Cameron Young plunders TPC River Highlands to become just the 12th PGA Tour player to shoot 59 during Travelers Championship round three
Collin Morikawa predicted the scoring would only get lower at The Travelers Championship over the weekend. On Saturday, Cam Young proved him right.
Young blitzed around TPC River Highlands during round three of the final signature event of the season, shooting an 11-under 59 to rocket his way up the leaderboard and tie Tom Kim's overnight lead of 13-under.
This year's Travelers was already set to be a wild shootout but with Young's 59 already in the clubhouse, it's now lethal as defending champion Keegan Bradley's winning 23-under lies in the firing line.
The dismantling of the Connecticut course earned Young a coveted place in an exclusive club on the PGA Tour, joining only 12 other players to break 60.
Teeing off at 9:45am ET alongside Jordan Spieth in just the 11th pairing of the day, the 27-year-old set the blistering pace in an equally blistering heat.
Cameron Young shot an 11-under 59 during the third round of The Travelers Championship
A full four hours before they would take to the first tee themselves, leaders Tom Kim, Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler and Akshay Bhatia could only watch on as Young put on a show.
And what a show it was. Young plundered New England with seven birdies, two eagles, a testy par-putt on the last and not a single bogey in sight, clawing his way into a tie of Kim's 36-hole lead before the 22-year-old had even teed off.
The two eagles highlighted the explosive round, neither of which came on either of TPC River Highlands' two par-fives.
The American holed out for eagle on the par-four third, landing his approach from 142 yards to within feet of the cup before it dropped in for a deuce.
His second came at the drivable par-four 15th where he fired in an iron shot 280 yards off the tee, which landed short of the green before trundling on to the dancefloor and stopping four feet from the holes. From there, he was boogieing.
With three holes remaining, he was 10-under and within touching distance of 59. Just one more birdie would do it, and it eventually landed at the 17th.
Another superb iron from the fairway stopped five feet from the hole. Young, calm and collected, converted the putt, stepping to pick the ball up before it even reached the hole.
But it wasn't entirely without stress. Young found the left rough off the 18th tee, leaving himself unable to find the green in two. Faced with a nerve-wracking up-and-down from 41 feet, his chip came up 10 feet short, but withstanding the pressure, he rolled in the downhill right-to-left putt to secure history.
The 27-year-old tied Tom Kim's 36-hole lead before he even teed off on Saturday
Young was left with a testy downhill putt on the 18th green to seal the historic 59
It wasn't without stress as the American found the left rough off the 18th tee
'I didn't really think much about it until the putt went in on 15,' Young admitted when asked if the prospect of a 59 had crept into his mind. 'Then I hit two really good putts on 16 and 17. And then obviously 18 as well.
'I didn't think about it too much in the middle of the back nine, [...] all of a sudden everything was going in after 10, 11, 12. Then all of a sudden, I had a putt for 59 on 18 which was a blast.'
Young stalked off the 18th green as the first player since Scheffler at the 2020 FedEx St. Jude Championship to shoot a 59. Scheffler, then a PGA Tour rookie, made 12 birdies at TPC Boston for a 59.
Yet, for Young, it's not the highlight of his career. Not even his year. Maybe just his month.
'It's certainly pretty cool,' he said. 'It's fun to have your name on a list that short. But there's some full tournaments that I probably would rank above it in terms of just like overall achievement.
'I feel like one day doesn't necessarily warrant like a crowning achievement of a career. It's certainly my high of the month. But, I'm sure I will pretty much try to forget by tomorrow and go through my routine and see what I can do tomorrow.'
But Young's round isn't the lowest in PGA Tour history. It isn't even the record at TPC River Highlands. That belongs to Jim Furyk, who shot a 58 in the final round of the 2016 Travelers.
Young came close to joining Furyk in the history books but a missed seven-footer at the 16th left him one short.
The New York native missed seven-footer at the 16th left him one short of Jim Furyk's record
He drew himself to 11-under for the day by rolling in a five-foot putt at the 17th
But he admitted his blistering 59 may have come a little too late with co-leader Kim yet to take fire at TPC River Highlands.
'It could be anywhere from two to 10, who knows,' Young said when asked how far back he thinks he could be Sunday.
'I don't think the wind's really going to pick up much, I haven't looked at the weather, but there's a bunch of world-class players that are already nine- to 13-under. Someone at seven-under could also shoot 59 and I'm nowhere close again.
'So I would plan on having to maybe not do something similar tomorrow, but if I'm going to have any chance to win I'm sure I would have to shoot another low one.'
