PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Cameron Young, by his own admission, has always set expectations for himself that he called “wildly unreasonable.’’
When he was a teenager, he vowed to his parents that he was going to play in the Ryder Cup when it was to come to Bethpage Black in 2025.
Young, who learned the game of golf at Sleepy Hollow Country Club, where his father, Dave, taught for two decades, not only played in the Ryder Cup at Bethpage last fall, he was the best player for the U.S. team that week — by a lot.
On Sunday, under the blazing late-afternoon Florida sun splashing down on the diabolical Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, Young bettered his realized Ryder Cup promise.
He won the Players Championship with a positively scintillating final-round performance in what was a cauldron of palpable, immense back-nine pressure.
It’s the biggest win by far in a career that’s only just begun and figures to get even better.
When it was over, Young was surrounded by his wife, Kelsey, and their kids, Henry, John and Vivienne.
And only then did he break out of his stone-cold killer facial expression and smile.
This was the second win of his career. Last year he won the Wyndham Championship in a runaway by what felt like a three-touchdown victory.
But his family wasn’t there for it.
“I’ve dreamed of having that moment with them for a long time, and last year at the Wyndham Championship happened to be one of three weeks that they missed all year last year, so they were celebrating 2,500 miles away,’’ Young said. “To get to see them … give my boys a hug, see my wife, see my little girl … that’s something I’ll remember for a long time.’’
Young overcame a four-shot deficit to third-round leader Ludvig Åberg entering the day and made every clutch shot presented to him, particularly on the back nine, where he shot a 3-under-par 33.
He finished with a 4-under-par 68 in the final round and, after Åberg fell apart on the back nine, he outdueled Matt Fitzpatrick, with whom he was paired, on a back nine that had a Ryder Cup feel to it.
Young stuffed a 56-degree wedge to 10 feet from the flag on the iconic island-green, par-3 17th hole with the masses crowded around the green cheering wildly for him and chanting, “USA, USA, USA.’’
Fitzpatrick had seized a one-shot lead with a birdie on No. 15.
Young’s birdie on 17 tied Fitzpatrick, who missed his 29-foot birdie try, at 13-under par.
Young then obliterated a 375-yard drive down the right side of the fairway and seized control.
It was the longest drive on 18 in the entire tournament by nearly 20 yards, and it was the longest drive ever recorded on the hole by ShotLink since it was invented in 2003.
This was absolutely electric stuff.
Fitzpatrick pushed his drive on 18 into the pine straw on the right side and was forced to punch out to short of the green.
Young hit his wedge to 14 feet behind the flag on 18.
Fitzpatrick chipped to 8 feet.
Young slid his potential birdie winner to the right of the hole, 16 inches by the cup.
When Fitzpatrick missed his par putt, that 16 inches was all that stood between Young and the biggest win of his life.
He looked calm rolling it in, but he was anything but calm on the inside.
“I was really, really good until I had to make the 8-inch putt on the last hole,’’ Young said when asked to describe his nerves on the back nine. “I just about fell apart. I couldn’t get my line to point anywhere near the hole, and I went and hit it anyway, which maybe I shouldn’t have. But it went in, so all is well.’’
The last 90 minutes of back-and-forth between Young and Fitzpatrick was exquisite.
When Young made the birdie putt on 17 to tie Fitzpatrick, the noise was as loud as it was all week, maybe in years.
The “USA, USA, USA’’ chants made it feel like a Ryder Cup had broken out.
“The stadium atmosphere out there is unbelievable,’’ Young said. “It’s so loud on 17. You just know kind of all eyes are right there on you. So there’s nowhere to hide. I feel like I stepped up really well and hit a bunch of good shots those last couple holes, so I’m very proud of that.’’
The beauty of his tee shot on 18 was that Young, at the end of his third round Saturday, hit his tee shot into the water to the left of the intimidating fairway and took a gutting double bogey to fall further behind Åberg.
“My thought process over that ball is, one, making sure that I’m committed to my line, and two, the overarching thought is, ‘I’m going to hit the best shot of my life right here,’ ’’ Young said. “I don’t know if I can think of one that’s better [in my career] — especially given what happened [Saturday].
“I didn’t make a bad swing yesterday, just there’s a lot of wind and I missed by a yard. It’s a scary tee shot. To have hit that one in that moment, that’s pretty good.’’
It was better than good.
Twenty-five years removed from Gary Koch’s iconic NBC TV call of Tiger Woods’ famous 60-foot birdie putt on 17, it was “better than most.’’
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
