Cameron Young loses it on driver, snaps shaft with five holes to go

Sunday was not a good day to be Cameron Young’s driver.

A week after shooting 59 during the third round of the Travelers Championship, Young again found himself in contention at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, one shot back of Akshay Bhatia and Cameron Davis through 13 holes of the final round Sunday.

But his driver didn’t do much to help him get there.

Young hit just six fairways during his record round a week ago and wasn’t doing any better Sunday as he was just three-for-10 in finding the short stuff off the tee in the final round.

After a snap hook on the par-5 14th tee, Young had had enough. He stuck his clubhead on the ground and put his weight into the shaft.

SNAP!

“OHHH! I think he just cracked the shaft!” CBS Analyst Trevor Immelman said, shocked. “I think he just cracked the shaft of his driver leaning on it.

“Trevor, he can’t find the planet right now. Maybe that’s a good thing,” added on-course reporter Colt Knost.

Knost later confirmed that the shaft was indeed broken and the driver was done for the final round.

PGA Tour rules official Orlando Pope came on the broadcast to relay that since Young broke the driver out of anger, he would be unable to replace it.

That meant a missing weapon as the leaders came down the stretch at the Rocket Mortgage. While Young managed a par on 14, he likely would have preferred his driver on the last three holes at Detroit Golf Club which are two long par-4s sandwiching a reachable, but into the wind par-5 at 17.

He wound up finished bogey-par-bogey, though the driver was hardly to blame — he missed a four-footer at 16 and three-putted 17 to finish T6, three shots behind Cameron Davis’ winning score.

Young is still seeking his first PGA Tour win after seven runner-up finishes to start his career. That’s the most such finishes without a win on the Tour since 1983.