With Trump watching in Doral,
Cameron Young finishes off wire-to-wire win at Cadillac Championship
[May 04, 2026]
By TIM REYNOLDS
DORAL, Fla. (AP) — The only person who gave Cameron Young any
trouble on Sunday was, well, Cameron Young.
He called a one-stroke penalty on himself while playing the par-4
second hole, after he caused his ball to move in the fairway. And
then he made par anyway.
It was that sort of week: Young was unflappable and unbeatable. He
went wire-to-wire alone on the lead at the Cadillac Championship, a
final round of 4-under 68 getting him to 19 under for the week and
six shots clear of world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (68).
“When the golf course is difficult, when the conditions are
difficult, that tends to make it easier for me mentally,” Young
said.
With President Donald Trump in place to watch most of the round at
Trump National Doral, Young picked up $3.6 million for the
second-biggest payday of his career. He made $4.5 million earlier
this year for winning The Players Championship.
Trump arrived with several members of his family — including
granddaughter Kai Trump, who plans to play at the University of
Miami when she enrolls later this year — shortly after noon and
remained until the tournament was over. He stood for the ovation as
Young walked up the 18th hole, as a number of fans in attendance
were allowed to move into the fairway for a look at the final putts
of the week.
And when it was over, Young got a thumbs-up from Trump, followed
later by a quick handshake.
“It’s very unique. He’s nothing if not a very, very interesting
man,” Young said. "He’s very powerful and it’s an honor to get to
play in front of him.”
A bit more than an inch of rain fell on the course in the early
morning hours Sunday, delaying a planned 7:30 a.m. start (which had
already been rescheduled Saturday in anticipation of bad weather) to
the final round by two hours. And the Blue Monster was no longer a
monster, not with everything softened by the rain.
The average scores in the first three rounds were between 71 and
71.6. The average score Sunday, with preferred lies, was 69. There
were nine birdies — total — on the par 18th in the first three
rounds and 12 at the finishing hole on Sunday alone.
Scheffler finished second for the third consecutive start, after
finishing a shot behind Rory McIlroy at the Masters and losing a
playoff to Matt Fitzpatrick at Hilton Head. Those were near-misses;
this one wasn't.
That's how good Young was. Even the best player in the world never
had a real chance on Sunday.
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Cameron Young reacts to missing a putt on the sixth hole during the
final round of the Cadillac Championship PGA golf tournament Sunday,
May 3, 2026, in Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
“Some good takeaways from this week,” Scheffler
said. “Cam played fantastic golf all week. I played with him three
out of the four days and he was hitting a lot of quality shots and
making putts from anywhere. He was going to be to be a tough man to
beat this week.”
Young called the violation on himself with his ball in the middle of
the fairway on the second hole — it moved at address, something he
said has happened to him before — and said he didn't hesitate to do
the right thing.
“Your heart sinks when you see it move,” Young said. “But it moved.
That's part of what's golf about. There's no one who's going to give
me a penalty there but myself.”
Ben Griffin (68) was third at 12 under, while Si Woo Kim (70), Sepp
Straka (66) and Adam Scott (64) tied for fourth at 11 under.
Scott likely clinched a spot in the U.S. Open — which would be his
100th consecutive major start, assuming he starts in the PGA
Championship later this month — after shooting 66-64 on the weekend.
Scott finished at 11 under, meaning he should remain comfortably
inside the top 60 in the world ranking and qualify for the U.S.
Open.
“To win a major I’m going to need to put four days together, not
just a weekend coming from behind,” said Scott, who was the winner
of the World Golf Championships Cadillac Championship — until this
week, the most recent PGA Tour event at Doral — in 2016. “I feel
like my game is there. I’m doing all the things that I think I need
to do to be in that kind of contention.”
Young can say the same. The world's No. 4 player was 67th in those
rankings at this time last year, and is already over the $11 million
mark in earnings in 2026.
“I think the self-belief just continues to build,” Young said.
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