[Photo: Tracy Wilcox]
No man is an island, but sometimes it’s a rather nice feeling on a golf course.
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There is something about playing a tournament round without a fellow competitor in tow that’s liberating, that frees up the mind and almost makes golf, well, less complicated, if it ever is.
Cameron Young, whose resting facial expression already suggests a preference for isolation, began the second round of the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship in last place, and, thus, played alone due to an odd number in the field after J.J. Spaun withdrew during round one. As he walked off the 18th green to enthusiastic cheers after a closing eagle, Young was tied for first thanks to an eight-under 62.
With little wind and receptive greens at East Lake Golf Club, the chances that Young remains atop of the leaderboard are slim, but at least he is back in contention at the FedEx Cup Playoffs finale.
“It seems to be a strong pattern,” said Young, knowing that Min Woo Lee posted an opening 62 playing the last 13 holes alone after Spaun’s departure. “It’s a bit strange. I’ve never done it before. Yeah, once you kind of get over the fact that they just announced one person on the first hole, it’s kind of more like a practice round. I play a lot of practice rounds just on my own. Yeah, I felt like, especially with it going well, it was really easy to keep going.
“You don’t have to wait. You don’t have to wait for anybody else. Nothing weird happens. Just got in a really nice rhythm and kept going.”
Lee played his final 13 holes in six-under-par a day ago. The maths says the combined solo sojourns for Lee and Young add up to 14-under for 31 holes.
Young was considerably perturbed after his opening 70, but, in essence, his 62 was far better than an eight-shot improvement, by his way of thinking. It was more like 15 shots. He was frustrated, but, he said, “My level of frustration has been pretty high for four or five weeks.
“Yeah, I’d say it almost was less yesterday actually than maybe some other days because I did get off to an awful start,” he continued. “I could have just shot 77 and ended my tournament, but I didn’t. I kind of fought back and shot even-par.”
A winner twice this season at two high-profile events, the Players and the Cadillac Championship, Young converted seven birdies in his first 11 holes, but he is the consummate professional who would never start thinking ahead to shooting 59.
“We all think about everything. That’s false,” he countered.
Oh.
“We all think about that. You have thoughts that enter your mind, and you have to think about them,” said Young, 29, who is ranked third in the world. “I wasn’t necessarily thinking about 59. I just looked up and I was in second, and I was like, OK, let’s go. I didn’t care what it added up to today. I don’t want to say I’ve done it before; I don’t care. But in the context of this golf tournament, I don’t care if I shoot 59 or not. It’s more about just putting yourself in it, and that’s kind of what I was doing.”
Young, who hit 13 of 14 fairways and 14 greens in regulation, cooled off despite continuing to give himself scoring chances. He bogeyed the 12th from a greenside bunker, and nothing dropped for him until he guided home a 42-foot putt for eagle at the last.
Armed with a new putter, Young holed 136 feet of putts, which was leading the field and was going to be hard to top as the round progressed. There is always something that makes a difference from one day to the next.
In Young’s case, it wasn’t just the putter but also having the luxury of puttering along at his leisure, untethered from his peers, unbothered by anything, really.
“It makes it easier because you’re not waiting on anybody,” he said of his solo trip around East Lake. “You kind of just like… you just keep going. You don’t do anything that isn’t at your own pace. You’re never waiting. You’re never rushing. In that sense, it’s pretty nice.”
