Can Alex Fitzpatrick join long line of young winners at Truist Championship?
Alex Fitzpatrick has won on the PGA Tour in the same way you aced the group project.
Yes, it happened. No, you’re not bragging about it — you take the grade and pray that no one bothers auditing who did what.
None of that seems to matter now that two weeks removed from not being on the PGA Tour, Fitzpatrick holds the 54-hole lead at the Truist Championship, a signature event that pays $3.6 million to the champion.
Two weeks ago — teamed up with his more accomplished brother, Matt — Fitzpatrick won the PGA Tour’s lone team event in New Orleans and, well, is quite fortunate the Tour counts all A’s the same. For winning, Fitzpatrick — who was mainly playing on the DP World Tour — earned a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour.
“I’ve always felt like my game was in a good space this year,” Fitzpatrick said. “(But I) definitely think you’re more comfortable out there when you know that you’re not fighting for the card for the year.”
It is not hyperbole to say that victory hit the fast-forward button on the 27-year-old’s career. But, of course, the Fairness Police diverted their attention away from NBA officiating to bemoan the — checks notes — exemptions afforded to the Zurich Classic champions.
Fitzpatrick — who played his college golf at Wake Forest (2018-22) —has shut them all up in a matter of 13 days, playing so well that the casual golfing public is only left to wonder: Why did it take winning a team event for this guy to become a full-time PGA Tour member?
In his first tournament since earning his Tour card, Fitzpatrick finished T9 at the Cadillac Championship, putting to bed any concerns about his viability playing with the big boys. And now, he’ll be in the final pairing of the Truist Championship on Sunday, 18 holes away from his first solo victory on the PGA Tour.
On Saturday, Fitzpatrick (14-under) shot a 7-under 64— a third-round score only bested by fellow Wake Forest alum Cameron Young (8-under) — and heads into Sunday with a one-shot lead over Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan (13-under) and a two-shot advantage over Young (12-under).
If Fitzpatrick finishes the job on Sunday, it would only be right that it happens at Quail Hollow. For whatever reason, this tournament — and golf course — has a knack for crowning young stars.
Consider the names who earned their first PGA Tour victories in Charlotte: Anthony Kim (2008), Rory McIlroy (2010), Rickie Fowler (2012), Max Homa (2019) and Wyndham Clark (2023).
Technically, even with a win on Sunday, Fitzpatrick would not make that list. But it would be his first PGA Tour victory without an asterisk, a type of win that shifts the conversation from exemption worthiness to PGA Championship odds.
Somehow, Fitzpatrick doesn’t seem fazed by this hypersonic ascension, mature enough to say things like this.
“I would love to win. I would give a lot to win,” he said. Then he added, “If winning doesn’t happen tomorrow, I would hope it would happen at some point. As long as I can go out and enjoy it, that’s all I can do.”
He strolled around Quail Hollow on Saturday like a man at peace, a feat even more impressive considering he was playing with Justin Thomas (9-under), who shot 2-under Saturday. The champion here at the 2017 PGA Championship, Thomas is a crowd favorite in Charlotte. Yet, for every two or three chants of “J-T,” there was someone hollering out, “Go Alex!”
It was quite a different reception than the one his brother received last month in South Carolina. It helps to hold a degree from a North Carolina institution.
“The one thing that I kind of did a really good job of today was embracing everything that’s going on,” Fitzpatrick said. “I had so much support out there, which was amazing. Shoutout to everyone at Wake Forest.”
Even when asked about the putting that helped him card eight birdies on Saturday, Fitzpatrick almost chalked it up to some cosmic force in the universe — as if a good night’s sleep powered him to a brilliant day.
“For whatever reason, I felt like I woke up and was more comfortable than I was the first couple days,” Fitzpatrick said. “I’m hoping I can wake up tomorrow and be comfortable again.”
If he does, golf may just have its best story of the year.
