Cameron Young built a five-shot advantage at the Cadillac Championship by posting a 5-under-par 67 on Friday at Trump National Doral outside Miami.
Young rocketed up to 13-under 131 while Alex Smalley found the water on No. 18 for a bogey that dropped him into a tie at 8 under with Canada’s Nick Taylor and Jordan Spieth. Taylor posted a 70 in the second round while Spieth and Smalley, one back of Young to start the day, settled for 71s.
Cadillac Championship scoreboard
After capturing the biggest title of his career six weeks ago at The Players Championship, Young finds himself halfway to a Florida double at the PGA Tour’s newest $20 million, no-cut signature event. The PGA Tour returned to Trump National Doral and the famed “Blue Monster” for the first time since 2016.
Young birdied Nos. 1, 3, 5 and 7 to start his day, but he said he was more impressed with how he avoided trouble.
“I think I just managed misses really well,” Young said. “I putted really well. I feel like I just took advantage of the opportunities I had. I didn’t hit it terrible but I just wasn’t consistently in position all day, I didn’t drive it amazing. I think that’s kind of what I would like to do better (Saturday).”
Young birdied the par-3 13th and the par-4 16th to mitigate his only bogey of the day at No. 14. The 16-foot birdie at No. 13 seemed to come as a surprise for Young, who walked after his ball assuming it would miss before it took a second break back toward the cup.
“I was absolutely disgusted about halfway there,” Young said. “I think my read netted out to be okay, but I just thought it was going to go a little bit left and then a little bit right and it ended up going six inches left and six inches right.”
Spieth, seeking his first win since the 2022 RBC Heritage, remains in contention after a ho-hum round. He was 1 over through 15 holes before salvaging the round with birdies at Nos. 16 and 18. The tour vet called the latter “one of the harder holes I’ve played on the PGA Tour.”
“Getting a birdie there felt like a huge steal. Just wanted to hit the putt hard enough,” Spieth said of the 25 1/2-footer.
Smalley admitted he did not picture himself at Doral this week before he and teammate Hayden Springer tied for second at last week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, enabling Smalley to get into the signature field via the “Aon Swing 5.”
“I certainly think momentum is a factor,” Smalley said. “Good golf carries a long way. But even though I we played decently well last week, this week was a new week and I had to prepare just like it was any other tournament.”
Gary Woodland (69) sits alone in fifth at 7 under.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (67) moved into a tie for sixth at 6 under alongside South Korea’s Si Woo Kim (68), Canada’s Taylor Pendrith (67), Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan (68), Brian Harman (70) and Englishman Alex Fitzpatrick, whose bogey-free 66 ranked among the top three rounds of the day.
Fitzpatrick, the younger sibling of World No. 3 Matt Fitzpatrick, became a full PGA Tour member when he and his brother won the Zurich on Sunday.
A longtime European Tour player, Alex Fitzpatrick tried to show that he belonged in the States by making five of his six birdies in the first eight holes.
“It means a lot. I think the nice thing is it feels like I’m doing the right things with my golf game,” he said. “I’m working towards the right things. Yeah, it’s exciting.”
Cink seizes 36-hole Regions lead
Two weeks after claiming his first PGA Tour Champions major title, Stewart Cink has put himself into position to collect his second.
Cink, 52, fired a 7-under-par 65 on Friday at Greystone Golf and Country Club in Birmingham, Ala., to take a two-shot lead over Charlie Wi halfway through the 72-hole Regions Tradition.
Cink sits at 14-under 130, which puts him three ahead of South Africa’s Retief Goosen, Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee and Czechia’s Alex Cejka and five beyond New Zealand’s Steven Alker.
For the second day in a row, Cink stacked eight birdies versus one bogey.
“I made a long putt on 17,” Cink said. “Had a couple two-putt birdies, a couple pretty simple up-and-downs. It was really nothing for the history books, it was just some good play. The golf course is really receiving the ball really well. You know, the greens are soft, but they’re not spinning back that much so it’s really, it’s very scorable out there.”
Cink, who grew up 120 miles northwest of Birmingham in Florence, Ala., will have a bigger gallery following him this weekend because he’s so close to home.
“And it has nothing to do with being on top of the leaderboard,” Cink said. “They were already coming, so I’m glad they’re going to be here. I’m going to have some of my north and central Alabaman friends and family here the rest of the weekend, so that will be great to see them and hopefully give them something to cheer about.”
Goosen joined Cink and Ken Tanigawa as the only players in the 77-man field to deliver a 65 on Friday. Goosen, though, wasn’t satisfied with his performance.
“If you can drive it well on this course, you’re going to have a lot of short irons in,” Goosen said. “The greens at the moment are just perfect, but today I missed a lot of fairways in – a couple of really wild ones. Going to go hit a few now and try and see if I can smooth it out.”
Wi enjoyed a spectacular start on his way to a second consecutive 66. He opened his round on the back nine and began with five consecutive birdies, which the 54-year-old believed to be a first in his career.
“‘ve been hitting my irons really well,” Wi said. “I’ve been hitting them pretty close, so I (gave) myself a lot of opportunities, and I was able to make a couple putts.”
No. 1 Korda shares lead at Riviera
Nelly Korda is back on the hunt for another LPGA title, as the World No. 1 caught co-leader Brianna Do for the 36-hole lead at the Riviera May Open at Mayakoba on Friday in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
Korda – fresh off her third major victory at last week’s Chevron Championship and having regained the No. 1 ranking – shot a 5-under-par 67 in the second round at El Camaleon Golf Course to get to 9-under 135 entering the weekend.
She tied Do, who shared the first-round lead with Melanie Green and posted a 69 Friday. Do held the top spot at 10 under for most of her inward nine, but she committed her only flub on her final hole, a bogey at the par-4 ninth, to slip back to single figures.
Green (70) ended the day alone in third at 8 under, and Japan’s Minami Katsu (68) sits in fourth at 7 under.
Korda birdied three holes on the front nine and two more coming home without a bogey. She hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation, despite only finding 7 of 14 fairways.
“Overall just a solid day. You know, didn’t make any mistakes really. If I did, I bounced back really well,” Korda said.
In five starts before this week, Korda, 27, has two victories and three second-place finishes.
Do provides a sharp contrast. The 36-year-old has been grinding on tour since her rookie year in 2013 and has exactly one top-10 finish on her resume – which happened to come at this event last year.
Ranked No. 345 in the world, Do said she carried the momentum from her opening 66 into Friday, with birdies at Nos. 10 and 11 to kick off her round.
“I put myself in that position last year here and so I think I’m going to be a little more prepared for it this year,” Do said of contending. “I don’t think you’re ever very comfortable being in contention and leading, and so I’m going accept it and kind of just play within myself and feel the feels and kind of see what happens. Just accept what happens.”
Yu Liu of China eagled the par-5 18th to post the round of the day, a 66 that brought her to 6 under and a tie for fifth with Spain’s Carlota Ciganda (71).
Tied for seventh at 5 under are Olivia Cowan of Germany (68), Sofia Garcia of Paraguay (69), Arpichaya Yubol of Thailand (69) and Gaby Lopez of Mexico (71).
Lopez missed the cut at the Riviera May Open last year in its debut on the schedule. Now she is grateful to be in contention at the tournament in her home country while playing in a group with Korda.
“It’s been really, really fun to play in Mexico, play with Nelly,” Lopez said. “Today wasn’t exactly my day. I didn’t hit it as good off the tee. Got myself a little bit in trouble.
“But very happy how I’m hitting my irons. The putts are just patiently hoping to drop. Yeah, very happy with how I’m feeling inside the golf course.”
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Golf roundup: Cameron Young in driver’s seat halfway through Cadillac tourney
Reporting by Field Level Media / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
