Cameron Young went 5 under par over a four-hole stretch en route to posting a 64 on Friday and grabbing a share of the 36-hole lead at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.
Young’s 8-under 64 is the low round of the tournament at Albany Golf Course, and could have been better if not for a bogey on his final hole. As it stands, Young is in a five-way tie for the lead along with Akshay Bhatia, Wyndam Clark, J.J. Spaun and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama.
Two-time defending champion and co-first-round leader Scottie Scheffler enters the weekend a shot off the pace at 9 under along with Sweden’s Alex Noren and Austria’s Sepp Straka.
After entering Friday four shots off the lead, Young carded five birdies through his first 14 holes. He then chipped in for eagle from just short of the green on the par-5 15th hole and followed it up with two more birdies. Young was at 11 under for the tournament when he pushed his tee shot on 18 into a fairway bunker, leading to a bogey.
He still improved by six shots from his opening-round 70.
“The reality is day to day out here you just can have runs of holes where it starts to feel easy and it’s not that different to yesterday,” Young said. “I feel like I played pretty similarly and just made a couple putts down the stretch.”
While Matsuyama cruised around Albany bogey-free on Friday, Bhatia battled his typical ups and downs with seven birdies and three bogeys. Clark and Spaun both eagled the par-5 sixth hole — Clark chipping in from off the green while Spaun tapped in after knocking his second shot from 285 yards out to inside 4 feet.
Spaun wound up making a second eagle on the back nine after he landed his tee shot at the drivable par-4 14th to 5 feet of the pin.
“The swing felt better yesterday, maybe it was more of a honeymoon sort of phase with the feels that I was going with,” he said. “And then today, a lot more uncomfortable shots to tougher pins, maybe that was the difference between yesterday and today.
“But overall it’s decent. I made enough to kind of get it around and get some birdie opportunities.”
Building on the eagle theme, Scheffler carded his own with a 17-foot putt on the 15th hole to also reach 11 under for the tournament. However, he promptly gave it back when he drove it into the native area for a penalty on the ensuing hole, leading to a double bogey.
“I think I did some good things out there. Just a few too many mistakes, but overall still felt pretty good,” he said.
Scheffler is seeking to become the first player to win the Hero World Challenge three consecutive years. The other two times he played, Scheffler finished runner-up in 2021 and 2022, and he has yet to record an over-par round at the event.
“I wouldn’t look too far into it if I didn’t have a good week this week,” he said. “I wouldn’t really try to carry that momentum even further. But overall, I feel like it’s a good place to kind of see where my game’s at and then kind of get ready for the season. It feels like a good warmup event.”
Jordan Spieth, who has not competed since June while recovering from neck and back injuries, is 19th in the 20-player field at 1 over. The only player behind him is Chris Gotterup at 3 over. Both players carded the high rounds of the day with 73s.
Tournament host Tiger Woods is not playing while recovering from a seventh procedure on his back on Oct. 10.
