Behind nine birdies, Cameron Young takes three-shot lead into weekend at Hero Dubai Desert Classic

Cameron Young is hitting bombs and dropping putts.

After two rounds at Emirates Golf Club, it doesn’t look like it’s Cameron Young’s first time at the course.

The American fired the round of the tournament Friday in Dubai, shooting 8-under 64 to take a three-shot lead heading into the weekend. Young had nine birdies and one bogey on his card and sits at 13 under in his Rolex Series event debut.

“I putted fantastic,” Young said. “I made a couple long ones yesterday and then made a few more today that those had no right going in I feel like. I hit a bunch of good putts but just one of those days where you kind of have a couple 30-footers and you look up and they are going right in the middle, which doesn’t happen all that often to have a bunch of them in one round. But really nicely and putted great.”

Young leads by three over Adrian Meronk, who Wednesday won the Seve Ballesteros Award as the DP World Tour’s Player of the Year for 2023, and Andy Sullivan.

Young had four straight birdies on Nos. 16-18 and No. 1 (he started on No. 10) and also added a pair of circles as Nos. 3-4 for six in seven holes. He bogeyed his closing hole, the par-4 ninth, his second 5 on the hole in as many days.

Tommy Fleetwood, who won last week, is T-15 at 5 under. Rory McIlroy sits T-25 at 3 under.

It was also a special round for European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, as he aced the par-3 fourth hole on Friday.

The victorious captain from 2023 and future captain for 2025 sits at 2 under for the tournament.

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