Cameron Young opened the Tour Championship with an even-par 70 that left him tied for last in a 30-man field, the kind of start that usually means a quiet week of tidying up a season rather than chasing a trophy. Twenty-four hours later he shot 62, hunted down the leaders, and did it almost entirely by himself.
The circumstances were odd from the first tee. Young’s round one playing partner, J.J. Spaun, had withdrawn from the tournament with a shoulder injury, and with nobody added in his place, Young went out for round two as a single. No one to wait on, no one setting the pace, just East Lake and a card with nothing to lose. He treated it like a practice round with the volume turned up. Thirteen of fourteen fairways found. A front nine of 30 built on birdies at seven of his first nine holes. A bogey at the 12th that barely slowed him down. And then, at the par-five 18th, a 41-foot eagle putt that broke across the green and dropped for a back nine of 32, a round of 62, and a share of the lead.
From worst to nearly first
The scale of the turnaround is what makes it. Round one, Young was grouped among the players furthest off the pace, the sort of position that at a 30-man, no-cut event mostly determines tee times rather than trophies. By the time his round two card was signed, he had gone from tied for last to tied for the tournament lead, the fastest kind of climb this sport offers and one that only a walk unaccompanied by anyone else’s rhythm seems to make possible. Playing as a single meant no delays backing up through the group ahead, no waiting on a partner’s read of a putt, nothing but Young, his caddie, and a course that was clearly there for the taking on a mild Friday in Atlanta.
He kept one tradition going regardless of the empty spot beside him. Walking off the 18th green, Young turned and shook hands with no one in particular, the ritual that closes every round on Tour observed even when there was nobody there to observe it with him. It was a small, funny moment, and it said something about a player who has spent much of this season one shot from breaking through, taking a bit of joy in a round that will not, by itself, define his week.
CAM YOUNG WITH A BOMB ON 18 FOR EAGLE, A 62, AND A SHARE OF THE LEAD pic.twitter.com/ZCWFSKZm0K
— Fore Play (@ForePlayPod) August 28, 2026
A leaderboard that would not sit still
Young was not the only one making noise on Friday. Akshay Bhatia and Ryan Gerard both went out in three-under 32 through their first eight holes to join the group at the top, and for a stretch of the afternoon East Lake had four or five players within a shot of the lead at once, which is precisely the kind of congestion a straight 72-hole stroke-play event is supposed to produce now that the staggered scoring start has been retired.
Min Woo Lee, who had opened the tournament with a career-low 62 of his own on Thursday, spent most of Friday holding on to a share of the lead alongside Young and Bhatia. About fifteen minutes after Young’s round ended, Lee ran into trouble at the par-three 5th and made triple bogey, the kind of number that turns a leaderboard over in an instant. It dropped him to five under and out of the clubhouse lead, though with two rounds still to play at East Lake there is time to find it again.
Rory McIlroy had the roughest start of the group in the mix. He flared a wedge right of the 3rd green, chipped it into a bank twice, and needed a putter from well off the putting surface to escape with a double bogey, then followed it with a bogey at the 4th to fall to even par and tied for last. He steadied from there, playing his last fourteen holes in two under to salvage a one-under 69 and sit three under for the tournament, well within touch of the weekend but with real ground to make up on a leaderboard that, thanks to Young, now has a genuine outsider near its top.
Two rounds remain at East Lake, and with the $10 million winner’s share and the FedExCup itself on the line, a 62 built on an empty tee sheet and a made-up handshake might end up being the moment that decided where both went.