Cameron Young hit 12 of 13 fairways and 16 of 18 greens in regulation with 28 puttsshot on his way to a bogey-free, 8-under 64. He leads by two shots at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.
“I drove it great,” said Young. “I’m sure I missed a fairway or two, but for the most part I was really well in position. Then I made a couple putts early, which was nice. Just kind of got off to a nice start with the putter. There’s a bunch of par 5s and a couple
drivable holes, so I feel that if you’re on top of it, especially off the tee, you can make a bunch of birdies.”
Young is the only player in the field who has yet to win on the PGA Tour.
In second place at 6-under, Justin Thomas made one birdie and one bogey on the front nine then went on to make six birdies on the back nine.
“Definitely pleased with especially how the start was. I mean, just wasn’t taking advantage of any of the par-5s or scoring holes and I wasn’t making anything at all. Hit some good putts, hit some really, really bad putts, but just felt like I was maybe just trying a little too hard to get it going. Yeah, just it was nice to make that birdie on 7 and had good chances there on 8 and 9, but then once 10, 11 happened I felt like I got in a nice rhythm there on the back nine.
“Rev told me walking off 10 tee, he said you look like you’re trying so hard on your putter trying to just make putts, almost like play putting stroke as opposed to just putting. I feel like that’s — when I get off, that’s a tendency that I have and I feel like I just tried to trust my instincts and just go and react. I did that the last nine holes and I putted really, really nicely.”
Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg, the only non-American in the top-5, shot a 67 for a share of third place at 5-under alongside defending champion Scottie Scheffler as well as Akshay Bhatia, Patrick Cantlay and Sahith Theegala.
Sponsor exemption recipient Nick Dunlap of the United States, a nominee for the Arnold Palmer Award as PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, reached 7-under through 15 holes before closing bogey, par, double bogey and lies in T8 at 4-under.
