DETROIT – U.S. Presidents Cup Captain Davis Love III may have found America’s next winning tandem.
It was by no accident that Love was grouped for the first two rounds of the Rocket Mortgage Classic with young stars Cameron Young and Will Zalatoris. The former Wake Forest University teammates put on a show, especially Young who fired a 9-under 63 on Friday to grab the lead during the second round at Detroit Golf Club.
“Well, if they made the team, they’re a natural. It’s like Xander (Schauffele) and Patrick (Cantlay), they’re like peas in a pod,” Love said. “The only thing I asked them, you know, we’ve had guys before that hang out together all the time and do everything together but they don’t really want to play together. I said, ‘Do you want to play together? ‘No, no, no, we do everything together.’
“They say they play 75 percent of their practice rounds together…they seem to get along great. You can see it when after I hit and they take off running down the fairway, they’re chitchatting the whole day, comfortable with each other and giving each other a hard time.”
The Presidents Cup will be held at Quail Hollow Golf Club in Charlotte, beginning September 22.
Rocket Mortgage Classic: Scores | PGA Tour Live on ESPN+
Zalatoris, who finished second at the U.S. Open and is ranked No. 13 in the Official World Golf Ranking, entered the week ranked 10th in the U.S. team point standings while Young, No. 19 in OWGR, is 13th. The top six in points automatically qualify for the team and Love will have six captain’s picks to round out his squad, the same number as U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Steve Stricker had last fall. Love said he has about 25 players on his radar.
“You want guys that are hot. All the way back to 2010, like Rickie Fowler had a hot finish and his putter was hot and Corey Pavin picked him. So everybody’s kind of still on the radar. It’s not like it’s narrowed down. We have six picks so it’s still kind of wide open,” he said.
But there are few hotter players on the planet than Young, who finished second in the British Open and tie for third at the PGA Championship and has recorded four runner-ups and two thirds in an impressive rookie campaign.
“It would be very special. I mean, I’ve been a part of a couple teams throughout my life and it’s just very fun,” Young said. “Anytime you get to put on red, white and blue is a special experience, and I think this would be on a little different level for me. But yeah, I think obviously nice to play well in front of him and good just to spend some time around him. He’s an awesome guy and has been around the game a long time, so it was a lot of fun.”
Zalatoris won the Arnold Palmer Rookie of the Year Award last season and Young looks to be the favorite to follow suit. About the only thing Young and Zalatoris, who shot 71 on Friday, haven’t done yet on the PGA Tour is win a tournament. Could this be the week for Young to hoist a trophy?
“Cameron is trending up. He has been all the way,” Love said. “Obviously got to finish this weekend, but his game just looks so solid right now.”
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