Cameron Young just won the Cadillac Championship at Trump Doral National by a very convincing six strokes over #1 star Scottie Scheffler, who finished second, with Ben Griffin one stroke back of Scheffler in third place. All three players shot 68 today. Young had led all through the tournament, starting with a blistering first round of 64.
Twenty-eight year old Cameron Young had been knocking on the door in his pro golf career on the PGA Tour, but he couldn’t quite enter the house and close the door. But no more. He, Scottie Scheffler, and Rory McIlroy are now the three hottest sticks in pro golf. The tide has now turned for Young as today was his third PGA Tour win. Earlier this year, he won the ad hoc fifth major—The Players Championship at Sawgrass.
We Need to “Behave”
When Young won at Sawgrass, during the TV interview afterwards, he was asked about his having attended a Catholic church that morning. He admitted that he, his wife, and his two young sons did so. He then remarked that he thought it is a good idea, especially for children to grow up learning “how to behave.” That resonated with me. Today, Cameron Young himself behaved by wearing a gold-colored chain with a cross around his neck that was quite visible.
Cameron Young and Scottie Scheffler were paired together today in the last group. Both are Catholics. Scheffler is a prominent member of the PGA Tour Bible Study. Both pros are at the top in FedEx Standings, with Scheffler still occupying the #1 position.
The TV commentators this week commented often the toughness of this Doral golf course, called “The Monster.” They remarked about how its long par-four 18th hole is one of the most difficult finishing holes on the PGA Tour. Indeed it is.
This tournament has existed on this golf course since 1962 as one of the oldest venues on the PGA Tour. There was a brief hiatus after Donald Trump purchased the property. And they returned here last year, with Cadillac again as the sponsor.
My First Chance to Win Was on the Blue Monster
In 1966, during my second year on the PGA Tour, I shot 65 during windy conditions to take the lead in the tournament. Like Young this week, I led throughout until I got to the 71st hole. Standing in the fairway of that par-four 17th hole, I watched Phil Rodgers, playing in front me, hole a sixty-footer for birdie to tie me. I then 3-putted that 17th green to fall one stroke behind him, now in second place. So, I needed to birdie that tough 18th hole to tie Phil and force a sudden-death playoff.
I hit a good drive in the fairway and a spectacular 4-iron second shot to ten feet from the hole. The pin was placed in the back of that narrow green as it was today. My birdie putt to tie Rodgers rested on the edge of the cup, with almost half of the ball hanging over the edge of the cup. So, I lost the tournament by one stroke. It was disheartening, yet by far my best finish on Tour.
A New Birth
Six months prior to that tournament, on August 3, 1965, at the Whitemarsh Classic tournament near Philadelphia—the “city of brotherly love”—the PGA Tour Bible was born. I am elated to see that it still continues on Tour and that “brothers” such as Young and Scheffler embraced today on that 18th green of the Blue Monster.
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