Young takes lead at Hero World Challenge as Bhatia, Theegala tied third with Scheffler

Albany, Dec 6 2024-

Cameron Young back in action after more than three months, got off to an electric start with a 64 at the 2024 Hero World Challenge. His bogey free first round gave him a two-shot lead over Justin Thomas (66), who made a late charge with four birdies in a row from the 14th.

World No. 1 and defending champion Scottie Scheffler, teeing up for the first time since the Presidents Cup in late September, shot 67 and was tied third alongside four others. It was Scheffler’s 11th score in the 60s in his 13 rounds at this event, where his previous results have been – 2nd, 2nd and first.

Scheffler was tied third alongside the Indian-American duo Akshay Bhatia and Sahith Theegala besides Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg and American Patrick Cantlay. They all shot 67 each.

Neither Young nor Thomas have won in a long time. Young is yet to win on the PGA Tour, which he joined in 2022 and Thomas has not held a Trophy since the 2022 PGA Championship, though his last start at the Zozo Championships in late October saw him finish second. Since then the former World No. 1 has also become a new father.

Young, speaking on his time off, said, “Yeah, just some work on myself physically and then just standard practice. I mean, it’s a nice time to go back to all the really simple things and make them comfortable again and getting yourself really square, working on setup things.”

Young, who carded 59 at the Travelers in June this year, is still looking for his first win on the PGA Tour. Young, who was third in his HWC debut in 2022, has five Top-10s in his last 13 Majors including a runner-up finish at the Open at St. Andrews in 2022 and T-3 at the 2022 PGA Championships. Since the second half of 2022, Young has had eight runner-up finishes on the PGA Tour.

Showing a resolve to change that, Young picked five birdies in his first eight holes and added three more on the back nine to compile a bogey free 64.

Bhatia’s only start since the Tour Championships in late August, was the Dunlop Phoenix event in Japan two weeks ago and he was tied second. Bhatia was happy with the 67 and said, “I played the par 5s pretty well today. I haven’t played too much competitive golf so I was a little more nervous and so all in all, it was pretty good. I have this new prototype driver in the bag which is a big thing for me. I felt like my driving stats last year kind of went downhill a little bit. I was fighting a two-way miss, making good swings. Some weeks it was good and some weeks it just wasn’t there.”

Theegala after a modest 1-under front nine was happy with the home stretch which had four birdies. A day earlier which was his 27th birthday Theegala had said, “Playing this event was always a big thing.” Now in Scheffler’s company he shot 67 and was tied third with him.

Scheffler, who won seven times in 2024 besides the Olympic gold medal, carded 67, his 11th round in 60s in a total f 13 rounds since he first played at the HWC in 2021. His three previous results here have been 2-2-1.

Scheffler, who likes to ‘work on’ a few things towards the end of the season brought a new putter and a new putting coach to this event last year and he went on to win. This time he was ‘trying’ out something else this time – a new grip which was neither a ‘saw’ nor a ‘claw’. He simply used it for some putts depending on the length of the putt.

Scheffler said, “Typically the further I am away from the hole I’d say the more likely I am to use the conventional grip because. I feel like my speed has always been extremely good, especially from long range. I think I’ve always been a really, really good lag putter. That’s an area where I don’t think I would see much improvement with the grip. The closer I get to the hole, kind of that inside 15-foot range, I think that’s where I’m seeing a lot of the benefits of it.”

Another man happy with his first round in six weeks after a runner-up finish in Zozo Championships in Japan was Thomas.

Thomas said, “Definitely pleased with how especially how the start was. I mean, just wasn’t taking advantage of any of the par 5s or scoring holes and I wasn’t making anything at all. Hit some good putts, hit some really, really bad putts , but just felt like I was maybe just trying a little too hard to get it going.” Still a 67 gives him a great start.

Dunlap reached seven-under at one stage, but dropped a shot on the 16th and went into the thick vegetation on the 18th and gave away a double bogey to slip to 4-under and was tied eighth alongside Robert MacIntyre, Sam Burns and Keegan Bradley, who all shot 68 each. (Agency)