On Sunday night, Norwegian player Christopher Reitan defeated Rickie Fowler and Nikolaj Hojgaard by two strokes at the Tourist Championship to earn his first career victory on the PGA Tour.
Competing in only his second tournament since earning his PGA Tour card at last month’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, Alex Fitzpatrick held a one-shot lead heading into the final day, but struggled to maintain his position at the top of the leaderboard, and a double bogey on No. 17 set him back, giving him a final score of 12 under and ending the week in fourth place.
Reitan’s rise to the PGA Tour was as expected. Just three years ago, the 28-year-old was struggling to keep his card on the Hotel Planner Tour, a feeder circuit for the DP World Tour.
On Sunday, he outpaced a large field of players at Quail Hollow Club, birdied the 14th and 15th holes to move into the lead and closed the final round with a 69 to finish at 15 under.
Norway’s Christopher Reitan hugs his caddy after winning the Truist Championship golf tournament at Quail Hollow Club.
“It’s a tremendous sense of relief and joy,” Reitan said. “To be honest, I can’t express it in words. Even though we were in a good position before today, we never expected that we would still be able to win today.
“I feel like it’s going to happen. My only goal today was to release as much power as possible to give myself a chance to hit a good shot. I’m really glad I was able to stay focused until the end. I’m having a hard time explaining how I’m feeling right now.”
“I love this place. It’s really amazing. I love the fact that this place, being a historic venue, demands a lot from the game. I’m very happy to leave as champions.”
By winning the PGA Tour’s sixth signature event of the 2026 season, Reitan will take home $3.6 million (£2.65 million) in prize money and 700 FedEx Cup points.
Fitzpatrick: “It’s still very surreal.”
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Alex Fitzpatrick says he is disappointed to finish fourth after leading the final round of the Twist Championship
Fitzpatrick got off to a rocky start, going 3 over on the first three holes, bogeying the second hole and double bogey the third hole.
The Englishman bounced back after the turn, making three birdies in four holes, but was stuck on the par-3 17th, the second-toughest hole on the course this week, missing the green and failing to make a par putt. He finished the round with a par on the 18th hole and finished the week at 12 under.
“It’s still very surreal,” said Fitzpatrick, who is projected to move up 17 spots to 22nd in the FedEx Cup standings. “I guess that’s a good thing because I haven’t woken up yet! I know it’s weird to be disappointed, but for some reason I’m a little disappointed.”
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At the Audi Performance Zone, Sky Sports’ Nick Doherty analyzes Alex Fitzpatrick’s pre-shot routine
It’s been a big year for the Fitzpatrick brothers, with Alex earning his first DP World Tour win at the Hero Indian Open in March and earning his first PGA Tour title with his brother Matt, finishing the week tied for 1-over 52nd at the Truist Championship.
“I felt like I didn’t play that bad. I got off to a slow start and had some bad luck with a few breaks,” Alex said of the week.
“That was the game and I’m happy to see (Reitan) win. He played really, really well today and hopefully I can too.”
Fowler was dejected at not being able to claim victory.
Rickie Fowler waves after birdieing the second hole during the final round of the Truist Championship golf tournament at Quail Hollow Club.
Fowler is looking for his first PGA Tour victory since 2023 and was tied for the lead with Fitzpatrick and Reitan at 14 under after 17 holes. The American chipped off the 18th green and left a 12-foot putt for par, but agonizingly missed the shot wide and fell to 13 under, level with Heigaard.
The Dane also fell victim to Quail Hollow’s “green mile” (the last three holes of the course’s test) after airmailing the green on the 16th hole before hitting bogey.
After finishing his round, Fowler said: “Obviously, right now we’re disappointed that we’re not at least in a position to make the playoffs or have a chance to win.
“But at the same time, if you had told me at the back seven that I would have a chance to get up front and pose, yeah, a lot of really good things happened this week, especially starting a little late with the weather, putting together a great round of golf on Friday, not falling back yesterday and having a solid day today.”
Fowler will turn his attention to the PGA Championship at Aronimink next week. His game is trending in the right direction, with each of his last three starts finishing in the top 10, all of which were signature events.
“There’s a lot of good things and I’m definitely happy with where the game has been so far, the progress we’ve made and obviously where we are right now,” Fowler said.
McIlroy struggles at Quail Hollow
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Rory McIlroy looks ahead to the PGA Championship and hopes for victory over Alex Fitzpatrick after final round at Truist Championship
Rory McIlroy returned to PGA Tour action this week at his happy hunting ground, Quail Hollow. Northern Irishman McIlroy, who took four weeks off after successfully defending his Masters title in April and has won here four times before, endured a difficult third round and shot a 4-over 75 after climbing to 4-under after 32 holes.
He bounced back with a 4-under 67 on Sunday, but ended up finishing the week in 19th place, admitting he spent “a lot of time” on the practice range after a poor round on Saturday.
“We started well, but we hit the ball better,” McIlroy said. “Yesterday I started hitting left in everything. I spent a lot of time on the practice field last night just trying to get it straight.”
“At the practice range this week, the wind was primarily coming from the left, so I think when you’re hitting a lot of balls into a left-to-right wind, you start aiming a little bit to the left. Sometimes the clubface closes a little bit at impact just to try to counteract that wind. So for the last five or six days, when I’ve been hitting balls into a left-to-right wind on the practice range, I’ve started hitting balls to the left on the course.”
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Rory McIlroy hits a 393-yard drive after bouncing along the cart path in the second round of the Tourist Championship
“So I was trying to figure it out a little bit last night on the practice field, and it just felt right. And I hit the ball a lot better today.”
Elsewhere, Tommy Fleetwood bounced back from weeks of indifference on the PGA Tour to record his first top-10 finish since the Players Championship in March.
He finished the tournament with a final round score of 69 and moved up to T5 on the leaderboard at 11 under, but bogeys on Nos. 11 and 16 hurt him.
Harry Hall also had trouble in the green mile, bogeying the 16th and 17th holes to finish the week at 10 under.
What’s next?
The men’s major season continues this week at the PGA Championship, with Scottie Scheffler returning as the defending champion and looking to win his fifth major in as many seasons. Live coverage from Aronimink Golf Club in Pennsylvania begins on Sky Sports Golf from 12.30pm on Thursday.
The next regular PGA Tour tournament will be the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, which will be held from May 21 to May 24, where Scheffler will also defend. Get and stream Sky Sports without a contract.
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