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Rocket Classic 2026: Cameron Young fires 61, sets pace in Motown with Patrick Cantlay
All Cameron Young needed was that putter to heat up a little.
A day after Peter Malnati tied the Detroit Golf Club’s record-low score for a single round, Young matched it with a 9-under 61 of his own during Friday’s second round of the Rocket Classic.
Young, propelled by a string of six consecutive birdies on his first nine, shot up 68 spots on the leaderboard. He sits tied for the lead with Patrick Cantlay, with several groups having not yet teed off in Motown. Several more are on the course and can be considered looming threats to that lead, including Malnati and Rickie Fowler
“It felt like I had a 10-footer for birdie on pretty much every hole,” Young said after his round.
While there is still plenty of golf to played before the field is cut before the weekend, the Rocket’s afternoon groupings may be at something of a disadvantage over the first 36 holes. Malnati’s 61 came early, and Young was asked about the newly-renovated course after his round.
“A little bit of wind, but mostly [the new greens]. Frankly, they were beautiful this morning. Like with a touch of moisture, they’re just — there’s no sand, there’s no bumps in them until really late in the round,” said Young. “With any moisture in the morning they’re perfect. Then later in the day, eventually they’re going to get chewed up.”
Young saw that yesterday when he went off in the afternoon, carding an underwhelming 1-under 69 as the pre-tournament favorite and world’s No. 3-ranked player.
He came to Detroit rested after finishing runner-up at The Open, which Ryan Fox won with a birdie on the 18th hole while Young could only watch from the clubhouse
“That’s kind of the main difficulty of golf,” said the 2026 Players champ about the difference between round to round and event to event.
“Anytime you feel like that, it’s difficult to some extent,” Young added. “You wonder, am I missing something, why is this the way that it is, why is it not working, all those things. But when it goes well, it feels totally the opposite. When it goes well, it feels like you never will play bad again. It just comes and goes. You kind of have to be ready for either one. At some point it’s going to get harder and at some point you’ll come out of that difficult period and it will feel easy again. It’s kind of just a game of being ready for whatever comes next.”
The second round of the Rocket Classic is underway at the Detroit Golf Club in Detroit, Mich.
