GREENSBORO, N.C. — Cameron Young earned his first PGA Tour victory on Sunday after seven runner-ups. He had five straight birdies early, building a nine-shot lead and Coast run for a 2-under 68 to win the Wyndham Championship with six shots.
He dated Willy Park at the 1860 British Open and became the 1,000th player to win the famous PGA Tour event. It must have felt like he’d won whether it took him 165 years of young, considering the possibility that he’d had many times since his rookie season in 2022.
“I waited for that for a while,” Young said. “I didn’t think I was that emotional about it, but that was the end of my fourth season. I had my own chance and had no intention of getting away from me.”
There was no doubt about this.
He chased nine straight birdies with nine straight pars, and the last meaningless pair of bogeys had only a chance in the tournament solo scoring record. He finished with a 22 under 258, setting the record held by JT Poston (2019) and Henrik Stenson (2017).
“Where am I going? I’ve never done this before,” Young said as he walked from Green No. 18.
Mac Meissner has won a B flight. He shot a 66 to finish second, worth $893,800, enough to move him to number 86 in the FedEx Cup standings. He won’t make any progress in the postseason, but the results give him a big boost to stay in the top 100 by November to keep him on the full card.
Auburn junior Jackson Kovrung shot 67, tied him to fifth place and took part in the upcoming PGA Tour event in September. He has postponed the PGA Tour card from the Accelerated PGA Tour University program until next year.
For Young, a 28-year-old New Yorker whose biggest goal of the year was to wear a uniform at Beth Page Black in the Ryder Cup, victory didn’t come at a better time.
This victory will move him to 15th in the Ryder Cup standings, but he will get two more FedEx Cup playoff events to make his point. His power is Beth Page Black and is an ideal fit.
“That team is a goal for a lot of us,” Young said. “Obviously, I love the chance to play. I have a little more opportunity to win my own path with the team.”
There was a lot of drama at Sedgefield Country Club, but it wasn’t at the top of the leaderboard.
Young had a five-shot lead and wobbled in the opening hole and made a bogey. But he poured an 8-foot putt into the next hole, starting five straight birdies. Most of the time was the third hole when Nico Echavarria made a birdie from within 30 feet and Nico Echavarria let out a scream and a fist pump. Young responded calmly with a 25-foot birdie putt, and the defeat began.
The Wyndham Championship is the final regular season tournament that determined the top 70 for the FedEx Cup to advance into a lucrative postseason starting Thursday.
In the end, only Chris Kirk moved to the top 70 with his tie in fifth place, and Byeong Hun AN (missed cut) was the only one out.
But the last time was not even rivets.
Davis Stompson needed a big finish to move from No. 78 of the FedEx Cup. He got it on a birdie putt from just 50 feet of par 5 15 feet. He was in the top 70 when he reached 18th place. Thompson missed a 6-foot putt and returned to 71st with a five-point margin.
“It’s sucking that ends the regular season like this,” Thompson said.
The last place was to Matty Schmid in Germany. He came in the final week at No. 70 and stayed remarkably there. He was on the verge of missing a cut until he finished the storm-lagged second round by returning on Saturday morning to play the final six holes at 5 under.
And then on Sunday, after No. 11 double bogey put him five overs in his round, Schmidt bursed the final three holes, 25 feet, 10 feet and 25 feet, sending him to the FedEx St. Jude Championship in a $20 million wallet next week.
Schmidt had hope when he saw the videoboard projecting him on No. 72 on the 15th.
“I thought, ‘It’s okay, this isn’t that far away.’ And I made three birdies so I should probably watch it more often,” Schmidt said.
No one let out a breath like Young. Not since David Duval won seven runner-ups on the PGA Tour before anyone wins. What’s even more frustrating for Young was that someone played better than usual.
His final round score average for these runner-ups was 66.7. The other was in the match, when Sam Burns beat him with eight birdies on his final 10 holes.
Young made it difficult for everyone to beat him on Sunday.
