Tryst Championship: Christopher Reitan claims his first PGA Tour title as Alex Fitzpatrick fades away from overnight lead | golf news

Christopher Reitan secured his first career PGA Tour win on Sunday night, as the Norwegian beat Rickie Fowler and Nicolai Højgaard by two shots at the Troost Championship.

Alex Fitzpatrick, who was appearing in his second event after winning his PGA Tour card at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans last month, took a one-shot lead into the final day but struggled to maintain his position at the top of the leaderboard, and a double bogey at 17 saw him fall back to post a final week score of 12-under-4.

Reitan’s rise on the PGA Tour has been meteoric. Just three years ago, the 28-year-old Hotel Planner was fighting to keep his card on the Tour – the DP World Tour’s feeder circuit.

On Sunday, he outlasted a group of players at Quail Hollow Club, going ahead with birdies on the 14th and 15th holes to post a final round of 69 and finish at 15-under-par.

“A tremendous amount of relief and joy,” Rittan said. “Honestly I can’t put it into words. I was in a good position today, even before today, although I didn’t expect to walk away with the win today.

“I guess it’s going to happen. My only goal today was to get it as free as possible so I could give myself a chance to hit good shots. I’m so glad I kept that focus the whole way. It’s hard to describe how I feel right now.

“I love this place, it’s absolutely fantastic. I love the fact that it demands so much from your game, a historic venue. I’m very happy to walk away as champion.”

After winning the PGA Tour’s sixth signature event of the 2026 season, Reitan will walk away with a cash prize of $3.6m (£2.65m) as well as 700 FedExCup points.

Fitzpatrick: “It’s still very surreal”

Fitzpatrick got off to a rough start, going three-over through his first three holes with a bogey on the second and a double bogey on the third.

The Englishman bounced back after the turn, making three birdies in four holes, but bogged down on the par-three 17th, the second-hardest hole on the course this week, missing the green before failing to putt out for par. He wrapped up his round with a birdie on the 18th hole to end his week at 12-under par.

“It’s still very surreal,” said Fitzpatrick, who is projected to move up 17 places to 22nd in the FedExCup standings. “I haven’t woken up yet, which I guess is a good thing! I think it’s crazy to be disappointed, but somehow I’m a little disappointed.”

It’s been a huge year for the Fitzpatrick brothers, with Alex winning his first DP World Tour event in March at the Hero Indian Open before claiming his first PGA Tour title with brother Matt, who finished his week at the Troost Championship in a one-over tie for 52nd place.

“I felt like I didn’t play that bad, I just got off to a slow start and got unlucky with some breaks,” Alex said of his week.

“That’s the game and I’m glad to see (Ritan) win. He played really, really well today and hopefully I’ll have another chance.”

Fowler is disappointed not to claim the win

Fowler was out for his first PGA Tour win since 2023 and tied for the lead through 17 holes at 14-under par along with Fitzpatrick and Rittan. The American left himself on the 18th green with a 12-foot putt for par, but slid the shot agonizingly wide to move back to 13-under with Hodggard.

The Dane also fell victim to the ‘green mile’ at Quail Hollow – the course’s final three holes – when he airmailed the green on the 16th hole before making bogey.

Speaking after finishing his round, Fowler said: “Obviously, disappointed not to be in the playoffs or in a position to win.

“But at the same time if you told me at seven o’clock that I’d come up front and get a chance to pose, yeah, a lot of really good things this week, especially being under the weather and starting a little bit back and putting together a nice round of golf on Friday, not going back yesterday, and then having a tough day today.”

Fowler will turn his attention to the PGA Championship at Aronimink next week. His game is trending in the right direction, with top-10 finishes in his last three starts, all of which were signature events.

“A lot of good stuff and definitely happy with where the game was, how it’s progressing and obviously where we are now,” Fowler said.

McIlroy struggles at Quail Hollow

Rory McIlroy returns to PGA Tour action this week at his happy hunting ground of Quail Hollow. The Northern Irishman, who has taken four weeks off since successfully defending his Masters title in April, has won here four times in the past, but after going four-under par through 32 holes, McIlroy endured a tough third round, posting a four-over par 75.

He struggled with a four-under 67 on Sunday, but would end his week T19, admitting he had a “good time” on the range after a poor round on Saturday.

“I got off to a good start, but I hit the ball better,” McIlroy said. “I started hitting lefties with everything yesterday. I spent quite a bit of time on the range last night just trying to straighten it out.

“On the range this week, the wind was mainly from the left, so I think when you hit a lot of balls in a left-to-right wind, you start to aim a little left. Your clubface might close a little bit at impact to try to counter that wind. So, the last five or six days I’ve started hitting the ball, starting to win some left-to-right.

“So, I was trying to get out on the range a little bit last night, which I felt like I did, and I hit the ball a lot better today.”

Elsewhere, Tommy Fleetwood bounced back from an indifferent few weeks on the PGA Tour to post his first top-10 finish since the Players Championship in March.

He finished the tournament with a final round score of 69 to move to T5 on the leaderboard at 11-under, with bogeys on 11 and 16 proving costly.

Harry was another who ran into trouble on the green mile, posting bogeys on the 16th and 17th to end his week at 10-under par.

What next?

The men’s major season continues this week with the PGA Championship, as Scotty Scheffler returns as the defending champion and chases a 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 event is the CJ Cup Byron Nelson from May 21-24, which Scheffler also defends. Get Sky Sports or Flow without any contract.