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.
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.
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.
Odds via BetMGM Sportsbook
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.
Fitzpatrick has reclaimed the solo lead once again after a terrific bounce back birdie on the short 17th. The Englishman threw a pitching wedge inside 10 feet and then paid it off with the left to right birdie putt to move back to 14 under, one ahead of Kristoffer Reitan.
With low scores all over the golf course on Saturday, the most shocking result of the third round isn't Cam Young's 63 or any of the other terrific rounds, but Rory McIlroy shooting a 4-over 75 to eject from the conversation.
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.
A surprising figure has now joined Alex Fitzpatrick at the top of the leaderboard. The young Norwegian has charged through his back nine with four birdies in his last five holes to get to 13 under, which is now tied for the lead after a Fitzpatrick bogey on the 16th to begin the Green Mile.
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 made an eventful bogey on the par-5 15th after finding the bunker just short of the green in two. He skulled it out of the bunker, sailing the ball into the grandstand long where it bounced hard and rolled all the way back across the green into the same bunker he was already in.
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.
After a horrible horseshoe lip-out on the 14th kept a circle off his card, Fitzpatrick was able to pick up his seventh birdie on the par-5 15th after finding the fairway off the tee and smashing a fairway wood onto the green in two. A solid two-putt gave him another stress-free birdie to move him to 14 under overall, two shots clear of Young, Im and Reitan in second.
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.
It wasn't the most conventional pathway to a birdie, but after rolling up his pant leg to get a stance with his ball barely staying above the penalty area on the drivable par 4, Im was able to hit a beautiful chip and pay it off with the birdie putt to match to get to 12 under and join Cam Young and Kristoffer Reitan in second place.
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.
It's not often that an 8-under 63 ends on a disappointing note, but that's exactly what happened with Cameron Young, who finally gave one back on the difficult closing hole at Quail Hollow to post 12 under in the clubhouse. As of now, that's one back of Alex Fitzpatrick, who has a par 5 still to come before he also battles the Green Mile.
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.
On the 12th hole, Alex Fitzpatrick hit an unbelievable shot from the trees on the right to set up a birdie look inside 10 feet that he once again rolled in to move to 13 under, briefly reclaiming the solo lead over Cam Young. However, Young wasn't to be outdone on the incredibly tough 16th, making a birdie from long range after finding the back of the green from 219 yards out on his approach.
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.
Young is now 8 under on his round with six birdies and an eagle as he arrives at the Green Mile. His latest birdie came after getting a fantastic break off the tee, clipping a tree on the left and kicking back to the right into the rough where he could still go for the green rather than possibly finding a water. He took advantage by going long in two and then getting up-and-down from there for birdie, matching Alex Fitzpatrick at 12 under overall.
The 36-hole leader could only tread water on his front nine, but after finding the surface in two on the par-5 10th, he poured in a 45-footer for eagle to move just one off Alex Fitzpatrick's lead.
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.
McIlroy had it to 6 under after his first hole of the day, but he has crashed out of contention since then with five bogeys in his next 11 holes, including three in a row to open his back nine. The four-time Truist champ is now 11 shots off the lead at 1 under and will have some searching to do on Sunday to find the right feel going into the PGA Championship next week at Aronimink.
The younger Fitzpatrick brother continues to play unbelievable golf, adding a fifth birdie to his card on the front nine with a rare 3 on the long par-4 9th.
That moved him to 12 under overall, two clear of a trio in second that includes his college teammate Cameron Young as well as Tommy Fleetwood and Nicolai Højgaard. He now figures to have another solid look at birdie on the par-5 10th to see if he can't extend that lead further as he begins the back nine.
After blistering another drive on the 12th, Young had just a flip wedge in for his second and nearly jarred it from the fairway, leaving a 5-footer back down the hill that he cooly rolled in to move it to 10 under overall and 6 under for his round.
Young has two wins (including last week at Doral), two T3s and a T7 in his last six starts and appears poised to make it another top 10 finish at the very least this week, if not another win, thanks to his early tear so far on Moving Day at Quail Hollow.
Fitzpatrick added another birdie on the par-5 7th thanks to a bit of luck as a flared 7 wood caught just enough of the green on the right side to hang up on the collar and avoid going in the water.
From there he barely got his first putt up the hill after taking a big hop, but rolled in a longer-than-expected birdie putt to keep his round cruising along. That birdie moves him to 11 under overall and 4 under on his round as he continues to strike the ball beautifully and is starting to get more comfortable with the greens and Quail Hollow, seeing more putts going in.
The long-hitting Dane is paired with Rory McIlroy on Saturday and while the four-time winner goes backwards, Højgaard is on the charge. After opening with a bogey at the 1st, he's piled up five birdies in his last seven holes to move it to 10 under, tying Alex Fitzpatrick at the top of the leaderboard. Højgaard, like McIlroy, has the ability to take some of the trouble at Quail Hollow out of play with his distance, but he's also been among the best in the field around the greens this week to make for a well-rounded performance thus far.
After that opening birdie it looked like a Saturday charge was in store from McIlroy, but bogeys on Nos. 4 and 6 have the four-time Truist champ going the wrong way on the leaderboard. He's now 4 under, five shots off the lead and down into a tie for 17th. There's still time to turn things around, starting with the par-5 7th, but he's going to need another back nine charge like he produced on Friday if he's going to get back onto the first page of the leaderboard by the end of the day.
Last week's winner was lurking in T12 to start the third round, but a birdie and now an eagle on the par-5 7th has Young in position to contend for his third big win of the season.
That eagle moved him to 7 under, two shots behind Fitzpatrick and Im, and we've seen today how the middle of Quail Hollow is extremely gettable so Young should have more opportunities coming up to try and apply even more pressure to the leaders.
The Alex Fitzpatrick heater continues with a pair of birdies in his first three holes to move into a share of the lead at 9 under alongside Sungjae Im. Fitzpatrick continues to climb the leaderboard thanks to exceptional ball-striking, firing a pair of darts at the 2nd and 3rd holes to set up birdie putts from inside six feet to join the lead.
Fitzpatrick earned his Tour card with the win alongside his brother Matt at the Zurich, but he's quickly proven that he belongs on the PGA Tour with a top 10 finish at Doral last week and now finds himself in contention again at another Signature event in his first trip to Quail Hollow.
Two of the biggest movers of the day so far are Spaun and Cantlay, who have it to 6 under and part of the large group tied for 6th after hot starts to their third round. Cantlay is -4 thru 10 while Spaun is -3 thru 9 as they look to add a couple more birdies to start their back nine before they reach the Green Mile where it's all about holding on to the finish.
