Cameron Young makes big putts to take early lead at Cadillac Championship in tour’s Doral return

DORAL, Fla. — Cameron Young made, by his own count, about a billion feet worth of putts. Jordan Spieth was, to use his own word, a nerd.

Both approaches were optimal in the opening round of the Cadillac Championship.

Young shot a bogey-free round of 8-under 64 on Thursday, taking a one-shot lead over Spieth and Alex Smalley at Trump International Doral to open the $20 million signature event — the first PGA Tour event at the course in 10 years.

“I think you can be pretty aggressive into a lot of the greens,” Young said. “They’re not particularly firm. I feel like the ball’s sitting when you need it to. So, it’s more just about avoiding some of the big mistakes. There’s a couple spots where the rough’s a little longer and obviously there’s tons of water out there.”

Young made some putts — about 98 feet worth, to be exact — and his round got rolling with barely any putt at all. He hit his approach from 154 yards to about an inch on the par-4 second, and he went on to make three birdie putts from 25 feet or more before the day was done.

“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 penalized as much as I could have been. And every time my ball got near the hole it seemed to want to go in today.”

Spieth chipped in for eagle on the par-5 eighth hole and survived a pair of bogeys on the back nine. He said he relied on notes he took in the Wednesday pro-am — “nerdy stuff,” he called it — and generally stayed in control of his round.

“I didn’t love some of the swings I made,” Spieth said. “But I was able to kind of put them in the right spot and I made some really good swings as well.”

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler had a slightly different opinion after his opening round.

He made three birdies in the first five holes, then didn’t get another the rest of the day. Back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 10 and 11 dropped him to 1 under, and that’s where he stayed — with a highlight that might have been a par save on the par-4 14th after he sprayed a driver way right and had the club come out of his hands on the follow-through.

It’s the sixth time in his last eight starts that Scheffler — who, to be fair, almost always finds a way to contend — has been no better than 20th after an opening round.

“I just wasn’t capitalizing on a lot of stuff today,” Scheffler said. “Felt like I could have holed a few more putts. Couple more fairways. Felt like when I got a touch off I wasn’t able to get it back and didn’t really steal any shots today.”