GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Cameron Young finally got his first PGA Tour victory Sunday after seven runner-up finishes, and he made it look easy. He had five straight birdies early to build a nine-shot lead and coasted home to a 2-under 68 to win the Wyndham Championship by six shots.
He became the 1,000th player to win a recognized PGA Tour event, dating to Willie Park in the 1860 British Open. It must have felt like it took Young 165 years to win as many chances as he has had since his rookie season in 2022.
“I’ve been waiting for it for a while,” Young said, his voice steady as tears welled in his eyes. “I never thought I’d be that emotional about it. But it’s the end of my fourth season. I’ve had my chances and I wasn’t going to let it get away from me.”
There was no doubting this one.
He followed those five straight birdies with nine straight pars, a pair of meaningless bogeys toward the end only cost him a chance at the tournament scoring record. He finished at 22-under 258, tying the record held by J.T. Poston (2019) and Henrik Stenson (2017).
“Where do I go? I’ve never done this before,” Young said when he walked off the 18th green.
Mac Meissner won the B-flight. He shot 66 to finish alone in second, worth $893,800 and enough to move him to No. 86 in the FedEx Cup. He won’t be advancing to the postseason, but it gives him a huge boost for staying in the top 100 by November to keep his full card.
Auburn junior Jackson Koivun shot 67 and tied for fifth, getting him into the next PGA Tour event in September. He has deferred his PGA Tour card from the accelerated PGA Tour University program until next year.
The victory could not have come at a better time for Young, the 28-year-old New Yorker whose biggest goal this year was to be in uniform at Bethpage Black for the Ryder Cup.
The victory only moves him to No. 15 in the Ryder Cup standings, but he gets two more FedEx Cup playoff events to make his case and his power is an ideal fit at Bethpage Black, where in 2017 he became the first amateur to win the New York State Open.
“That team is a goal of many of us,” Young said. “Obviously, I would love the chance to play. I’ve got some more opportunities to earn my way on the team.”
There was plenty of drama at Sedgefield Country Club, but not at the top of the leaderboard.
Young had a five-shot lead and wobbled on the opening hole, making bogey. But he poured in an 8-foot birdie putt on the next hole, the start of five straight birdies. Most telling was the third hole, when Nico Echavarria let out a yell and a fist pump when he made a birdie from just inside 30 feet. Young calmly responded with a 25-foot birdie putt and the rout was on.
The Wyndham Championship is the final tournament of the regular season that determined the top 70 in the FedEx Cup who advance to the lucrative postseason that starts next week.
Ultimately, only Chris Kirk moved into the top 70 with his tie for fifth, and Byeong Hun An (missed cut) was the only one to fall out.
But the final hour was no less riveting.
Davis Thompson needed a big finish to move from No. 78 in the FedEx Cup, and he got just that with a birdie putt from just inside 50 feet on the par-5 15th. He was inside the top 70 when he reached the 18th, only to three-putt from 45 feet. Thompson missed a 6-foot par putt, moving him back down to No. 71 by a margin of five points.
“Sucks ending the regular season this way,” Thompson said.
The final spot went to Matti Schmid of Germany, who came into the final week at No. 70 and remarkably stayed there. He was on the verge of missing the cut until returning Saturday morning to finish the storm-delayed second round by playing the last six holes in 5 under.
And then on Sunday, after a double bogey on No. 11 put him at 5 over for his round, Schmid birdied his last three holes from 25 feet, 10 feet and 25 feet that wound up sending him to the FedEx St. Jude Championship next week with its $20 million purse.
Schmid had hope when he saw a video board on the 15th projecting him at No. 72.
“Which I thought, ‘All right, this is not too far away.’ And then I made three birdies so probably I should look at it more often,” Schmid said.
No one exhaled quite like Young, a big talent who finally has a trophy to show for it. Not since David Duval had someone had seven runner-up finishes on the PGA Tour before winning. Even more frustrating for Young was someone always played better.
His final-round scoring average in those runner-up finishes was 66.7. The other was in Match Play, where Sam Burns beat him with eight birdies on his last 10 holes.
Young made it hard for anyone to beat him Sunday.