Q. What were you most pleased with today besides your score?
CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah, I just think we stuck to our plan really well. This place is tricky.
Q. Freaky or tricky?
CAMERON YOUNG: Tricky. I feel if you're not decisive, if you're unsure of what you want to do, it can really kind of rear its head at you. So I feel like we did a really good job of just knowing what our goal was.
The holes where we're strictly just trying to get it in the fairway, holes like 10, 12, I didn't hit all of them, but I made a bunch of really good golf swings and I feel like that kind of wins out over here.
Q. Probably not the finish you want your first four times around here. Do you think there's anything you've figured out about the golf course, or are you just playing better?
CAMERON YOUNG: It's some of both. Playing a little better. I've had a really hard time with a couple tee shots out here that I feel like I'm more comfortable on this year. That's really helpful, because there's a bunch of tee shots out here where I feel like everybody's uncomfortable, like 18, 17. But there are a few that just for me felt like they should be no problem at all and I've always been uncomfortable, and I've just got a couple clubs that I feel like fit a little better and I just happen to be playing a little bit better too.
Q. Any specific ones there?
CAMERON YOUNG: I have a 3-wood that I like that I hit a couple times a round. That just seems to fit better.
Q. What's changed since the T55 at Pebble Beach because T7 at Genesis, T3 last week; what's been the big difference?
CAMERON YOUNG: The golf is not that different. I've never played great at Pebble. Those greens don't seem to agree with me. I think I just kind of let that bleed into the rest of the golf.
Yeah, I mean some of it is a little bit of an attitude shift. Once you get out of there, you know the scoring there was going to be low, and I just feel like I can't make birdies out there for whatever reason; it just never has happened.
Then you go to Riviera, and all of a sudden my next three are Riviera, Bay Hill, here. And I feel like it was a really good time to kind of reset and know that you got a hard stretch of golf coming up, and there's no reason to really have any expectations. It's so much more about being ready for a battle. I feel like I've done a good job of that those last few weeks.
Q. Did you expect more of yourself this year based on how you closed out the second half of 2025?
CAMERON YOUNG: Yes and no. I mean, it's hard not to. At the same time, I've expected a lot more of myself than what I've done throughout my four years on TOUR. So on one hand yes, I feel like it makes it feel closer to doing a lot of stuff that I want to do, and at the same time I've expected those same things of myself since I was 12. So kind of a yes and no, to your question.
Q. Can you pick up confidence in the middle of a round with a swing? For example, if you took like 14, really nice drive, approach; can that do anything for you?
CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah, some. I mean, I feel like I really didn't have that much control yesterday. I felt like shooting 4-under was kind of a miracle, honestly. I got a good break on 9 for my tee shot to stay out of the water. Every time I hit a wedge shot it kind of ended up close.
Sometimes there's days where you hit a bunch of good wedge shots to 14 feet or 18 feet, and I hit four or five good ones and four of them went to three feet. So it was just one of those days, I feel like I got more out of it than maybe I should have.
Yeah, you can. I feel like you can pick up some confidence with a good swing here and there, but right now for me it's more just a matter of management and trying to just really make sure I'm decisive on what I want to do out there.
Q. Are you happy with the 4 on 11?
CAMERON YOUNG: I don't think I've ever made any better than 5 there in my career. Actually I feel like I hit an excellent second shot and there was a little bit of mud on the ball. So I think I maybe hit the shot to have a 20-footer for eagle there, and yeah, that pitch from the left, I don't know if I've ever hit the green from over there.
Beginning of the week I said I was going to lay up unless I was comfortable hitting it at the middle of the green, which I was today with 4-iron. Didn't quite work out how I planned, but 4 is good there.
Q. With mud on the ball?
CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah, for me.
Q. You talked about the Ryder Cup being a major goal for you. Do you have a different motivation this year, and if so, what is it?
CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah, I do. The main thing the first part of the season is just the run-up to Augusta. The goal was to put myself in contention as much as I can so that I can be as comfortable as possible hopefully late on a Sunday late at Augusta. But, yeah, we play so many big events between start of the season and there that it really is what I just said; it's just trying to put myself in contention as much as possible and getting myself comfortable for the start the of the major season.
Q. How would you describe your comfort being in those positions like you are heading into this weekend?
CAMERON YOUNG: Getting there. Getting there. I feel like we keep building belief in what we do and not just how I'm hitting it on a day-to-day basis, I feel like Kyle and I have done a lot of hard work on just our preparation and our planning and how we approach playing golf out here, and I think continuing to focus on that is really our focus over the next few weeks.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports