FLORIDA — Fourth-ranked Cameron Young rode a hot start and surged to a five-stroke lead after the second round of the PGA Cadillac Championship.
“I’ve just putted really well,” Young said according to AFP. “I’ve left myself in mostly doable spots when I’ve missed greens.
Young birdied four of the first seven holes on his way to firing a five-under par 67 and stand on 13-under 131 after 36 holes at Trump National Doral in Florida.
“But I haven’t driven it great and that’s something I hopefully look to return to normal over the next couple days.”
Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth, fellow American Alex Smalley and Canada’s Nick Taylor shared second on 136 with American Gary Woodland on 137.
Young, who won the Players Championship in March and captured his first PGA title last August at Greensboro, said he feels comfortable with a big lead, well aware it could vanish quickly on the weekend.
“I’ve been around the lead quite a bit and I’m not particularly uncomfortable. I’ve liked this golf course thus far,” Young said.
“There’s a lot of guys four or five back. I’m sure somebody will be four- or five-under tomorrow so you have to prepare for that.”
Young topped putting and scrambling statistics.
“I avoided the bad misses for the most part. It’s not like I drove it awful but I would love to play from the fairway a couple more times the next couple days,” he said.
“There’s a lot of golf to be played on a difficult golf course but so far I’ve played well. If I can drive it a little bit better, I feel like I can keep cruising and see what happens.”
Young reached the green in two and birdied the par-five first hole to grab the solo lead then stretched the margin with a 17-foot birdie putt at the third and a 27-foot birdie putt at the fifth.
The lead reached four strokes when Young sank a seven-foot birdie putt at the seventh.
Young’s approach at the par-five eighth was plugged in a bunker. He punched out into an adjacent bunker then blasted to five feet and rescued par.
At the par-three ninth, Young missed the green but rolled the ball just outside six feet and saved par again.
Young sank a 16-foot birdie putt at the par-three 13th, boosting his advantage to five, but then needed two shots to escape greenside rough at 14 and made his first bogey of the tournament.
