PGA Championship: Cameron Young’s simple putting mistake leads to 2-stroke penalty, likely missed cut
Cameron Young dropped to 9-over on Friday at the PGA Championship after his penalty at Oak Hill
Cameron Young made a simple mistake on the green on Friday that will almost certainly keep him from making the cut at the PGA Championship.
Young, on the par-4 16th at Oak Hill Country Club, was facing a nearly 60-foot birdie putt in the second round of the second major championship of the season. He knocked that birdie putt within a few feet of the cup, and then went to mark his ball — as it was blocking both playing partners Tommy Fleetwood and Hideki Matsuyama.
Since his mark was still in the way, Young then moved his mark one clubhead to the side.
When it was his turn to knock in his par putt, however, Young forgot to move his mark back to the original spot. That simple mistake led to a 2-stroke penalty.
"As a result, when he replaced the ball and holed out, Young had played from a wrong place and incurred the General Penalty (two strokes) for breaching Rule 15.3," the PGA Championship rules committee said in a statement.
That suddenly turned Young’s par into a double bogey. He made three more bogeys and another double bogey the rest of the way, which dropped him to 9-over on the week. The projected cut was at 5-over when Young had finished his round. Though there still would have been a chance that he could have snuck into the weekend without the penalty, the two additional strokes made it all but certain that his week in Rochester, New York, was over.
"We didn't know it happened," Fleetwood said, via ESPN’s Mark Schlabach. "Honestly, I feel bad because I'm the one who asked him to move his marker, then you're in your own little world at times. I would always say, 'Move it back.'"
Both Fleetwood and Matsuyama finished with a 1-over 71 on Friday, which brought them both to 3-over on the week.
Young, 26, entered the week at No. 15 in the Official World Golf Rankings, which is just two spots shy of his career best. He has yet to win on the PGA Tour, but he had five runner-up finishes last season — including at the British Open — and has three top-10 finishes already this season. He went T7 at the Masters last month, too.
