HE was Rookie of the Year in his first season on the PGA Tour, has earned more than $US16 million in prizemoney, is one of the few golfers to have shot 59 in competition, represented his country in a Presidents Cup and is estimated to be worth more than $US17 million.
But you get the strong impression that Cameron Young would trade a good share of that if he could just win a tournament on the PGA Tour, where the 27-year-old American plies his trade almost exclusively.
He owns one of the game’s most bitter-sweet accolades – the best golfer to have never won a tournament. Indeed, some say he might be the best player in history to have not won on the world’s premier golf tour.
To be fair to the long-hitting New York native, Young has actually won a golf event or two – just not on the PGA Tour. In 2017 he became the first amateur to win the New York State Open, and the following year claimed the Westchester Open.
Cameron Young is still looking for his first win on the US PGA TOUR. – Photo USGA
Young, who was taught to play the game by his father David, a part-time professional and the director of golf at Sleepy Hollow Country Club in New York, turned pro in 2019 and, a year later, Monday-qualified into the Korn Ferry Tour’s Pinnacle Bank Championship in Omaha, Nebraska, finishing 11th.
That gained him a start in the following week’s event, where he again performed well enough to play the next week. He gained enough points that season to secure special status on the Korn Ferry Tour and two wins there in 2021 saw him finish 19th on the Order of Merit, which earned him a PGA Tour card for the 2021-22 season.
To say that he made an immediate impression would be an under-statement.
In his fifth start he was runner-up in the Sanderson Farms Championship, and in February 2022 tied for second in the Genesis Invitational. Three months later he was third in the PGA Championship at Southern Hills after taking a double-bogey from the bunker on the 16th hole and missing a playoff by a single stroke.
Then came the Open at St Andrews, arguably Young’s finest achievement. He led with a first-round 64 and, on a gripping final day, shot 31 on the back nine, including an eagle two on the last. The trouble was that Cameron Smith shot 30, and beat him by a stroke.
That made four runner-up finishes for the rookie – he was also second in the 2022 Well Fargo Championship – and he’d go on to be runner-up again in the Rocket Mortgage Classic in late 2022.
Those performances, and his remarkable consistency, saw him make the US team in the 2022 Presidents Cup and win the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year award with 94 percent of the vote.
In 2023 Young was runner-up in the Dell Technologies Matchplay Championship and finished seventh in the US Masters.
Last year he shot 59 in the third round of the Travelers Championship – just the 13th time anybody has gone sub-60 in PGA Tour history – and was runner-up to Peter Malnati in the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Resort’s famous Copperhead course.
That was his seventh runner-up finish on tour. And still no win.
When asked after that event how he stays patient while chasing that elusive first victory, Young replied: “I haven’t really. I’ve definitely let it get to me at times.”
But he went on: “I’m in a really nice place mentally and I’m just trying to hit each shot the best I can. I think I’m handling my own thoughts really well and, for me, that’s a big win regardless of the outcome.”
One man who knows what it’s like to struggle for a first victory is veteran David Duvall who, nearly three decades ago, was a seven-time runner-up before claiming his first PGA Tour win at the end of his third season. He then went on to win 13 times over his next 79 starts, including the 2001 Open.
“Once you realise as a player that you’re doing everything you can and you don’t have to do anything different, it opens up the gates,” Duval said. “You feel like you have to win. But really you’ve just got to play.”
That’s sound advice for a young man who is saddling up for his fourth year on tour, already with an imposing record, but with the weight of expectations growing heavier with each event.
Not that it’s causing him any financial pressure.
Cameron Young tees off on the 13th hole during the first round of the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst Resort & C.C. (Course No. 2) in Village of Pinehurst, N.C. on Thursday, June 13, 2024. (Jeff Haynes/USGA)
He’s averaging prizemoney of about $US4 million a year, and has sponsorship deals with Nike, Titleist, Gillette, Optus and the Seattle Seahawks, and an exclusive sponsorship agreement with Major League Basketball. Together his endorsements bring him at least as much as the prizemoney he earns.
Young is ranked in the world’s top 40 professionals with a career high in the mid-20s.
He’s not doing much wrong. His scoring average in all of those runner-up finishes is just below 68. And, though he’s made the odd mistake in the last few holes at times, there’s no question of him being a choker.
He’s just not winning. But his turn will certainly come. Perhaps as early as this year. And you can’t help but think it might just open the floodgates.
Close, but again no cigar
Cameron Young opened with a seven-under par round of 66 at the PGA TOUR’s season-opening Sentry tournament, was there or thereabouts on the leaderboard for most of the week, but again he came up short in his quest for a first tour victory.
Young shot a four-round total of 23-under around the par-73 Kapalua course, however such was the hot scoring throughout the week, the American could only finish in a tie for eighth, 12 shots behind winner Hideki Matsuyama who returned a record-breaking score.
Interestingly, for a player recognised for the quality of his ball striking, Young relied on his short game in the PGA TOUR signature event, the stats ranking him first in strokes gained around the green, first in putts per green in regulation and third in feet of putts made for the week.
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