After seven runner-up finishes, Cameron Young finally won on the PGA TOUR on Sunday, and he made it look simple. He won the Wyndham Championship by six strokes after making five consecutive birdies in the early going to take a nine-shot lead. He then cruised home with a 2-under 68.
He was the 1,000th player since Willie Park Jr. in the 1860 Open Championship to win an official PGA TOUR event. Young must have felt like it took 165 years to get as many opportunities as he has had since his 2022 rookie campaign.
“I’ve been anticipating it for some time. I never imagined that I would feel that strongly about it. However, my fourth season is coming to a conclusion. I wasn’t going to let it slip from me because I’ve had my chances.” Young said with an emotional voice and teary eyes.
This one was without question.
A pair of pointless bogeys toward the end only cost him a chance at the tournament scoring record, since he followed his 5 consecutive birdies with 9 consecutive pars. His final score of 22-under 258 tied the records of Henrik Stenson (2017) and J.T. Poston (2019).
“Where should I go? This is something I’ve never done.” Young said as he walked off the 18th green.
The B-flight was won by Mac Meissner. He finished alone in second place with a score of 66, earning $893,800 and putting him at No. 86 in the FedExCup. Even though he won’t be making it to the postseason, he has a great chance of maintaining his full card by finishing in the top 100 by November.
Jackson Koivun, a junior at Auburn, qualified for the upcoming PGA TOUR event in September after shooting 67 and tying for fifth. The accelerated PGA TOUR University Accelerated Program has postponed his PGA TOUR card till the following year.
Young, a 28-year-old New Yorker whose main objective this season was to wear the uniform at Bethpage Black for the Ryder Cup, could not have timed the triumph better.
Although the win only puts him at No. 15 in the Ryder Cup rankings, he will have two more FedExCup Playoffs events to prove himself, and Bethpage Black, where he was the first amateur to win the New York State Open in 2017, is a perfect venue for his power.
“Many of us want to be on that team. Of course, I would be thrilled to participate, but I have other chances to prove myself.” Young said.
Not at the top of the scoreboard, but at Sedgefield Country Club, there was plenty of drama.
Young made bogey on the first hole after stumbling and losing a five-shot lead. He made five consecutive birdies, however, beginning with an 8-foot putt on the following hole. Nico Echavarria’s roar and fist pump after making a birdie from well inside 30 feet on the third hole were the most telling. The rout began when Young calmly answered with a 25-foot birdie putt.
The FedExCup Regular Season concludes with the Wyndham Championship, which selects the top 70 FedExCup players to move on to the lucrative postseason, which begins next week.
In the end, Byeong Hun An was the only one to drop out, and only Chris Kirk, with his tie for fifth, made it into the top 70.
The last hour, however, was just as captivating.
A birdie putt from just within 50 feet on the par-5 15th hole gave Davis Thompson the huge finish he needed to climb up from No. 78 in the FedExCup. When he got to the 18th hole, he was only a 45-foot three-putt away from being in the top 70. Thompson dropped back down to No. 71 by five points after missing a 6-foot par putt.
“This is a terrible way to close the regular season.” Thompson said.
Matti Schmid of Germany, who entered the final week at No. 70 and astonishingly remained there, took the final slot. Before he returned on Saturday morning to complete the storm-delayed second round by playing the final six holes in 5 under, he was in danger of missing the cut.
Schmid then birdied his final three holes from 25 feet, 10 feet, and 25 feet on Sunday, after a double bogey on No. 11 had left him at 5 over for the afternoon. This ultimately earned him a spot in the FedEx St. Jude Championship, which has a $20 million prize fund, next week.
On the 15th, Schmid noticed a video board projecting him at No. 72, which gave him optimism.
“All right, this is not too far away . After that, I made three birdies, so I should probably check it more frequently.” Schmid said.
No one exhaled quite like Young, a huge talent who finally had a prize to show for it. Not since David Duval had someone had seven runner-up finishes on the PGA TOUR before winning. Young found the fact that someone always played better to be even more annoying.
During those runner-up performances, his final-round scoring average was 66.7. Sam Burns defeated him with eight birdies on his final ten holes in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
On Sunday, Young was difficult to defeat.
