Cameron Young's putter was as hot as Dubai's summer weather.
The 26-year-old American rested on a flat stick Friday to card an 8-under 64, one of the lowest rounds ever at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. He leads the tournament by three strokes over Brits Andy Sullivan and Adrian Mellonk. Poland enters the weekend.
“I put in some great putts. I made some long ones yesterday and a few more today that I didn't have the right to use,” Young said.
“I hit a lot of good putts, but there was only one day where I had a few 30-foot putts and I looked up and the putt went right down the middle. That doesn't happen very often for a hitter. It's not something that happens. A bunch of them in one round. But it was really great and the putt was great.”
Starting from the 10th tee, Young rolled in from 19 feet on the par-4 12th hole for his first birdie of the day.
He continued to use the back nine of the Emirates Club's Majlis Course, but was comfortable on either side. Young birdied the par-5 13th and then hit three consecutive par breakers at the 16th, 17th and 18th to finish the opening nine.
Young improved, going into the tournament at 10 under and on the day at 5 under.
“I do a really good job of staying out of my way,” Young explained. “I felt like I was doing well early on, but at the same time on the back nine I felt like I needed to do that to some extent, especially in the morning when there wasn’t a lot of wind.”
Then, on the par-4 first, the most difficult hole on the golf course, Young hit a drive into the middle of the fairway, dropped his second shot 15 feet directly above the flat stick, and confidently rolled it for birdie. Ta. The first birdie of the week was just eight birdies, the fewest of all holes.
He's dialed in and the stats show it.he is leading this field Total number of strokes gained Then, as he approached the green, his strokes increased.
“I played really solid on the back nine and made the putt on 1,” Young said.
“suddenly, [I was on fire]. Just one of the days they went in in a row, I didn't make that many mistakes. ”
Young had three more birdies on the third, fourth and seventh holes, the latter two on par-3s. He hit his tee shot within 10 feet on both holes.
Still, Young's round wasn't completely perfect. His big blemish of the day came on the par-4 ninth, a tricky hole that snakes around a large body of water. However, he had to settle for bogey as his second shot hit the bottom of the lake.
Still, Young left the golf course with a sizable lead heading into Saturday's third round. If his putter gets hot, no one will be able to catch him.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through.Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
