Cameron Young has some scar tissue from the last Ryder Cup process.
Ninth in points yet bypassed for a spot on the 2023 U.S. team that eventually was beaten convincingly in Rome, Young was frustrated, he admits, by being left home.
“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.”
At least this week, nobody is playing better golf.
Not even close, as Young is 20 under through three rounds of the Wyndham Championship, five shots clear entering Sunday’s final round at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina. Seven times a runner-up but no wins still in his PGA Tour career, the 28-year-old Young would love to open the floodgates entering the FedExCup Playoffs.
At No. 19 in U.S. Ryder Cup points, he’s likely not going to make up enough ground to crack to top six automatic selections, which are determined after the BMW Championship. But if he wins Sunday, a victory that is projected to bump him well inside the top 20 in points, he will probably make it to the Tour Championship, meaning that after this week, his late audition for captain Keegan Bradley is three events.
A product of Scarborough, New York, Young debuting in a Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black is especially meaningful.
“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, I at least hope, on my side to some extent. So yeah, that’s been a goal this whole year. I’m trying to just look at that to just take all the small stuff that happens day to day as it comes…
“In the back of my mind, I’m trying to picture myself on that team.”
So, how does Young compare with other potential American captain’s picks?
He’s 74th in total strokes gained, which is well behind names such as Patrick Cantlay (11), Ben Griffin (14), Jordan Spieth (16), Sam Burns (23), Daniel Berger (24), Chris Gotterup (28) and Maverick McNealy (32).
But he’s 10th in strokes gained putting, a career best.
“I feel like just mechanically I just am a better putter than I am at any other point in my career,” Young said.
And then he’s 157th in strokes gained approach, though he seemingly discovered something last week. During the off week, he was looking through some old swing videos when he noticed his better iron swings of old had more draw bias. He decided to commit to hitting draws to hopefully build a feel that appears to have since rooted.
Young is 13th in strokes gained approach through 54 holes of the Wyndham, while he’s also tops in the field in putting and second off the tee.
“I had the inclination to try to like see what it felt like to hit something straighter today and just didn’t,” Young said. “Yeah, safe to say I’ll probably be doing that tomorrow, see what it gets me.”
It could be Young’s first career PGA Tour title.
And it eventually could be his first Ryder Cup nod, just like Young has been picturing.
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