AUGUSTA, Ga. — Cameron Young saw Scottie Scheffler post a 65 earlier in Saturday’s third round of the Masters, and then went out and matched the World’s No. 1 player to surge into the lead at Augusta National.
Young’s 7-under-par effort was his best in 15 career Masters rounds by two shots, and helped him erase the eight-shot deficit he began the day with behind 36-hole leader Rory McIlroy. He reached the clubhouse at 11 under for the tournament with McIlroy still on the course.
Young, whose biggest career victory to date came at The Players Championship last month, birdied four of his first eight holes on Saturday to make his turn in 4-under 32. He then birdied the difficult 10th hole and closed McIlroy’s lead to two shots with another on the 13th hole.
Playing five groups behind Young, McIlroy made his turn at even par as one of only two players in the top 20 not under par for the day. He fixed that with a birdie on the 10th hole, only to bogey the first two legs of “Amen Corner.”
Meanwhile, Young reached 11 under with a birdie at No. 14 to tie for the lead for the first time. After dropping a shot at the par-5 15th, he quickly picked it back up with a birdie on the par-3 16th that gave Young his first outright lead of the tournament.
Making his fifth Masters appearance, Young appeared in jeopardy of not even being around for the weekend after beginning his tournament with four bogeys through his first seven holes. He was still at 4 over through 11 holes on Thursday.
That’s when Young lit a spark with consecutive birdies on Amen Corner to turn his tournament around. He is now 15 under over his past 43 holes. Before Friday’s 67, Young had only broken 70 once previously at Augusta National.
