Cameron Young shoots 9-under 61, shares 2nd-round lead at Rocket Classic

DETROIT (AP) — Cameron Young birdied seven of his first eight holes in the second round of the Rocket Classic and thought he had a shot at the lowest score in PGA Tour history.

“I was thinking 55,” he said.

Young cooled off with two birdies on his back nine in a bogey-free round, closing with a Detroit Golf Club-record tying 61 to reach 10 under for the tournament to tie Patrick Cantlay (66) and Patrick Fishburn (66) atop the leaderboard Friday.

“You hate to call it a disappointing 61,” he said, lamenting missing many birdie opportunities that prevented him from breaking Jim Furyk’s record 58 that has stood for a decade.

Young, the No. 3 player in the world with three wins this season, shot a 59 in 2024 at the Travelers Championship and had a chance to join Furyk with multiple sub-60 rounds on the PGA Tour.

“It felt like I had a 10-footer for birdie on pretty much every hole,” Young said.

A lot of players took advantage of one of the easiest courses on the PGA Tour.

Matt Wallace (64) and Rickie Fowler (68) were two shots back.

Fowler surged into the lead — briefly — at 11 under before falling back to the pack. He three-putted from 24 feet to bogey No. 11 and went from thigh-high fescue to a greenside bunker at No. 13, leading to his second of three bogeys on the back nine.

“Nice to finish with birdie on 18,” said Fowler, whose sixth and last win was the 2023 Rocket Classic. “A lot of good stuff today and nice to be in a good spot for the weekend.”

Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., is tied with 10 others for 21st at 6 under. Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., is a stroke back of Conners and is tied with 15 other players for 32nd. Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., is in an 11-way tie for 63rd at 3 under.

First-round leader Peter Malnati, who followed up his 61 on Thursday with a 71, was another stroke back in a large group that included Xander Schauffele (66).

Hideki Matsuyama (68) extended the PGA Tour’s longest active cuts streak to 30 by getting to 5 under with a slew of players, including Tony Finau (67), who is hoping to improve his positioning to be among the top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings after next week’s Wyndham Championship.

“I check it pretty much every tournament just kind of see where I’m at, even on off weeks,” said Finau, the 2022 Rocket Classic champion, who entered the tournament No. 87 in the standings.

Matt Kuchar was another stroke back, getting a boost from his seventh career ace with a 9-iron on the 156-yard, par-3 5th hole. Kuchar invited a kid to join him inside the ropes to retrieve the ball, which he signed with a black marker.

“I saw a little boy that was kind of the right age where you know they’re so excited to be out here, just very impressionable,” Kuchar said. “One of those things where it’s easy to make their day. I think anytime you get to make a kid’s day, it makes your day.”

The Rocket Classic, which is in its eighth and final year, drew a stronger than usual field and some notable names missed the cut at 3 under.

U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark (74) was 5 over. Chris Gotterup, a three-time winner this year and ranked No. 7 in the world, was 1 over to end his streak of making the cut in 14 straight starts. Akshay Bhatia (71) — No. 12 in FedEx Cup standings — also dropped out at 1 under.

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

Larry Lage, The Associated Press