Matt Cooper has selections for both today’s PGA Tour final rounds, including the Truist Championship at Quail Hollow.
We’re all set for a treat this PGA Championship Eve because the pre-final round leaderboard at the Truist Championship is packed with quality golfers boasting terrific back stories.
England’s Alex Fitzpatrick leads at the Quail Hollow Club on 14-under, one clear of the Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan, two in front of the American Cameron Young, and all three are seeking to take another step in what have been wonderful recent transformations of their career trajectories.
Eight weeks ago, Fitzpatrick was simply the younger brother of a US Open and Ryder Cup winner. Moreover, while Matt was on a hot streak, Alex remained winless on the DP World Tour.
In late March that changed with victory in the Indian Open and a month later he combined with Matt to land the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and, with it, he pocketed a PGA Tour card. He celebrated with T9 in last week’s Cadillac Championship and is now in pole position to record a fifth winning weekend in eight for the Fitzpatrick family.
Two years ago, Reitan was contemplating giving up tour golf to become a YouTube golfer, less because he naively believed the two incompatible, more because his career was going nowhere.
A year ago he had just recorded his DP World Tour best finish (second in the Hainan Classic) and many would have been justified in believing it was a one off. But, by the end of May, he was a winner, and by the end of the year he had finished eighth on the Race to Dubai, had added a second win, and owned a PGA Tour card.
And then there is Young who one year ago was a flusher with a wobbly putting stroke and no win on the PGA Tour. He sorted out the latter, finally broke through with a victory in early August and starred for the US team in the Ryder Cup. This year he has won the Players Championship and the Cadillac Championship, and nearly won the Masters in between.
A modern day snake oil salesman could put these three tales together and make a fortune selling hope to folk in need of believing their lives, too, could be revived in no time at all.
We’ll stick to just celebrating an element of this sport that makes it wonderful.
Even scratching deeper, there are lovely elements to this unfolding tale. Fitzpatrick played his college golf at nearby Wake Forest University and is therefore not new to the course. Moreover, his time there overlapped with Young’s.
“He really looked after me, so did Kyle his caddie, they took my under their wing,” he said after the third round. “Great people. Cam is an unbelievable golfer. I love him to bits.”
Asked about having the young pup on tour, Young said: “It’s like no time has passed between seeing him in college and now. Great kid and great to see him playing well.”
Meanwhile, Reitan and Fitzpatrick practice at the same Florida course and the Norwegian noted another peculiarity in his story.
“On the 18th tee on Sunday last week I was not in the tournament this week,” he said. He then made a double bogey and, with a bogey for someone else, the pathways for form players into this Signature Event went crazy.
Alex Smalley jumped into the Aon Next 10 and that lifted Reitan into the Aon Swing 5. “A little bit mind blowing, but I’ll take it,” he concluded of this reverse of one step forward, two steps back.
There’s absolutely no doubt that all three are confident and flew round on Saturday (the Europeans carded 64s, the American a 63). Young’s self belief is likely to be the most bullet proof (the others are chasing a more significant win). But their prices look spot on: 2/1 for Fitzpatrick and Young, 3/1 for Reitan.
Preference is to pick a party pooper in the form of SUNGJAE IM who is T4 on 10-under alongside Nicolai Hojgaard and looks to have a touch of value at 28/1 in a place and 25s generally.
The Korean has twice been in the hunt for this title at Quail Hollow in the past, finishing T8 in 2023 and T4 in 2024. He also played well there in the 2022 Presidents Cup (he beat Young in the singles).
“I know this course very well,” he said after his second round. “I think that’s an advantage for me. I know the holes to make birdies and those I need to make pars, and that’s the reason why I’m playing so well and the score is showing it.”
Since returning from injury he has mostly struggled but he does have fresh(ish) memory of contending because he led the Valspar Championship through 54 holes before finishing T4. He also won his two PGA Tour titles from a similar position to this (both times three strokes back).
We’ll also head to the second PGA Tour event this week and add AARON RAI at 23/10. The Englishman has had a tricky spell after winning the HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship last November, but he’s been excellent so far this week.
He makes for an intriguing case for punters because he doesn’t believe in the notion of one win, or even two or three, leading to the assessment of “he’s a winner now”. Instead, he’ll calmly note that every situation is different and therefore prompts a distinct reaction.
He watched this event on television two years ago when Chris Gotterup won and liked the look of the course. That prompted him to add it to his pre-PGA Championship schedule and the good visual feelings have worked out nicely because he’s enjoying it in real life.
He’s currently 15-under in second, one shot behind Mark Hubbard. Kevin Roy is a shot behind Rai, with Mac Meissner, Brandt Snedeker and Beau Hossler T4. Brooks Koepka prowls five shots off the lead in T7 and followers of Ben Coley will have him on side.
Rai is not the favourite and perhaps should be. Bar the veteran Snedeker, he’s the only PGA Tour winner in the top six and in his three DP World Tour wins he always denied decent contending opposition (including, oddly, Tommy Fleetwood in all three). He’s 12/5 and should, perhaps, be the other side of 2/1.
Posted at 12:10 BST on 10/05/26
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