HARTFORD, Connecticut – FINALLY!!!!!!!!
After being among the best players in the world never to have won on the PGA Tour for several years, Cameron Young ended bags full of frustration Sunday with a dominating six-stroke victory over Mac Meissner in the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C.
Young, 28, a former Bridgeport resident who shot an 11-under-par 59 in the third round of the 2024 Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, had finished runner-up seven times since his rookie season in 2021, including the 2023 World Golf Championship-Dell Technologies Match Play and the 2022 Open Championship at famed St. Andrews in Scotland. The seven seconds were the most of any player on the PGA Tour without a victory since 2003.
As Young departed the 18th green after a tap-in par, he quipped, “What do I do now? I’ve never done this (win a PGA Tour event) before.”
Young certainly made up for lost time in a big way.
“I finished second a bunch,” said the long-hitting Young, who became the 1,000th different player to win on the PGA Tour in his 94th start. “I’ve gotten beat a lot. I’ve played some good golf on Sunday in really all those cases.”
And Young was impressive this Sunday after building as much as an eight-stroke advantage before settling for a five-shot lead over Nico Echaavarria of Columbia after completing the storm-delayed second round and playing a bogey-free, 5-under-par 65 in the third round on Saturday that gave him a 54-hole lead for the first time.
Echaavarria was the only player within eight strokes of the lead entering the final round, and Young didn’t let his first PGA Tour victory slip away this time, making five consecutive birdies after an opening bogey on the way to a 2-under 68 for a 72-hole total of 22-under 258 that tied the tournament record set by Henrik Stenson in 2017.
“It feels like a long time coming,” said Young, who earned a $1.476 million first prize and two-year exemption on the PGA Tour. “I never thought I’d really be that emotional about it, but I wasn’t going to let it get away from me today and am thankful that I finally got it done.”
So were hundreds of people who gathered for a party at Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Scarborough, N.Y., where he learned to play the game from his father and Sleepy Hollow head pro David for 20 years. The festivities began early at the Pool Pavilion Bar at Cameron’s 1:55 p.m. starting time, and 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.
Young didn’t make an eagle but had five birdies, and the bar was open for the hour after his maiden PGA Tour victory. He dramatically improved his chance to be a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup Team, which will play Europe on Sept. 26-28 at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y., not far from where Young grew up and became the first amateur to win the New York State Open in 2017, setting a course record at the time of 7-under 64.
“(The Ryder Cup) has been a goal this whole year,” Young said. “I just tried to look at that to just take all the small stuff that happens day-to-day as it comes. I tried to picture myself on the team, but this week, I tried to put that in the back of my mind. Now I have a few more chances to prove myself (in the FedExCup playoffs).”
Young was ninth in the Ryder Cup standings in 2023 and admittedly frustrated when he was left off the 12-man team that was beaten convincingly in Rome. The Wyndham victory moved Young from 44th to 15th place in the standings and puts him in the conversation with his power and history at Bethpage.
Young was born in Scarborough, N.Y., attended Fordham Preparatory in The Bronx, where he was a member of the golf team, and later went to Wake Forest, where he studied Economics, graduating in 2019 only 30 minutes from Sedgefield CC. Young’s father and former Wake Forest coach Jerry Haas were in Cameron’s gallery on Sunday, and he had the 2025 Ryder Cup circled the day the PGA Tour Americas announced it was going to the Long Island public course.
“Set out the year to give our captain no choice,” Young said, “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.”
Young likely won’t be one of the six automatic spots on the U.S. team but hopes to be one of the six picks of captain Keegan Bradley, the 2023 Travelers Championship winner who is 10th in the points standings and could become the youngest (39) and first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963.
“Not that winning a tournament here is little,” Young said, “but I think for me kind of looking off in the distance in that way I think will help me just keep trying to trust what I’m doing and build some confidence along the way.”
The process began a week ago while practicing at home and watching old video, realizing he used to swing a little bit more biased towards a draw, his preferred ball flight when he was younger.
“My iron play this year hasn’t been great doing it the other way, and I’ve noticed I kind of haven’t gotten on any substantial run anywhere,” Young said. “I felt like committing to just one shot might allow me to kind of build some feel, and that seemed to work pretty well.”
Well, indeed. Young had demonstrated plenty of promise, patience, and persistence for years, and the victory validated his talent and quieted any lingering doubts about his ability to close.
Before last week, Young exclusively hit a power-fade off the tee and used the same shot-shape when hitting his irons. So to move to the draw was a big and somewhat risky change, but one that certainly paid off. He had 12 Top-10 finishes and 22 Top-15s before finally reaching the winner’s circle.
In September 2022, Young was selected for the U.S. team in the Presidents Cup, going 1-2-1 in the U.S.’s 17 ½-12 ½ victory over the International team. That same year, he received the Arnold Palmer Award as the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year with 64 percent of the vote.
But the Ryder Cup is the biggest and most prestigious competition in team golf, and Young hopes the three PGA Tour postseason events finally earn him his most desired goal at Bethpage.
“I think that that location is, first of all, one of my favorite golf courses in the world,” Young said. “I have a lot of good memories there playing the New York State Open, and I’m sure a New York crowd would be on my side to some extent.”
The Wyndham Championship was the final event in the regular season and determined the top 70 who advanced to the playoffs, which begin Thursday with the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn. Scottie Scheffler, the Travelers Championship winner and Olympic gold medalist in 2024 whose four victories this year include the PGA Championship and Open Championship, is the runaway leader in the FedExCup points race and a seeming lock to be named PGA Tour Player of the Year for the fourth time since 2021.
