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Cameron Young shot a bogey-free 64, eight under par, to take a two-shot lead after Thursday’s first round of the Hero World Challenge golf tournament hosted by Tiger Woods.
The 27-year-old American, the 2022 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year who has yet to win a PGA title, holed eight birdie putts to take the lead in the 20-player unofficial invitational event at the Albany Golf Club in the Bahamas.
Two-time major winner Justin Thomas birdied four of the final five holes to shoot 66 and place second while fellow Americans Akshay Bhatia, Patrick Cantlay, Sahith Theegala and defending champion Scottie Scheffler were joined by the Swede Ludvig Aberg in third place. pack on 67.
World number 38 Young, who shot a 59 in the third round of the Travelers Championship last June, has seven finalists on the PGA Tour, including at the British Open in 2022.
In his first start since August, Young made a 21-foot birdie putt at the par-3 second, 13 feet at the par-5 third, 10 feet at the fourth, just inside six feet at the seventh and 16 feet at the par-3 eighths for a scorching start.
“It’s a good thing to get out and feel like yourself,” Young said. “I’m really happy. I feel like with the driver I was really comfortable and that’s a key thing here. I drove it really well.”
“I’m sure I missed a fairway or two, but for the most part I was in really good position. Then I made a few putts early, which was good. I just got off to a good start with the putter.”
Young added to that with tap-in birdie putts at the par-5 11th and 15th holes and a 14-foot birdie putt at the par-3 17th.
“There’s a bunch of par 5s and a few playable holes, so I feel like if you’re on top of it, especially off the tee, you can make a bunch of birdies,” Young said.
The long break gave Young time to work on his game.
“Just a little bit of work on myself physically and then just standard training,” he said. “It’s a good time to go back to all the really simple things and make them comfortable again, really get down to business, work on the settings.”
Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre and Americans Sam Burns, Nick Dunlap and Keegan Bradley share eighth place out of 68.
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