Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
DORAL, Fla. — The only person who gave Cameron Young any trouble on Sunday was, well, Cameron Young.
He called a one-stroke penalty on himself while playing the par-4 second hole, after he caused his ball to move in the fairway. And then he made par anyway.
It was that sort of week: Young was unflappable and unbeatable. He went wire-to-wire alone on the lead at the Cadillac Championship, a final round of 4-under 68 getting him to 19 under for the week and six shots clear of world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (68).
"When the golf course is difficult, when the conditions are difficult, that tends to make it easier for me mentally," Young said.
With President Donald Trump in place to watch most of the round at Trump National Doral, Young picked up $3.6 million for the second-biggest payday of his career. He made $4.5 million earlier this year for winning The Players Championship.
Trump arrived with several members of his family — including granddaughter Kai Trump, who plans to play at the University of Miami when she enrolls later this year — shortly after noon and remained until the tournament was over. He stood for the ovation as Young walked up the 18th hole, as a number of fans in attendance were allowed to move into the fairway for a look at the final putts of the week.
And when it was over, Young got a thumbs-up from Trump, followed later by a quick handshake.
"It's very unique. He's nothing if not a very, very interesting man," Young said. "He's very powerful and it's an honor to get to play in front of him."
A bit more than an inch of rain fell on the course in the early morning hours Sunday, delaying a planned 7:30 a.m. start (which had already been rescheduled Saturday in anticipation of bad weather) to the final round by two hours. And the Blue Monster was no longer a monster, not with everything softened by the rain.
The average scores in the first three rounds were between 71 and 71.6. The average score Sunday, with preferred lies, was 69. There were nine birdies — total — on the par 18th in the first three rounds and 12 at the finishing hole on Sunday alone.
Scheffler finished second for the third consecutive start, after finishing a shot behind Rory McIlroy at the Masters and losing a playoff to Matt Fitzpatrick at Hilton Head. Those were near-misses; this one wasn't.
That's how good Young was. Even the best player in the world never had a real chance on Sunday.
"Some good takeaways from this week," Scheffler said. "Cam played fantastic golf all week. I played with him three out of the four days and he was hitting a lot of quality shots and making putts from anywhere. He was going to be to be a tough man to beat this week."
Young called the violation on himself with his ball in the middle of the fairway on the second hole — it moved at address, something he said has happened to him before — and said he didn't hesitate to do the right thing.
"Your heart sinks when you see it move," Young said. "But it moved. That's part of what's golf about. There's no one who's going to give me a penalty there but myself."
Ben Griffin (68) was third at 12 under, while Si Woo Kim (70), Sepp Straka (66) and Adam Scott (64) tied for fourth at 11 under.
Scott likely clinched a spot in the U.S. Open — which would be his 100th consecutive major start, assuming he starts in the PGA Championship later this month — after shooting 66-64 on the weekend. Scott finished at 11 under, meaning he should remain comfortably inside the top 60 in the world ranking and qualify for the U.S. Open.
"To win a major I'm going to need to put four days together, not just a weekend coming from behind," said Scott, who was the winner of the World Golf Championships Cadillac Championship — until this week, the most recent PGA Tour event at Doral — in 2016. "I feel like my game is there. I'm doing all the things that I think I need to do to be in that kind of contention."
Young can say the same. The world's No. 4 player was 67th in those rankings at this time last year, and is already over the $11 million mark in earnings in 2026.
"I think the self-belief just continues to build," Young said.
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
