Sunday was a long time coming for Cameron Young.
The long-bombing American had placed himself in contention numerous times since bursting onto the scene in 2022. Entering this week’s Wyndham Championship, Young had seven runner-up finishes, including at the 2022 Open Championship at St. Andrews. Those seven runner-up finishes were the most by any player on Tour without a win since 1983. Young’s runner-up finishes were not the product of Sunday mistakes on his end; for the most part, he had just gotten beaten by a better round.
But still that first win proved elusive for a guy with all the talent to consistently reside in the top 10 in the world.
Young struggled to start this season but found form at the Truist Championship, where he finished T7. Back-to-back T4 finishes at the RBC Canadian Open and U.S. Open came in June, but Young arrived at the regular-season-ending Wyndham Championship fresh off a missed cut at the Open and still searching for his first win.
Teeing it up in his adopted backyard — Young starred at Wake Forest in college — the 28-year-old blitzed Sedgefield Country Club with a combination of power and a hot putter. Young took a three-shot lead into the weekend. That grew to five after Saturday’s third round, and his lead stretched to nine midway through Sunday after he birdied five holes in a row near the start of his round. With everyone else fighting for second and focusing on their spot in the FedEx Cup standings, Young was able to coast to a six-shot victory over Mac Meissner. Young shot rounds of 63, 62, 65 and 68 to finish the week at 22 under par and celebrate his first win with his father in attendance.
“I’ve been waiting for it for a while,” Young told CBS’ Amanda Balionis after the win. “I never thought I’d really be that emotional about it. But it’s the end of my fourth season. I’ve had my chances, never quite like this, and I wasn’t going to let it get away from me today.”
After the win, the mild-mannered Young insisted that his search for win No. 1 hadn’t weighed on him. He had played good golf and lost many times. That’s no reason to despair. You just have to pick yourself up and go again.
“It’s not like a burden that I hadn’t won, it’s just something that I hadn’t done and I’d like to,” Young said. “At times it hurts to have played some really good golf and not had that happen, but in all those cases, there were really no times that I had it in my hands and lost. So it’s different I think than having a burden. It wasn’t really like that. It was more just, you know, when is it going to be my time here, because it just felt like a lot of those tournaments weren’t.
“Not a burden in the traditional sense. Today was a different situation than I’ve ever been in. You know, it was our goal today to come out and see how many I could win by if I stuck to our plan.”
Young’s plan delivered a rout in Greensboro that was an example of how the man from Scarborough, New York, can overpower a course when he’s firing on all cylinders. The combination of Young’s dominant display, his skillset and his history in the state of New York had everyone turning their attention from a Wyndham Championship win to another event looming in the distance.
What about the Ryder Cup?
With the win in Greensboro, Young, who won the New York State Open at Bethpage Black in 2017, joins a crowded list of fringe candidates for Team USA, including the likes of Jordan Spieth, Sam Burns and captain Keegan Bradley.
As Young finished his torching of Sedgefield on Sunday, two Ryder Cup assistant captains, Webb Simpson and Gary Woodland, fielded the most pressing question of the day, which was deemed a coronation of Young by CBS’ Jim Nantz.
“Man, I mean, Cam’s a New Yorker, I know he loves that golf course,” Simpson, who is close with Young, said. “Anytime you’re about to win by 10, you’ve got to talk about him. And he certainly has the right game for that golf course. He’s just adding his name to the list of many guys that are hard for us to say no to.”
Added Woodland: “I mean, the way he drives the golf ball, his putting stats this year are really good as well. Cam’s got a lot of talent and anytime you can bring a lot of talent, it helps everybody. I’m happy for him. Like I said, I think it’s just the start for him.”
On Saturday, 24 hours before finally becoming a PGA Tour champion, Young talked about being scarred and frustrated by the 2023 Ryder Cup process that saw him be the highest player on the points list (ninth) to be left off the team. His goals for the year could be boiled down to two things — win and make the Ryder Cup team.
“I think that that location is, first of all, one of my favorite golf courses in the world,” Young said of the host site, Bethpage Black. “I have a lot of good memories there playing the New York State Open and I’m sure a New York crowd would be I at least hope on my side to some extent. So yeah, that’s been a goal this whole year. I’m trying to just take all the small stuff that happens daily as it comes with — in the back of my mind, trying to picture myself on that team.
“Set out the year to give our captain no choice, and I don’t know if I’m in a position to do that or not, but it would take some really good golf between now and then. But if I’m in the question, that’s been a big goal of mine and I’d love to put myself there anyway.”
Young played really good golf this past week in North Carolina. He has the power and improved putting to be a weapon for Team USA come September. At the very least, Young’s blistering play has made Bradley’s pending decisions much tougher as the captain tries to assemble the best 12-man team to protect home soil at Bethpage Black.
Cameron Young becomes 1000th unique winner on PGA Tour
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Josh Schrock
Golf.com Editor
Josh Schrock is a writer and reporter for Golf.com. Before joining GOLF, Josh was the Chicago Bears insider for NBC Sports Chicago. He previously covered the 49ers and Warriors for NBC Sports Bay Area. A native Oregonian and UO alum, Josh spends his free time hiking with his wife and dog, thinking of how the Ducks will break his heart again, and trying to become semi-proficient at chipping. A true romantic for golf, Josh will never stop trying to break 90 and never lose faith that Rory McIlroy’s major drought will end (updated: he did it). Josh Schrock can be reached at josh.schrock@golf.com.
