Cameron Young produced a superb opening round to take a one-shot lead at the Cadillac Championship as the PGA Tour returned to the Blue Monster Course at Trump National Doral in Miami for the first time since 2016.
Young shot an eight-under-par 64, making eight birdies without dropping a shot. He ranked second for the day in overall putting stats and accumulated 97 feet of putts made, the fifth-highest total of the round.
The Players Championship winner is a shot clear of fellow Americans Jordan Spieth and Alex Smalley, with Canadian Nick Taylor a further stroke back in fourth. Colombia’s Nico Echavarria is alone in fifth on five under, with American trio Andrew Putnam, Brian Harman and Gary Woodland a shot further back. Tommy Fleetwood finished two under, while Alex Fitzpatrick, who earned PGA Tour membership by winning the Zurich Classic of New Orleans last week with his brother Matt, is level par. Ireland’s Shane Lowry is also at level par. Justin Rose carded a two-over 74 and debuted new irons made by McLaren.
“I feel like I made a billion feet of putts, which I think works most places,” Young said. “It’s just one of those days that each mistake I made I was not penalised as much as I could have been. And every time my ball got near the hole it seemed to want to go in today.”
World No 1 Scottie Scheffler is seven shots off the lead after he dropped two strokes on the back nine and shot a 71. “I would have liked to have been a little sharper today,” Scheffler said. “Got off to a good start, but I kind of struggled from then on. Just overall hope to be a little sharper tomorrow.”
Play began in Florida around the same time that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) confirmed it will end its funding for LIV Golf at the end of the 2026 season. The PIF said the “substantial investment required is no longer consistent” with its investment strategy moving forward, leaving LIV seeking new long-term financial partners.
With LIV’s future in doubt, attention has turned to whether its star players, including major winners Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, will be able to return to the PGA Tour. Brooks Koepka opted into the PGA Tour’s Returning Members Programme at the start of 2026, a special pathway offered to some of the game’s most successful players. Former Masters champion Patrick Reed, who did not qualify for the programme, is serving a full year after his final LIV appearance before he can return to PGA Tour action.
Asked about the potential process for LIV players returning, Spieth said: “I’m not sure if it should be the same for everyone. I know olive branches were given out a couple of months ago. Brooks took them up on it. So, I’m not sure what would now change. This doesn’t necessarily mean that LIV’s not going to still move on, too. I think there’s just too many unknowns for me to have a good gauge on what would happen there. But I think, if there’s a system for Brooks and a system for Patrick Reed, does that stay the same for guys in the same category as those two coming back or does it change now? Does it change for guys who sued and dropped their membership? There’s just a lot of different things that happened over the last four years for that. I’m kind of glad I’m not in that room, and I trust the guys that are in that room to make the right decision.”
Harman, the 2023 Open champion, said there should be a way back to the PGA Tour for LIV players but acknowledged that “there has to be something” to ease the process. “I would think that the fans want everyone to be playing together and time heals all wounds,” Harman said. “There’s still some sentiment out here, especially with all the lawsuit stuff, that stuff’s going to be tough to get past. We play with all those guys in the majors, so, yeah, I think there should be a path back. I think there should be something. I’m not smart enough to be able to tell you what that is. That’s other people’s jobs. I think that would help when I spoke to some of the bad blood and some of the resentment, although I haven’t heard near as much of it in the last couple years as we did to start with the lawsuit. I think something to ease a little bit of that is probably necessary.”
Coverage of the Cadillac Championship continues across PGA Tour media and broadcasters.