Alex Fitzpatrick took the lead on Saturday but will have to hold off his old Wake Forest teammate and the hottest player on Tour on Sunday
Moving Day at the 2026 Truist Championship lived up to the name on Saturday, as the third round featured some fireworks and stunning rounds of golf — both good and bad — at Quail Hollow.
Cameron Young began the day five shots off the lead, but an 8-under 63 helped him climb all the way up to solo third at 12 under overall — two shots back of his old college teammate at Wake Forest, Alex Fitzpatrick. Young started the day solidly with one birdie in his first six holes, but an eagle on the par-5 7th kickstarted an incredible run where he went 8 under in a 10-hole stretch in the middle of his round.
Young added six more birdies from there, including a stolen one on the incredibly long, difficult 16th with a bomb from the back of the green, and was within range of the course record of 61. Instead, he finally dropped a shot on the 18th after driving it in the trees right to only shoot a 63 and remain just off the lead.
Even with that late blemish, Young is now in position to become the first player to win back-to-back events on the PGA Tour since…two weeks ago when Matt Fitzpatrick did so at the RBC Heritage and the Zurich Classic.
To further tie those two together, the man Young will try to chase down on Sunday is Matt’s brother Alex, who he teamed up with for that second win in New Orleans. That victory earned Alex his Tour card and got him into the field last week at Doral (where he finished T9) and this week in Charlotte.
The younger Fitzpatrick shot a 64 himself on Saturday to surge into the solo lead, as his ball-striking continues to lead the field and give him tons of looks at birdies. His putter woke up in the third round and allowed him to stack birdies, as he made eight to just one bogey on his card, giving him his first-ever solo 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour.
Fitzpatrick’s lone bogey came on the difficult 16th, but he bounced back immediately by firing another dart at the short par-3 17th to set up his final birdie of the day to reclaim the solo lead.
A win on Sunday for Fitzpatrick would be a monumental step forward in his career. His win alongside brother Matt earned him his card, but a solo win in a Signature event would lock him into a three-year exemption, earn him a Masters invite for 2027 and push his earnings to north of $6 million in just three weeks of play on the PGA Tour.
He’s still a long way from that victory and will have to navigate the nerves of Sunday in contention by himself for the first time on the PGA Tour. He played excellent golf in New Orleans alongside his brother and showed no fear in his play down the stretch on Saturday in Charlotte, but it will still be a different feel in that final pairing trying to hold off Young and a hungry group of challengers behind him.
Other contenders
2. Kristoffer Reitan (-13)
3. Cameron Young (-12)
T4. Nicolai Højgaard, Sungjae Im (-10)
T6. J.J. Spaun, Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood (-9)
Given what we saw in terms of scoring on Saturday, it’s hard to write off anyone in this group completely. Spaun’s 65 was the low round of the day for much of the afternoon until Young, Reitan and Fitzpatrick all bested him late in the day, and he’ll carry more positive momentum into Sunday than Thomas and Fleetwood, who both stalled out in the final two pairings of the third round.
Reitan, like Fitzpatrick, is looking for a career-changing win on Sunday. The Norwegian got into Doral last week as an alternate and his T14 finish was good enough to get him into the field this week. He’s taking full advantage of that opportunity, and his 64 on Saturday knocked Young out of the final pairing with Fitzpatrick in the final round. If nothing else, he seems poised for his best finish on Tour and a huge payday that should give him loads of confidence moving forward.
Højgaard looked like he might make a similar move to Reitan, but gave one back late on the 18th to slide four shots off the lead. Even so, the long-hitting Dane is very much a threat on this golf course and will look to make some noise from the penultimate group alongside Young on Sunday.
Im was the 36-hole leader, but his round derailed in bizarre fashion on the par-5 15th. After reaching the greenside bunker in two, he skulled his chip, which banked off the grandstand over the green, rolled all the way back across and into that same bunker.
That led to a bogey and he followed that up with a sloppy three-putt on the 17th that dropped him back to 10 under, four shots off Fitzpatrick’s pace.
Rory McIlroy’s miserable day
Notably absent from that list of contenders is Rory McIlroy, who began the day four shots off the lead and made a birdie on the first thanks to the longest drive of the day and the closest approach of anyone on No. 1. That seemed to signal the four-time Truist champ would be making a Saturday charge, but the wheels came off in the middle of his round as he made six bogeys in 10 holes from No. 4 to No. 13, including four straight to start his back nine.
The end result was a shocking 4-over 75 which, when considering he lost nearly 5.3 strokes to the field, was one of the worst rounds of McIlroy’s career. Now he’s 13 shots off the lead and will be spending his Sunday just trying to find the right feel going into the PGA Championship next week, rather than contending for a fifth title at Quail Hollow.
Updated 2026 Truist Championship odds, picks
Odds via BetMGM Sportsbook
- Alex Fitzpatrick (2-1)
- Cameron Young (2-1)
- Kristoffer Reitan (33/10)
- Nicolai Højgaard (16-1)
- Sungjae Im (22-1)
- Tommy Fleetwood (22-1)
I liked Fitzpatrick a lot more at 16-1 after the second round. I would not be surprised if he held on to win given the confidence he’s playing with, but at 2-1 I don’t love the value any more. The oddsmakers aren’t giving much up on Young either, putting him right alongside Fitzpatrick, and that feels right. He is in full flow with his entire game and has everything you want out of a player at Quail Hollow (and really any course right now). Højgaard’s performance today impressed me playing alongside McIlroy in free-fall even though we saw lower scores from others, and with his length, I think of the longer shots he’s the most live of that group.
Alex Fitzpatrick bounces back with a birdie on No. 17
Rory McIlroy shoots a shocking 75 to fall out of contention
McIlroy opened with a terrific birdie on the 1st and it looked like his charge to the top would begin, but instead he stalled out before falling apart on the back nine with four straight bogeys to begin his second side. In total, McIlroy made six bogeys to just two birdies on his day, which is a stunning turn of events for someone who has long dominated at Quail Hollow.
Instead of spending Sunday trying to chase down a fifth win at the Truist, he’ll instead just be in search of a good feel going into the PGA Championship next week.
Kristoffer Reitan tied for the lead after a birdie on 17, Fitzpatrick bogey on 16
Reitan nearly birdied the long 16th before cashing in on the 17th with a beautiful pitching wedge to inside 10 feet. He then striped one down the left side of the fairway on the tough 18th and looks extremely comfortable right now as he takes aim at his best-ever finish on the PGA Tour.
Sungjae Im skulls a bunker shot off the grandstand, back into the same bunker
He got out successfully with his fourth, but couldn’t save par and walked off with an extremely disappointing 6 to fall three shots off the lead.
Alex Fitzpatrick extends lead to two before entering the Green Mile
Now he faces the Green Mile, starting with the brutally long par-4 16th, but with the way he’s striking the ball this week you wouldn’t put a solid finish past Fitzpatrick this evening.
Sungjae Im makes a birdie after taking a dip in the pond on No. 14
It’s been a solid back nine for Im, who will now get a chance to pick up one more at the par-5 15th before facing off with the Green Mile to close out his round.
Cameron Young makes his first bogey of the day on No. 18 to shoot 63
Young missed wide right on the 18th trying to avoid the creek down the left and could only pitch out from the pine straw to 125 yards out. He was not able to get that up-and-down for his par and walked off the 18th with a bogey, capping off an otherwise sensational round of golf.
Young eased into his round, but a birdie on the fourth got him going before he really put it in gear starting with an eagle on No. 7. From there he rattled off six birdies in his next nine holes to threaten the course record of 61. He couldn’t quite match that magical number, but still moved himself from T12 and five shots back of the lead to solo second currently, with a real shot at back-to-back wins in Signature events.
Young and Fitzpatrick trade incredible birdies to push co-lead to -13
That birdie moved Young to 9 under on his round, now just one birdie on his final two holes shy of matching Rory McIlroy’s course record of 61.
Cameron Young ties the lead at -12
Sungjae Im eagles the 10th to move into T2
Im is looking to top his best finish of the season — a T4 at the Valspar — and while it looked like he might just get passed by the other low scores around him on the course on Saturday, he’sput his name back in the mix with three terrific shots on the long par 5 to get back into the top 2.