Cameron Young has missed the cut at the 2023 PGA Championship and his miserable second round was compounded by a brutal rules penalty.
After making a bogey on his opening hole, the 10th, he made three birdies in his next five holes to increase his prospects of making the weekend at Oak Hill.
But the American, still winless on the PGA Tour, made a mistake on the 16th green that cost him two shots.
His ball was on the line of his playing partners Tommy Fleetwood and Hideki Matsuyama. So, he moved it one length of a clubhead to the side to allow them to putt.
What happened next – I’m sure many club golfers could sympathise with.
Young forgot to move his ball back to its original spot and this turned his par into a double bogey, which sent him sailing down the leaderboard once more.
“Cameron Young received a two-stroke penalty for a breach of Rule 15.3c during the second round.
“Young had played from the wrong place and incurred the General Penalty (two strokes) for breaching Rule 15.3,” the tournament rules committee said in a statement.
This began a slump that saw the 26-year-old card a 75. He finished on 9-over for the event and it is, unfortunately, another week that’s ticked by without his maiden tour trophy.
Since the start of his rookie season in 2021, Young has come second on six occasions, as well as coming tied for third at last year’s PGA Championship.
Phil Mickelson almost suffered a similar fate in a rules debacle on the 6th hole in Friday’s second round, but was offered a reprieve by a rules official.
“Ended up hitting it in the hazard and took line-of-sight and came back,” he said after making the 100th major cut of his career with rounds of 73 and 72.
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“I didn’t know that they changed the rule this year, whereby you normally could take the point in line and then you have that two-club-length semi-circle.
“I guess in January they changed that to where you just only get line-of-sight, so the guy came over and saved me a penalty because I had dropped it in the ruling under last year and didn’t realize it had been changed.
“He came and saved me a stroke, so I was very appreciative.”
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