RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 3 sourcesAll Cameron Young needed was that putter to heat up a little.
A day after Peter Malnati tied the Detroit Golf Club’s record-low score for a single round, Young matched it with a 9-under 61 of his own during Friday's second round of the Rocket Classic.
Young, propelled by a string of six consecutive birdies on his first nine, shot up 68 spots on the leaderboard. He sits tied for the lead with Patrick Cantlay and Patrick Fishburn after 36 holes in Motown.
"It felt like I had a 10-footer for birdie on pretty much every hole," Young said after his round.
Young was asked about the newly-renovated course where a couple of par-5 holes were converted into par 4s and added a lot of bunkers. The work was done to make the course more challenging, as well as restore architect Donald Ross’ vision for it.
"A little bit of wind, but mostly [the new greens]. Frankly, they were beautiful this morning. Like with a touch of moisture, they're just — there's no sand, there's no bumps in them until really late in the round," said Young. "With any moisture in the morning they're perfect. Then later in the day, eventually they're going to get chewed up."
Young saw that yesterday when he went off in the afternoon, carding an underwhelming 1-under 69 as the pre-tournament favorite and world's No. 3-ranked player.
He came to Detroit rested after finishing runner-up at The Open, which Ryan Fox won with a birdie on the 18th hole while Young could only watch from the clubhouse
"That's kind of the main difficulty of golf," said the 2026 Players champ about the difference between round to round and event to event.
"Anytime you feel like that, it's difficult to some extent," Young added. "You wonder, am I missing something, why is this the way that it is, why is it not working, all those things. But when it goes well, it feels totally the opposite. When it goes well, it feels like you never will play bad again. It just comes and goes. You kind of have to be ready for either one. At some point it's going to get harder and at some point you'll come out of that difficult period and it will feel easy again. It's kind of just a game of being ready for whatever comes next."
‘Pretty mediocre so far’
Cantlay said the course "played pretty easy" and bemoaned a slow start but was happy to put himself in position for his first win since August 2022's BMW Championship with a 64-66 to open his time in the Motor City.
"It's pretty mediocre so far but golf's funny," Cantlay said of his 2026 campaign that has included three T-10s. "You can change your whole season in a week or two. I feel like my game's been heading in the right direction and I've been working hard, so I'm pretty optimistic about the end of the season."
Cantlay, who is 17th in U.S. Presidents Cup points, told reporters after his round he was trying to stay focused on the next two days.
"Obviously, it's a huge goal of mine," he said.
But right now? There's only one goal for Cantlay.
"Wins can happen fast. You can get on a run and start playing well," he said. "You've got to believe that that's right around the corner. With the momentum I feel like I've been having in my game the last few months, it wouldn't surprise me.
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