Young holds six-shot lead entering final round of Cadillac Championship
Three rounds into the Cadillac Championship, the Blue Monster has become exactly the kind of test players expected, one that still offers birdie chances, but only to those who stay disciplined enough to take them.
Cameron Young has done that better than anyone.
Young held the lead through another controlled Saturday, overcoming an early double bogey to shoot 2-under-par 70 and reach 15-under for the tournament. He woke up Sunday with a six-shot lead over world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Si Woo Kim and Kristoffer Reitan, who are tied for second at 9-under.
What has separated Young from the rest of the field is not perfection. It is how well he has absorbed the course’s mistakes without letting them spread.
“It didn’t change much,” Young said after his opening-hole stumble. “This place is difficult, and it will do that to you. So, [it was a] good reminder that today wasn’t going to be easy.”
That has been the defining theme of the week at Trump National Doral.
Regardless, there still have been impressive scores. Young opened with a 64. Jordan Spieth made a second-round push with a 65. Alex Fitzpatrick climbed into the weekend mix with a bogey-free 66 on Friday. But through three rounds, the Blue Monster has made it difficult for almost anyone to sustain a clean charge for long, and Saturday was the clearest example yet.
Young still posted the best total in the field, but even his round included a double bogey on the first hole. Reitan, the first alternate who did not know he was in the field until just before Thursday’s opening round, gave shots back on holes 12, 13 and 14 but held on to his share of second. Matt McCarty reached 8-under despite calling his own round a “roller coaster early.”
That is part of what has made the tournament feel both playable and unforgiving.
McCarty offered one of the clearest explanations of the challenge.
“You get out of position out here and just try to kind of mitigate bogeys and stuff,” he said. “You got to take some chances out here.”
He said Saturday was “definitely windier” and “played a lot tougher,” noting that the course is “definitely getting a little firmer” and that the fairways are “running a lot” compared with Thursday.
Scheffler described a similar test from a contender’s perspective. Saturday’s wind, he said, was the toughest of the week so far, especially with crosswinds making it difficult to judge both distance and shot shape.
“It’s just gusty,” Scheffler said. “Florida, the wind gets gusty. When it blows this hard, and you got long clubs into the green it’s very tough to get the ball close to the hole.”
He also said the surfaces themselves are changing.
“The greens were definitely getting a little bit firmer,” Scheffler said. “They’re getting crustier.”
That was no surprise to him. When asked whether players come in expecting the course to evolve over the week, Scheffler said that is usually part of the calculation.
“They typically try to get it firmer and firmer,” he said. “That’s what I was anticipating going into this week. … The fairways are definitely firming up as well.”
From the agronomy side, that progression was part of the design.
PGA Tour senior vice president of agronomy Paul Vermeulen said earlier in the week that tournament preparation is a mix of long-range science and real-time adjustment, with conditions often changing as weather and the week itself unfold. He said the greens were prepared to provide “consistent ball roll” in the 12-foot range and that the setup allows “variety in terms of challenge” from day to day.
That variety has shown up most clearly in how players are talking about survival as much as attack.
Reitan, who has been one of the tournament’s surprise stories, called Saturday’s conditions “very, very difficult,” saying the wind forced him to shape shots and manage his way around the golf course.
Young, meanwhile, said the wind direction was “really tricky” and made rhythm difficult to find all day.
“I feel like at every hole there was a substantial cross wind,” he said.
Yet that same difficulty may be one reason he remains in control. Young said he tends to thrive when scoring is not too low and when a course forces players to stay focused on the shot in front of them.
“I think I tend to play well at difficult golf courses, difficult setups, difficult conditions,” Young said. “This is all of those things.”
He also praised the condition of the course, saying it has “held up great,” with rough that is “doable but still penal” in the wrong places, and added, “I think they did a really nice job of it.”
That challenge should not ease much Sunday. Tee times were moved up because of weather concerns, and the groups were expanded from twosomes to threesomes. Young made clear he does not view even a six-shot lead as a cushion.
“It will be a fight from the beginning,” he said.
Scheffler sees the math the same way.
“The tournament’s in his hands right now,” Scheffler said. “All I can do is go out and try and have a great round and see where that leaves me.”
Even in the middle of that chase, there were reminders Saturday that the event still carries a South Florida feel beyond the leaderboard. When asked what he likes most about the area, Scheffler pointed to the heat, the relaxed week on property and the nearby food.
“The weather’s pretty nice,” he said. “I definitely love the heat over the cold.”
The bigger story, however, remains on the course.
Through three rounds, the Blue Monster has not made clean golf impossible. It has simply made it hard to keep clean golf going for very long. Young has done it better than the rest, and that is why he enters Sunday with room to breathe.
