ATLANTA – Scottie Scheffler moved one round closer to locking up the FedExCup and the PGA Tour Player of the Year race with his opening 65 at the Tour Championship that moved him five shots clear of the field. But it was Cameron Young who might have locked up his own post-season award on Thursday.
Young is one of two rookies who made it to East Lake, which is normally the benchmark for the Rookie of the Year Award, and he moved seven shots ahead of his primary competition, Sahith Theegala, with a first-round 67.
Young began the week at 3 under in the strokes-based-scoring format and is now at 6 under, while Theegala started the week at even par and struggled on Day 1 to an opening 1-over 71.
Full-field scores from Tour Championship
Although Theegala has time to catch Young and stake his claim to the Arnold Palmer Award, it’s starting to look less likely with 54 holes remaining in the season.
“That would be obviously a really nice honor. I think we have a great rookie class this year. I know Sahith is here, Davis [Riley] narrowly missed [qualifying for the Tour Championship], Mito [Pereira] almost won a major. It’s been a really good year for the rookies,” Young said. “To come out on top of that would be great, especially given my ties to Wake Forest with Arnold Palmer also being a big part of that program.”
None of the players from this year’s rookie class won on Tour, but in 24 events, Young was the most consistent. He posted five runner-ups including his second-place showing at The Open to go along with 11 top-25 finishes in 24 starts.
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