Young Builds Commanding Five-Shot Lead at Cadillac Championship
Cameron Young stretched his lead to five shots at the $20 million Cadillac Championship, firing a 5-under 67 on Friday to reach 13 under par at the halfway point at Trump International Doral.
Young’s near-flawless play has been the story through 36 holes. His lone blemish came at the par-4 14th hole, where an awkward sidehill chip failed to reach the green, resulting in his first bogey of the tournament.
“There’s a lot of golf to be played on a difficult golf course,” Young said. “But so far, I’ve played well.”
He quickly recovered from that rare mistake, driving the green at the par-4 16th just two holes later and comfortably two-putting for his 14th birdie of the week.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler played alongside Young and posted a bogey-free 67 of his own, but couldn’t gain any ground. He remains seven shots back, exactly where he started the day.
Nick Taylor (70), Alex Smalley (71) and Jordan Spieth (71) share second place at 8 under. Gary Woodland sits alone in fifth at 7 under, while Scheffler headlines a group at 6 under that includes Alex Fitzpatrick.
“I definitely need to not get further away,” Scheffler said about his chances of catching Young. “All I can do is go out there and be committed to what I need to do and that’s pretty much it.”
Even when things seemed to go wrong for Young, they worked out. On the par-4 13th, he started walking toward the hole in disgust halfway through his birdie putt, only to watch it drop in the cup.
“I was absolutely disgusted about halfway there,” Young admitted. “When you’re putting well, some of those, they tend to wobble into the hole and that one did.”
Spieth provided a rare highlight at Doral’s notorious finishing hole, rolling in a birdie at the par-4 18th. It was just the sixth birdie on that hole through the tournament’s first two rounds.
“It’s just a really hard tee shot for most guys,” Taylor explained about the 18th, which features water lining the left and a severely narrowed fairway.
The 18th challenged Young too, but he escaped. His second shot bounced off the base of the bleachers and settled in a nest of cables behind the green. After taking a drop and dealing with a poor lie, he still managed to chip to tap-in range for par.
“I may have a two- or three- or four-shot lead starting tomorrow, but it just goes away so fast out here,” Young said. “There’s no sense really playing like you have a four-shot lead. You might as well play like you’re four back.”
The early starters Friday showed how quickly the leaderboard can change. Kurt Kitayama and Sudarshan Yellamaraju, the first group off, took advantage of calm morning conditions. Kitayama posted the day’s best round with an 8-under 64 (despite bogeying the 18th), while Yellamaraju was 9 under through 16 holes before dropping three shots on his final two holes for a 66.
“It definitely helps when you’re both playing well,” Kitayama said. “When you’re both playing well, it’s nice to feed off each other’s energy.”
