NASSAU, Bahamas — The calendar may not flip for a few more weeks but Cameron Young already is treating the Hero World Challenge as if it is 2025.
“To me, this kind of feels like the start of a new season in a way,” he said. “I’m playing this week, next week, have a couple of weeks off and then we start (in Maui).”
It had been 102 days between shots in competitive rounds for Cameron Young, who last played in the BMW Championship in August and then flew to Mexico in November for the World Wide Technology Championship in Los Cabos, Mexico, but withdrew before the tournament began. Was he surprised with how sharp his game was after the long layoff?
“I didn’t play great yesterday,” he said. “But you always feel like you can shoot a number like that. I really felt very well in control, which isn’t necessarily surprising but it’s a nice thing to come out and just feel like yourself.”
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Especially with the driver. Young used the big stick as a weapon to set up a bogey-free eight-under 64 at Albany Club on Thursday and open up a two-stroke lead over Justin Thomas after the first round of the 20-man unofficial event hosted by Tiger Woods.
“[The drive on] No. 18 was really nice, especially after waiting a little bit just to kind of get that one down there in place is good. Hit a really good one off 11, I was really proud of that one today,” he said. “I’m sure I missed a fairway or two, but for the most part I was really well in position. Then I made a couple putts early, which was nice. Just kind of got off to a nice start with the putter. There’s a bunch of par 5s and a couple drivable holes, so I feel that if you’re on top of it, especially off the tee, you can make a bunch of birdies.”
And that’s exactly what he did, reeling off birdies on three of the first four holes and five of the first eight. It was a relatively stress-free day for the 27-yer-old native of Scarborough, New York.
“The one on 12 is really as close as I came to having (a bogey) – 12 and then 13, so those two holes in a row,” said Young, who is still seeking his first Tour title. “No. 13 I had a really tricky chip, kind of had to play it over the sprinkler heads from right of the green. Yeah, a three-footer. I pitched it close on the next hole. It wasn’t where I would have put it with my second shot, but happy to get it up and down and kind of make the rest of my round easy.”
Cameron Young plays a shot on the 18th hole during the first round of the Hero World Challenge 2024 at Albany Golf Course in Nassau, Bahamas. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Thomas, playing for the first time since the birth of his first child, overcame a sluggish start to shoot 6-under 66. He was 1-over through five holes and near the bottom of the leaderboard when he made the turn. But he got a pep talk from his caddie Matt Minister on the walk from the 10th tee that kicked him into gear.
“He said, ‘You look like you’re trying so hard on your putter trying to just make putts, almost like play putting stroke as opposed to just putting,’ ” Thomas recounted. “When I get off, that’s a tendency that I have and I feel like I just tried to trust my instincts and just go and react. I did that the last nine holes and I putted really, really nicely.”
He poured in six birdies and shot 30 coming home.
Another player who was happy with his putting was world No. 1 and defending Hero champion Scottie Scheffler, who experimented with a claw grip on Thursday.
“I’m always looking for ways to improve and I felt like this was something that we had looked at last year when (putting coach) Phil (Kenyon) and I first started working together, but it was really our first time working together and it’s something that’s different than what I’ve done in the past,” Scheffler explained. “This year I had thought about it from time to time and it was something that we had just said let’s table that for the end of the season, take a look at it.”
It appears to be a work in progress as Scheffler did manage to make six birdies, including four of the last five, and shoot 67, but he also lost 1.156 strokes to the field and ranked 18th out of 20 players in Strokes Gained: putting.
“I felt like I rolled it really nice,” Scheffler said. “I felt like I hit a lot of edges out there, ball was kind of dancing around the cup.”