04/30/26 04:54:00
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04/30 16:53 CDT Cameron Young makes big putts to take early lead at Cadillac
Championship in tour's Doral return
Cameron Young makes big putts to take early lead at Cadillac Championship in
tour's Doral return
By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Sports Writer
DORAL, Fla. (AP) --- Cameron Young made, by his own count, about a billion feet
worth of putts. Jordan Spieth was, to use his own word, a nerd.
Both approaches were optimal in the opening round of the Cadillac Championship.
Young shot a bogey-free round of 8-under 64 on Thursday, taking a one-shot lead
over Spieth and Alex Smalley at Trump International Doral to open the $20
million signature event --- the first PGA Tour event at the course in 10 years.
"I think you can be pretty aggressive into a lot of the greens," Young said.
"They're not particularly firm. I feel like the ball's sitting when you need it
to. So, it's more just about avoiding some of the big mistakes. There's a
couple spots where the rough's a little longer and obviously there's tons of
water out there."
Young made some putts --- about 98 feet worth, to be exact --- and his round
got rolling with barely any putt at all. He hit his approach from 154 yards to
about an inch on the par-4 second, and he went on to make three birdie putts
from 25 feet or more before the day was done.
"I feel like I made a billion feet of putts, which I think works most places,"
Young said. "It's just one of those days that each mistake I made I was not
penalized as much as I could have been. And every time my ball got near the
hole it seemed to want to go in today."
Spieth chipped in for eagle on the par-5 eighth hole and survived a pair of
bogeys on the back nine. He said he relied on notes he took in the Wednesday
pro-am --- "nerdy stuff," he called it --- and generally stayed in control of
his round.
"I didn't love some of the swings I made," Spieth said. "But I was able to kind
of put them in the right spot and I made some really good swings as well."
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler had a slightly different opinion after his
opening round.
He made three birdies in the first five holes, then didn't get another the rest
of the day. Back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 10 and 11 dropped him to 1 under, and
that's where he stayed --- with a highlight that might have been a par save on
the par-4 14th after he sprayed a driver way right and had the club come out of
his hands on the follow-through.
It's the sixth time in his last eight starts that Scheffler --- who, to be
fair, almost always finds a way to contend --- has been no better than 20th
after an opening round.
"I just wasn't capitalizing on a lot of stuff today," Scheffler said. "Felt
like I could have holed a few more putts. Couple more fairways. Felt like when
I got a touch off I wasn't able to get it back and didn't really steal any
shots today."
Nick Taylor (66) was in fourth, two shots off of Young's lead, while Nico
Echavarria --- a winner of the Cognizant Classic, about a 90-minute drive north
of Doral at PGA National earlier this year --- was three shots back after an
opening-round 67.
Most of this week's field is playing Doral for the first time, at least as
pros. The course held LIV Golf events from 2022 through 2025, but the PGA Tour
stopped using the course --- a longtime highlight of the Florida Swing --- when
President Donald Trump bought the facility.
Adam Scott was the most recent PGA Tour winner at Doral, prevailing in the
World Golf Championship-Cadillac Championship in 2016. He shot a 76 on
Thursday, two shots worse than Justin Rose --- a winner at Doral in 2012.
Young proved to be a quick study.
"I think most of the tee shots are pretty apparent, which is what good courses
give you," Young said. "I think it doesn't try to hide anything. So, learning
the course wasn't a huge deal, I wouldn't say."
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