40, the club’s manager at Triple-A Worcester since 2022, has been named interim manager. Game planning and run-prevention coach Jason Varitek will be reassigned to a new role in the organization.

“Alex Cora led this organization to one of the greatest seasons in Red Sox history in 2018, and for that, and the many years that followed, he will always have our deepest gratitude,” Red Sox owner John Henry said in a team statement. “He has had a lasting impact on this team and on this city. He has led on and off the field in so many important ways. These decisions are never easy, but this one is especially difficult given what Alex has meant to the Red Sox since the day he arrived.

“I want to thank Alex, our coaches, and their families for everything they have given to this organization. They have been part of this club in a way that goes beyond the field, and they will always have our respect and gratitude.”

Boston dipped to 9-17 after a 10-3 loss in Baltimore on Friday. The Orioles blasted six home runs and 20 hits in that rout. After Friday’s game, the Red Sox sat eight games behind the New York Yankees in the American League East.

But the Red Sox did exact a measure of revenge on Saturday, shellacking the Orioles, 17-1.

After serving as bench coach for the 2017 world champion Houston Astros, Cora was hired as manager in Boston in 2018. He led the Red Sox to a franchise-record 108 victories and a World Series title.

However, after the 2019 campaign, Cora was implicated in an MLB investigation involving sign-stealing by the Astros. MLB undertook an investigation into the Red Sox practices, but Cora and the Red Sox mutually agreed to separate before the 2020 season.

Cora, 50, was suspended for the 2020 season for his role in Houston, but returned to Boston as manager in 2021.

After missing the playoffs from 2022-24, the Red Sox returned last season, but lost a American League wild-card series to the New York Yankees.

Cora posted an eight-year regular-season record of 619-541 and postseason mark of 18-10.

–Field Level Media