Just a week after a disastrous final hole seemingly ended his chances, Kristoffer Reitan stood on the 18th green at the Truist Championship with a $20 million tournament victory in his grasp. But Reitan’s path to glory at Quail Hollow wasn’t just about his own play in Charlotte; it was opened by a rival’s costly error at Trump Doral that gave him a lifeline.

Though his own double bogey on 18 at Blue Monster nearly ended his chances, Reitan was thrown a lifeline thanks to Alex Smalley being the beneficiary of a rival’s bogey. Smalley rose in the Aon 10 rankings, which in turn created a last-chance opening for Reitan on the Aon 5 list. This allowed the Norwegian to punch his ticket to Quail Hollow, where he held off Rickie Fowler and Alex Fitzpatrick to claim the title.

“A tremendous amount of relief and joy,” Reitan said after winning his first Signature event. “I can’t put it into words, to be honest. Even today, I wasn’t quite expecting to walk away with the win, even though I was in a good position before today.”

The win came down to Reitan playing a clean two-under final round, aided by two bogeys and two double bogeys from the overnight leader Fitzpatrick.

The Brit, who carded a round of 73, said, “I am happy to see Kris win; he deserves it. He played really, really well today, and hopefully it will be my time soon.”

Kristoffer Mindset on the Final Day at Quail Hollow

“I feel like it will happen if it happens. My only goal today was to free it up as much as I could to give myself a chance to hit good shots. I’m so glad that I kept that focus the whole way through. I’m struggling to describe how I’m feeling right now,” said Reitan.

With the win, Reitan pocketed a cool $3.6 million from the $20 million purse, with Fowler and Nicolai Hojgaard taking home $1.78 million each for their T2 finish. It also saw him rise 46 spots in the PGA Tour’s prize money list for 2026. The figure may be rather small for someone of his family background.

Reitan does not need golf to earn a living, as he is secure through his very wealthy Norwegian business family. His grandfather, Odd Reitan, founded the REITAN retail group, which runs major supermarket chains like REMA 1000, and the family’s wealth is estimated at $8-$9 billion.

That doesn’t take away the sheen of the win, with the emotional weight visible in Reitan’s tone and words after the event.

“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 super pleased to be walking away as the champion.”

Reitan almost gave up golf in 2022

What makes it even more evident is that he was almost ready to give up golf, but came back because of his passion. In 2022, he considered quitting the sport and becoming a YouTube golfer because he was not enjoying competition and felt stuck in his progress.

He had said, “I think YouTube golf would have given me maybe some of that fun competitiveness back, maybe not the serious competitiveness, if that makes sense. So I was just trying to find ways to make it more fun to give my journey in golf a little bit of energy, and trying to have fun while I’m playing so that I can endure the hardships that follow, yeah, with professional golf.”

Kristoffer Reitan built his way back into professional golf by playing casually with his friends. He rediscovered his love and enjoyment for golf, which slowly led him to find his confidence and return to the tour. The Norwegian moved up step by step through the Challenge Tour and then the DP World Tour. His big breakthrough came at the Soudal Open, where he started the final day nine shots behind the leader.

In his final round, Reitan carded a course record 62 with nine birdies in 15 holes to qualify for a playoff and win. Nearly a year after that, he made the most of one missed stroke and the Aon system.

Reitan now qualifies for Signature tournaments like the Memorial Tournament and the Travelers Championship. By securing his spot in marquee events, Reitan has earned the ultimate validation for a player who almost walked away from the game entirely.