Cameron Young becomes the 1,000th first-time winner on the PGA Tour, cruising to a 7-stroke victory.
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The party at Sleepy Hollow Country Club, where Cameron Young learned to play the game, began early at the Pool Pavilion Bar at his 1:55 p.m. starting time on Sunday. The club offered $3 beer, wine and cocktails for every birdie, free drinks for an eagle and an open bar for an hour if he were to win.
About the only thing Young didn’t do was make an eagle, but the 28-year-old pro, whose father, David served as the club’s professional for 20 years, took care of business, shooting 2-under 68 at Sedgefield Country Club and blitzing the field by six strokes to win the Wyndham Championship. Mac Meissner closed with 66 to finish second, a stroke better than Mark Hubbard and Alex Noren. Young, who played his college golf at nearby Wake Forest University, finally tasted victory in style after finishing runner-up seven times, the most of any player on the PGA Tour without a victory since 2003.
"I've been waiting it for a while," he said. "I wasn't going to let it get away from me today."
Young had never held a 54-hole lead or co-lead until he shot rounds of 63-62-65 to build a five-stroke advantage. On Sunday, Young bogeyed the first hole, trimming his lead to four shots momentarily but it proved to be a wake-up call as he responded by pouring in five straight birdies beginning at the second hole. His lead grew to as many as nine. He said he decided to return to playing a draw this week, his preferred ball flight when he was younger, and it was the key to victory.
“I might have heeled a driver that has gone left to right, but I think every other shot has been right to left,” he said. “I had the inclination to try to like see what it felt like to hit something straighter today and just didn't.”
After his early birdie spree — he played the front nine in 18 under for the week — he waltzed to victory with 10 pars and bogeys at 16 and 17, a 72-hole scoring total of 22-under 258, and became the 1,000th first-time winner on the PGA Tour.
“Everyone knew how good he was,” said Webb Simpson, a fellow Demon Deacon. “There's plenty of guys who we think are good enough to win, but you're still not sure until you do it. He was a little different knowing, like we knew, everyone knew how good he was.”
He added of Young, who already has played on the 2022 U.S. Presidents Cup team, “I think he has a very high ceiling. He's long. Now he's 10th in putting this year so I think this will be one of those situations where he'll be a guy we're talking about for 10 or 15 years.”
Young grew up at Sleepy Hollow and piled up wins on the home front. At the age of 14, he became the youngest winner of the Westchester Amateur. Young won the Ike Championship in 2015 and 2016 and the New York State Open in 2017 at Bethpage Black, where he carded a final-round 64. He was the Met Player of the Year in 2015.
And talking about for the U.S. Ryder Cup team for next month at Bethpage Black, where he once he held the course record. Young improved to No. 15 in the U.S Ryder Cup point standings with two tournaments remaining.
“Anytime you're about to win by 10, you've got to talk about him,” Simpson said. “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.”
The members at Sleepy Hollow will drink to that.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Cameron Young cruises to his 1st PGA Tour win at Wyndham Championship
Category: General Sports
