World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (left) and Cameron Young played three rounds together at Doral.
BEN JARED, PGA TOUR via GETTY IMAGES
Just as the golf world seemed ready to settle in for a genuine rivalry at the top of the men’s game between world Nos. 1 and 2 Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, Cameron Young has forced his way into the conversation.
Winning his second significant event of 2026 in dominant fashion while playing three of the four days with Scheffler, Young stormed to a six-shot victory in the Cadillac Championship with a Sunday 68, finishing at 19-under 269 on the Blue Monster in the PGA Tour’s return to Doral, Florida, after abandoning the resort a decade ago.
Scheffler finished at 13-under 275 and solo runner-up for the third consecutive event, including the Masters and back-to-back signature events, and will tee it up next in defense of his PGA Championship at Aronimink. Ben Griffin was third at 12-under while Adam Scott, Sepp Straka and Si Woo Kim shared fourth on 11-under.
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But it was all Young all week in south Florida, as he became only the third player to win wire-to-wire on the Blue Monster. He was untouchable after an opening 8-under 64 and wasn’t rattled by threatening weather on Sunday that pushed tee times forward before a delayed start and prompted preferred lies.
“I think it was made easier by the weather forecast. We didn’t know exactly how the day was going to go, whether we would be starting and stopping. Started with a delay,” Young said. “It was just one of those times that I feel like that played into my hands and just being really accepting of what came next. Just staying in what we were doing all day.”
He also shook off a penalty he called on himself in the second fairway when his ball moved during address after he placed it. Scheffler had birdied the opening hole Sunday and was poised to cut the gap to four strokes just two holes in before Young holed a 13-footer to save par on the second. He then birdied Nos. 3, 5 and 8 to expand his lead to seven strokes when he made the turn and was never seriously challenged.
“Your heart sinks when you see it move, but it moved and that’s part of what golf’s about,” Young said about calling the penalty on himself. “There was no one that was going to give me a penalty there but myself and I think I had about four of those on the PGA Tour now, so I need to start setting the club down a little softer. I mean, I wasn’t going to look the other way and say it didn’t move when it rolled over an inch forward, so just unfortunate, but handled it really well.
“So that’s a really tough one to take, but, you know, the worst case realistically was I made bogey and I still had a three- or four- or five-shot lead, whatever it would have been at the time. Really unfortunate, and I really would like to have the one back that I had to give there, but at the end of the day if I had to pick a time to give one back it just wasn’t the worst time.”
An increasingly assertive Young reclaimed No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking from Matthew Fitzpatrick. Young, 28, outdueled Fitzpatrick to win the Players Championship in March and went toe-to-toe with No. 2 Rory McIlroy in the final pairing at the Masters before his putter went cold and he settled for T3 (his seventh top-10 in the last 17 majors).
When it came to facing Scheffler, Young didn’t flinch.
Carmen Mandato, Getty Images
Now he faced down No. 1 Scheffler all week in Doral without flinching or displaying any weaknesses.
“Cam played fantastic golf all week,” Scheffler said. “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 a tough man to beat this week.”
Young will get another chance to take down tournament favorite McIlroy this week in the Truist Championship, another signature event at Quail Hollow Club, before getting another crack to prove his readiness to win a major in the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in the suburbs near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“I think the self-belief just continues to build. I put myself in plenty of good places over the course of the last four, five years and recently I’ve started to come out on the better side of it,” he said. “So, yeah, just excited for the next few weeks and moving on toward Charlotte and the PGA.”
On the Blue course pros long ago dubbed “Monster,” Young proved once again he can handle the hardest tests – and in fact relishes them.
“When you feel like you have to birdie every hole, and you feel like you’re losing when you make a par, I think that’s proven to be more difficult for me,” Young said. “Difficult golf courses I think it just forces you to focus on what you’re doing and kind of the task at hand.”
Young is fulfilling the promise that’s long been expected of the former Wake Forest golfer since his head-turning rookie season.
“I’ve always been very impressed with Cam’s game. I mean, I’ve known him a long time. Every time I’ve played with him, I’ve always been impressed with his game.”
Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler, 29, was the PGA Tour’s rookie of the year in 2020 a year after being named the Korn Ferry Tour’s player of the year. Young was just a step behind, winning twice on the KFT in 2021 and earning rookie-of-the-year honors in 2022 on the PGA Tour.
Young’s first tour season was Scheffler’s breakout year, when he broke his maiden in Phoenix to start a winning spree that earned a green jacket and world No. 1 ranking in rapid succession. The rookie Young was already lapping at Scheffler’s heels, finishing runner-up five times that year and twice just a shot behind the winning score at the PGA and Open championships.
But while the potential of becoming one of his generation’s greats was obvious, the process of getting there took a little longer. Young finally booked his breakthrough win at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, last August and it opened the spigot. He was one of Team USA’s bright lights in his first Ryder Cup at Bethpage, outshining Scheffler and most of the American team with a 3-1-0 record that verified his grittiness.
Having finally delivered on his expectations, Young’s skill has taken full flight in 2026. Winning the Players Championship led to a contending turn at the Masters, where he held a two-shot lead on Sunday in the final group with McIlroy before succumbing.
He left no doubt at Doral that he’s among the game’s elite, darting out of the gate on the Blue Monster to set up his wire-to-wire win as he built leads of one, five and six shots after each of the first three rounds. He displayed command throughout the bag in building a comfortable lead despite not taking full advantage of his length on the par-5s (only 1-under), ranking fourth in strokes gained off-the-tee, third tee-to-green, second in putting and atop the field in scrambling.
“I’ve always been very impressed with Cam’s game,” Scheffler said. “I mean, I’ve known him a long time. Every time I’ve played with him, I’ve always been impressed with his game. This week he hit a lot of quality shots. A lot of quality iron shots, quality tee shots, especially on the holes where it really matters. ... On the greens he was unbelievable this week. First 27 holes I don’t think he missed anything really. It was nuts. Guy was just holing everything. When you’re hitting really good shots and holing a lot of putts that’s a recipe to run away with a golf tournament.”
Scheffler – one of golf’s top chasers when he needs to be – expressed doubts about catching Young from six back in the final grouping.
“The tournament’s in his hands right now,” Scheffler said. “I can go out and have a really good round, and if he has another really good round, he’s going to be a tough guy to catch.”
That’s proving to be a familiar refrain regarding Young on tour.
Scott Michaux
