It was Cameron Young’s turn to fire a 9-under-par 61 at the Rocket Classic, and the World No. 3 ended the day tied for the lead with Patrick Cantlay and Patrick Fishburn on Friday at Detroit Golf Club.
After Peter Malnati kicked off the tournament with a 61 on Thursday, Young began the second round eight shots off the pace. But his back-nine 28 (seven birdies, two pars) propelled him to a low score and helped him reach 10-under 130 at the halfway mark.
Cantlay and Fishburn each shot 66 after firing 64s in the first round. The leading trio is one stroke ahead of Rickie Fowler (68) and Englishman Matt Wallace (64).
Young, who has already won The Players Championship and the Cadillac Championship this year, is No. 3 in the FedEx Cup points race angling for even better position to start the playoffs in two weeks. Cantlay could also make a significant move in the standings, as he entered the week No. 43 and is projected to jump to No. 21 if results hold.
Fishburn, meanwhile, is making a last-minute push to crack the top 70 who’ll qualify for the first leg of the playoffs. The 34-year-old journeyman, who has made seven cuts in his last eight starts after a cold start to the year, is 146th in points for now but is projected to jump to 61st.
Fowler won this event in 2023 and is searching for his first victory since. He recovered from three bogeys on the back nine by birdieing No. 18.
Malnati struggled to a 1-over 71 to slip to 8 under. He’s tied for sixth with Davis Riley (64), Xander Schauffele (66), Michael Brennan (67), Michael Kim (67), Chris Kirk (67), Doug Ghim (67) and Ryan Gerard (69).
The cut line was projected at 3 under par as play wound down Friday. Notables on track to miss the cut included Ben Griffin (2 under), Jake Knapp (2 under), Akshay Bhatia (1 under), Chris Gotterup (1 over), Webb Simpson (2 over), defending champion Aldrich Potgieter of South Africa (3 over) and U.S. Open champ Wyndham Clark (5 over).
