Cameron Young, the only player in the 20-man field without a PGA Tour win, set the pace early on and sustained it to finish atop the leaderboard at a bogey-free 8-under-par 64 after the opening round of the Hero World Challenge at the Albany course on Thursday.
The American was two strokes clear of two-time PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas, who rattled off six birdies on the back nine (including four straight from Hole 14), and three ahead of a quintet that included defending champion and World No.1 Scottie Scheffler, three debutants – Ludvig Aberg, the Indian-origin duo of Akshay Bhatia and Sahith Theegala -and Patrick Cantlay.
The 27-year-old Young, who carded five birdies on the front nine, was one stroke shy of the best opening round in the tournament history set by Michael Campbell 19 years ago.
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On the contrary, Nick Dunlap, a nominee for the Arnold Palmer Award as PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, who also fired in eight birdies, endured a bad run in the final three holes with a bogey, par and double bogey after having been 7-under. He was Tied-8 on 68 along with three fellow competitors.
In fact, on a day that was partly sunny with the temperature hovering in the mid-20s Celsius, 16 players returned to the clubhouse with under-par scores.
Asked about what clicked for him, Young, making his third appearance at the event, said some consistent good driving did the trick. “I drove it great. I’m sure I missed a fairway or two, but for the most part I was really well in position.”
Leading scores (after Round 1):
64: Cameron Young; 66: Justin Thomas; 67: Akshay Bhatia, Ludvig Aberg, Patrick Cantlay, Scottie Scheffler, Sahith Theegala.
(The writer is in Nassau at the invitation of Hero MotoCorp)
