England’s Alex Fitzpatrick is feeling the support and embracing the results in recent PGA Tour outings.
Fitzpatrick shot 7-under-par 64 on Saturday to take the lead through three rounds of the Truist Championship in Charlotte.
He’s at 14-under 199 with a one-shot lead on Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan, who posted a bogey-free 64, and a two-shot edge on Cameron Young, who recorded a 63.
It was a day with lots of movement on the leaderboard at Quail Hollow Club, where the PGA Championship was contested last May.
Fitzpatrick and Young, who are former college teammates at Wake Forest, have both won on the PGA Tour during the past month. The campus is about an 80-minute drive from this week’s venue.
“The one thing that I kind of did a really good job today was embracing everything that’s going on,” Young said. “I had so much support out there, which was amazing. Shout out to everyone at Wake Forest. There was so much support.”
Fitzpatrick was 6 under for the round through 12 holes, pulling into a tie for the lead. He birdied Nos. 12 and 15 before the momentum was interrupted with a bogey on the 16th as he had to hit out of a greenside bunker. He needed an 8-foot putt for birdie on the next hole.
Fitzpatrick has high praise for Young.
“Cam is an unbelievable golfer,” he said. “I kind of knew that in college, and it was only a matter of time before he came out here and started really playing some great golf. … Yeah, I love him to bits.”
Young was 9 under through 16 holes after three straight birdies Saturday. The course record is 11 under.
“That wasn’t my thought,” Young said, though he acknowledged knowing the score for the course record. “I was just trying to hit it somewhere right of the hole on 17 and hit a couple good shots on 18. Unfortunately, had one of my few bad swings of the day on 18.”
Young, who last weekend won the Cadillac Championship in Miami with a wire-to-wire effort, had an eagle on the par-5 seventh hole by sinking a 28-foot putt. His lone bogey came on the final hole.
Last week, Young had a six-shot cushion going to the final round.
“It’s going to be different,” Young said. “I mean, I’m going to go chasing, and this is also a difficult golf course, so anything can happen. It’s just going to be thinking about kind of putting one foot in front of the other and seeing where you are come middle of the back nine.”
Fitzpatrick’s only PGA Tour victory came two weeks ago in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans – the tour’s only team event. His brother, Matt Fitzpatrick, was his partner.
Reitan will be in the final pairing for the last round.
“Just the opportunity to be near the leaderboard on a Sunday at a PGA Tour event, rookie season,” Reitan said. “I’m just over the moon about that.”
Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard (67) and South Korea’s Sungjae Im (70), the second-round leader, share fourth place at 10 under.
Justin Thomas (69), J.J. Spaun (65) and England’s Tommy Fleetwood (70) are tied for sixth at 9 under.
Among the top 10 on the leaderboard, only Fitzpatrick and Thomas have kept their scores below 70 for all three rounds.
The start of the third round was delayed because of morning storms. It marked the second time in three days that a round was off schedule because of weather.
–Field Level Media
