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.
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.”
–Field Level Media
