Cameron Young fired a bogey-free, 8-under-par 64 to kick off the Cadillac Championship and take a one-shot lead over Jordan Spieth and Alex Smalley on Thursday outside Miami.
The PGA Tour returned to Trump National Doral and the famed “Blue Monster” for the first time since 2016. The event is a $20 million signature event with no 36-hole cut.
Cadillac Championship leaderboard
Young won the biggest tournament of his career just six weeks ago in Florida – The Players Championship.
Now No. 4 in the world rankings, Young excelled in his first competitive round at the Blue Monster, making up for 50% driving accuracy by ranking third in the field in strokes gained around the green and strokes gained putting.
Young had four birdies on each nine, including a 41 1/2-foot putt at the par-3 fourth and a 25-footer at the par-3 15th.
Spieth is one of a handful of players in the field who’s played the Blue Monster in a PGA Tour event, and he got off to a strong start with three birdies and an eagle on the front nine. He mixed four more birdies with two bogeys coming in.
The 65 was his lowest round of the year, and he’s in position to make a run at his first trophy since the 2022 RBC Heritage.
Smalley only got into the field through the “Aon Swing 5” that rewards players’ recent performance in standard tour events. He ranked second in the field in strokes gained approaching the green as he holed eight birdies with one bogey.
Canadian Nick Taylor is alone in fourth following a bogey-free, 6-under 66. Nico Echavarria of Colombia is in fifth at 5-under 67.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, making his first career start at Doral, birdied three of his first five holes but bogeyed Nos. 10 and 11 and settled for a 1-under 71.
Cink, Cejka lead Regions Tradition
Stewart Cink birdied his final hole to tie Germany’s Alex Cejka for the lead after one round of the Regions Tradition on Thursday in Birmingham, Ala.
Cink won the first major of the PGA Tour Champions season, the Senior PGA Championship, two weeks ago. Now he’s in prime position to contend for the second.
He and Cejka shot 7-under-par 65. They hold a one-shot advantage over South Korea’s Charlie Wi, Australia’s Scott Hend and New Zealand’s Steven Alker.
“I was excited at how boring today was. Does that make sense?” Cink said. “It wasn’t like the kind of day where you’re chipping in and holing putts, dramatic stuff happening everywhere.”
Cink, 52, did get off to a quick start by birdieing the first three holes of Greystone Golf & Country Club. After picking up his only bogey at the par-5 fifth, he bounced back with birdies at Nos. 8, 10, 11 and 13 before two- putting for birdie at the par-5 18th.
“It’s a systematic way to approach the golf course. I love this style of golf,” he said. “This is one of my favorite things about the puzzle of golf is doing these systematic approaches and sticking to it and letting the results just sort of happen. We’re staying in the process so much that the results are almost like sneaking up on us.”
Cejka set the clubhouse lead earlier in the day with a bogey-free, seven- birdie round. He played his first nine, the back nine, in 5-under 31.
“There’s certain courses, they fit the players’ eyes,” said Cejka, who won the Regions Tradition in 2021. “I’ve been playing here well in the past and today I played solid. I didn’t really make stupid mistakes. I putted well when I had birdie chances. And when you see the leaderboard, the guys are going low so you’ve got to – if you have a birdie chance, you’ve got to take advantage.”
Wi, Hend and Alker combined for 18 birdies and zero bogeys across their cards.
Tied for sixth at 5-under 67 are Dicky Pride, Irishman Padraig Harrington, Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie and Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee. Another shot back at 4-under 68: Retief Goosen of South Africa (last week’s winner at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic), Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen, South Korea’s Y.E. Yang, Harrison Frazar and Canada’s Stephen Ames.
Defending champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina opened with an even-par 72.
Brianna Do, Melanie Green tied for LPGA lead
Brianna Do birdied the 18th hole to forge a tie atop the leaderboard at 6-under-par 66 with fellow American Melanie Green after the opening round of the Riviera Maya Open on Thursday in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
Green, an LPGA rookie, sank a hole-in-one amid a busy first nine and went birdie-bogey on her last two holes to settle at 6 under.
The co-leaders are one shot ahead of Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, alone in third at 5-under 67 after mixing seven birdies with a pair of bogeys.
Do started strong with four birdies in the first five holes of her round at El Camaleon Golf Course. After closing the front nine with her lone bogey, she responded with consecutive birdies on Nos. 11 and 12 as part of a 3-under back nine.
On a windy day, Do credited a critical round she recently played in heavy wind for helping keep her calm Thursday.
“I actually had my U.S. Open qualifier, I don’t know, like two weeks ago or a week ago, and it was very windy, so it kind of helped me prepare myself for this week mentally,” Do said.
“(My strong start) kind of gave me a good start and a good cushion to kind of play aggressive the rest of the round.”
Green, who began on the back nine, was 6 under through nine holes (one ace, five birdies, one bogey). After birdies at Nos. 17 and 18, Green briefly moved to 7 under with a birdie at the par-3 8th but bogeyed the finishing par-4.
The highlight of Green’s round came at the par-3 15th hole. However, she didn’t see the ball go in and didn’t believe her caddie when he informed her.
“I’m like, ‘Shane, that’s not nice. It’s not in the hole. That’s not nice,'” Green recalled. “I walk up there and all I could see was the cross. I was so excited. Yeah, thought I just went way left. But whatever. Good bounce.
“I can’t say that (a hole-in-one) was a goal of mine this year, but always fun to have. It’s more fun when you can see it go in, but that’s OK.”
Do, 36, debuted on the tour in 2013 while Green, 24, debuted this season. But both are searching for their first LPGA victories.
In fact, Do’s only career top-10 came last year in the inaugural Riviera Maya Open, tying for ninth at 3 under.
“Having a good week here last year brought good vibes coming back, so I was excited to be back here and try and better how I played last year,” Do said.
Nelly Korda, who reclaimed the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Women’s World Golf rankings with last week’s victory at the Chevron Championship, is one of six players tied for fourth at 4 under. Also in that group are Japan’s Erika Hara, Mexico’s Gaby Lopez, Japan’s Cocona Sakurai, South Korea’s Soo Bin Joo and Thailand’s Suvichaya Vinijchaitham.
Chizzy Iwai of Japan, who won the inaugural event last season, is tied for 85th at 3-over 75, weighed down by a double bogey at the par-3 8th.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Cameron Young shot an 8-under-par 64 at the Cadillac Championship.