Cameron Young’s toughest opponent at the Cadillac Championship turned out to be himself — and even that couldn’t stop him. On the par-4 second hole Sunday, Young watched his ball shift in the fairway after address and immediately called a one-stroke penalty on himself. Then he made par anyway. It set the tone for a week in which he was simply untouchable.
Young led wire-to-wire at Trump National Doral, closing with a 4-under 68 to finish at 19-under for the tournament, six shots ahead of world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who also shot 68. The margin of victory told only part of the story.
“When the golf course is difficult, when the conditions are difficult, that tends to make me easier for me mentally,” Young said. With President Donald Trump watching from the course alongside family members including granddaughter Kai Trump, who is set to play collegiate golf at the University of Miami Young pocketed $3.6 million, the second-largest payday of his career behind the $4.5 million he earned at The Players Championship earlier this season.
Trump arrived shortly after noon and stayed until the final putt dropped, joining spectators who were allowed into the fairway around the 18th hole to witness the closing moments. Early Sunday morning brought just over an inch of rain, pushing back the scheduled 7:30 a.m. start by two hours.
The wet conditions softened the famed Blue Monster; considerably preferred lies were granted, and scoring dropped noticeably. While the average score hovered between 71 and 71.6 in the first three rounds, Sunday’s field averaged 69. The par-5 18th hole, which had yielded only nine birdies across the first three rounds combined, produced 12 birdies on Sunday alone.
Scheffler, meanwhile, has now finished second in three consecutive starts, trailing Rory McIlroy by a shot at the Masters, losing a playoff to Matt Fitzpatrick at Hilton Head, and now finishing well behind Young. The first two were agonizingly close. This one was not. On the self-imposed penalty, Young said there was never any hesitation.
“Your heart sinks when you see it move,” Young said. “But it moved. That’s part of what golf is about. There’s no one who’s going to give me a penalty there but myself.” Ben Griffin (68) finished third at 12-under, while Si Woo Kim (70), Sepp Straka (66) and Adam Scott (64) shared fourth at 11-under.
Scott was perhaps the weekend’s other headline performer, shooting 66-64 over the final two days. The result likely secured his place in the U.S. Open, which, assuming he tees it up at the PGA Championship later this month, would mark his 100th consecutive major start.
“To win a major I’m going to need to put four days together, not just a weekend coming from behind,” said Scott, who last won at Doral in 2016. “I feel like my game is there. I’m doing all the things that I think I need to do to be in that kind of contention.”
Add a Comment