"I was thinking 55," he said.
But then Young cooled off with 'only' two birdies on his back nine in a bogey-free round, closing with a Detroit Golf Club-record tying 61 to reach 10 under for the tournament.
He shared the lead with Patrick Cantlay (66) and Patrick Fishburn (66) on Friday.
"You hate to call it a disappointing 61," he said, lamenting missed birdie opportunities that preventing him from breaking Jim Furyk's record 58 that has stood for a decade.
Young, the No.3 player in the world with three wins this season, shot a 59 in 2024 at the Travelers Championship and had a chance to join Furyk with multiple sub-60 rounds on the PGA Tour.
"It felt like I had a 10-footer for birdie on pretty much every hole," Young said.
A lot of players took advantage of one of the easiest courses on the PGA Tour.
Matt Wallace (64) and Rickie Fowler (68) were two shots back.
First-round leader Peter Malnati, who followed up his 61 on Thursday with a 71, was another stroke back in a large group that included Xander Schauffele (66).
Hideki Matsuyama (68) extended the PGA Tour's longest active cuts streak to 30 by getting to five under with a slew of players, including Tony Finau (67), who is hoping to improve his positioning to be among the top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings after next week's Wyndham Championship.
"I check it pretty much every tournament just kind of see where I'm at, even on off weeks," said Finau, the 2022 Rocket Classic champion, who entered the tournament No.87 in the standings.Â
Matt Kuchar was another stroke back, getting a boost from his seventh career ace with a nine-iron on the 156-yard, par-3 5th hole.
Kuchar invited a kid to join him inside the ropes to retrieve the ball, which he signed with a black marker.
"I saw a little boy that was kind of the right age where you know they're so excited to be out here, just very impressionable," Kuchar said. "One of those things where it's easy to make their day. I think anytime you get to make a kid's day, it makes your day."
US Open champion Wyndham Clark (74) was five over. Chris Gotterup, a three-time winner this year and ranked No.7 in the world, was one over to end his streak of making the cut in 14 straight starts.
Australian Karl Vilips (69-67) made the three-under cut by one, while compatriot Ryan Ruffels (70-70) and Cam Davis (68-75) miss out.
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