Rory McIlroy's chances at the Truist Championship evaporated as Alex Fitzpatrick seized the third-round lead in North Carolina. The Masters champion, playing his first tournament since his second Augusta victory, began the day four shots off the pace but endured a disastrous round featuring six bogeys, four of which came consecutively from the turn.
McIlroy opened with a birdie but quickly unraveled, posting a 75 to fall to one-under-par, 13 strokes behind the leader. He managed a birdie at the par-five 15th but could not recover from the damaging stretch.
Fitzpatrick shot a sparkling 64 to reach 14-under-par, one stroke ahead of Norway's Kristoffer Reitan, who also carded 64. The Englishman, seeking his second PGA Tour victory after securing his card with a win at the Zurich Classic alongside his brother Matt—the 2022 US Open champion—made five birdies on the front nine, added another on the 12th, and two more either side of his only bogey on the 16th.
"I think having my brother around has been super helpful," Fitzpatrick said. "He's been and done everything that I want to do in the game, whether that's Ryder Cup and win majors. Having him around and me being there for all of that, I felt like I got a really good sense of what it takes and what the atmosphere is like."
American Cameron Young sits two off the pace after a bogey on the last marred a round of 63, leaving him two ahead of Denmark's Nicolai Hojgaard and overnight leader Sungjae Im. England's Tommy Fleetwood fell into a group five strokes behind after a 71.
