Young in control at Doral, leads Cadillac Championship with rain in forecast

DORAL, Fla. (AP) — Cameron Young didn’t have as easy of a time in the third round of the Cadillac Championship as he did while building a big lead Thursday and Friday.

It didn’t seem to matter, either.

Young is still in full control at Trump National Doral, after his round of 2-under 70 on Saturday got him to 15 under for the week. He had a six-shot lead over a group that includes top-ranked Scottie Scheffler into a potentially rainy final round Sunday.

“No lead is safe out here,” Young said. “I’m going to go try to execute my plan as if I’m right around the lead or just trying to have a good day out there, not necessarily with any thought toward where I’m at in the tournament.”

Young had four birdies and two bogeys on Saturday.

“The tournament’s in his hands right now,” said Scheffler, who shot a 3-under 69 to get to 9 under — but hasn’t been able to close the gap on Young. “I can go out and have a really good round, and if he has another really good round he’s going to be a tough guy to catch. All I can do is go out and try and have a great round and see where that leaves me.”

Si Woo Kim (69) and Kristoffer Reitan (69) also were 9 under. Ben Griffin 68), Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., (72) and Matt McCarty (69) were 8 under.

Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., is in a six-way tie for 31st at 2 under, while Sudarshan Yellamaraju of Mississauga, Ont., is in a six-way tie for 37th at 1 under. Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., is in a nine-way tie for 43rd at even par.

Catching Young will be tough in any conditions.

And nobody knows what awaits players Sunday at Doral.

A lot of rain is expected on Sunday — more than an inch, according to some forecasts, with heavy downpours predicted for the afternoon — the tournament moved up its schedule for the final round in an effort to beat the worst of the weather.

Players will go off in threesomes, from split tees, with everyone starting between 7:30-9:40 a.m. It’s unknown if President Donald Trump — the course owner — will publicly appear in the final round. He was expected to be at the course Sunday, though that was before the schedule for the final round changed.

Young shared the lead through three rounds at the Masters — tying for third at Augusta National after Rory McIlroy beat him by two shots. McIlroy had a six-shot lead after two rounds there and got caught, a lesson that’ll be in the back of Young’s mind Sunday.

“I don’t think there’s any reason to forget,” Young said. “But it won’t change really how I play, especially the front nine. I may be a hair more conservative in a place or two, but with the weather looking the way it does, that would be how I would be playing anyway.”

Scheffler beat Young by five shots in that final round at the Masters. He’ll need to do better than that at Doral if he’s going to win on Sunday.

But the way he finished Saturday might have made his comeback chances a bit of a boost.

The 18th at Doral basically is two different holes — a brutal par 4 for those who don’t have enough distance for a 300-plus-yard carry over water and into a wider portion of the fairway, and a slightly less brutal par 4 for those who can get it out there. Scheffler is one of those who don’t have problems reaching the better spots of that fairway, and he took full advantage of that on Saturday.

His approach from 172 yards stopped four feet from the cup. He made the birdie — just the ninth of the week at the finishing hole.

“Just ended up in a good spot and really nice 9-iron in there to finish off,” Scheffler said. “It’s always nice to have a little tap in at the last.”

Young actually had a closer approach on the 18th, but his shot from about 165 yards was 60 feet below the hole. His birdie putt was about 8 feet short, but he saved the par to preserve the six-shot edge.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press