Cameron Young makes big putts to take early lead at Cadillac Championship in tour’s Doral return
DORAL, Fla. — 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.