GREENSBORO, N.C. – Cameron Young returns this week to the place where he changed the trajectory of his career.
A year ago, he entered the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club winless on the PGA Tour and a runner-up seven times. Questions were mounting whether he could close the deal. Four days later, he flipped the narrative in dramatic fashion, crushing the field by six strokes.
Advertisement
“He became the player we all knew he was,” U.S. Presidents Cup captain and two-time Wyndham Championship winner said. “We all knew he was built that way.”
Cameron Young of the United States and his caddie, Kyle Sterbinsky, celebrate on the 18th green after winning the final round of the Wyndham Championship 2025 at Sedgefield Country Club on August 03, 2025 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
That debut win helped Young earn a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, where he was one of the lone bright spots for the Americans, and he hasn’t slowed down, climbing to No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking this season.
“I had kind of righted the ship in terms of my play before that week, but I think it really showed through winning the tournament, especially by six. Since then I’ve continued to play some good golf,” he said.
Advertisement
Indeed, he has, going on to win twice this season, including at the Players Championship in March, and he’s one of four players on Tour with multiple wins this year. Young has spent 19 weeks inside the FedEx Cup top 3 this season, tied with Matt Fitzpatrick for the second most weeks of any player this season (behind only Scottie Scheffler).
Young’s emergence is reminiscent of Scheffler, the world No. 1 who was winless when he was chosen to play on the 2021 U.S. Ryder Cup team and beat Jon Rahm in Sunday singles. Scheffler agreed that Young benefited from a boost of confidence from his personal Ryder Cup success.
“I think anytime you can be in those situations in which you’re going to feel the most pressure and you’re able to succeed, I think that can only give you confidence going forward. You saw Cam at The Players this year finish off that tournament, and that can only help increase his confidence,” Scheffler said. “Yeah, there’s no reason that you can’t feed off of those kind of positive experiences. You’re never really probably going to feel more pressure in golf than you do in our team events.”
Cameron Young of Team United States celebrates after making a putt on the 18th hole during the Sunday singles matches of the 2025 Ryder Cup at Black Course at Bethpage State Park Golf Course on September 28, 2025 in Farmingdale, New York.
Scheffler’s turn as a Ryder Cup rookie was the prelude to four straight seasons and counting as PGA Tour Player of the Year. Young might just be the player to unseat Scheffler, who has been a consistent force once again but only notched one victory to date, if he can finish this season with a crescendo.
Advertisement
“If I can putt anything like I did here last year,” Young said, “I think I’ll give myself a good chance.”
Young has credited his big week a year ago at the Wyndham Championship to a golf ball change, switching from the Pro V1 left dot to a Pro V1x Double Dot, designed to lower ball launch and which helped his distance control, especially with wedges. Young first tested the prototype ball at the company’s performance center in 2024. Last year, at the Wyndham, Titleist’s Fordie Pitts, head of Tour validation and research, was ready for him to test a version with a different launch window.
“I knew we had this potential new ball for him,” Pitts recalled, “and he’s like, ‘I’m not sure I’m going to hit it this week.’ He goes out to the range and a few minutes later I get a text from him saying, ‘Hey, do you mind if I hit a few of those?’ Of course.”
“Hit a few wedges into Nos. 1 and 2 at Sedgefield and was like, ‘This makes golf easier for me,’ ” Young said.
Advertisement
“We came this close to him not even hitting the ball that week but he did and he won,” Pitts said.
Young hit more fairways and dialed in his wedges that first week it was on the USGA’s conforming ball list and he hasn’t looked back. This season, he ranks 52nd in driving accuracy, finding more than 61 percent of his fairways, up from 54 percent and a rise of 115 spots from last year. He also ranks 10th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, up from 31st. The Double Dot made headlines earlier this season when it became known that it would conform to the proposed overall distance standard, which was expected to reduce elite driving distances by 15 yards. [The governing bodies since have postponed the rollback to 2030 and said they are renewing efforts to work with the PGA Tour and PGA of America on a policy they all can get behind.]
Young’s seven runner-ups before his victory at the 2025 Wyndham was the most on the Tour without hoisting a trophy in more than 40 years. Young had to learn how to lose in order to learn how to win. It just took him longer than expected. But he’s making up for lost time now, and he is a serious threat this week to become the first defending champion to repeat at Sedgefield since Sam Snead 70 years ago.
“It would be great to win regardless of that,” Young said. “Obviously to put your name next to someone like Sam Snead would be pretty cool.”
Advertisement
Adam Schupak is a senior writer for Golfweek, covering the PGA Tour.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Cameron Young makes first PGA Tour title defense of his career at Wyndham Championship
Read the full article here