GREENSBORO, N.C. – Cameron Young ran four consecutive birdies on the top nine-leading four links and extended eight on Saturday, before settling a series of pars to 5-shots for a five-shot lead in the Wyndham Championship as he won his first PGA Tour victory.
Young put a bogey-free 65 in the second round of the morning. He then extended the lead with four consecutive birdies, including the fourth 30-foot player and a two-shot 5-5-shot birdie.
“It was there for about an hour to play some really good golf,” Young said. “There were some chances in the last nine games, just not that many putts. But, with some normal shots in the middle of the round, it was nice to get it done the way I did.”
Colombia’s Nico Echavarria cuts the margin into four in three birdies extending four holes on the back nine. The last bird gave him 64.
Young responded with a beautiful lag birdie on 5 and a 10-foot birdie at the Sedgefield Country Club for 39 consecutive holes until the 14th lacked a 6-foot slide putt, responding with a beautiful lag birdie on 5-5-15 and a 10-foot birdie at the 17th position, putting the lead in fifth place.
“I’m just worried about what I’m doing. As I said, try to hit the best shot I can and try to stuff the putt full and we’re going to add it after 18,” echavarria said.
Young is considered the best player on the major tour ever won, the seven runner-up since the 2021 rookie season. This includes the World Golf Championships and more importantly the 2022 Open Championship held in St Andrews.
“I’m second. I’ve beaten a lot. In all these cases, I played some good golf on Sunday,” Young said. “So that’s everything I’m going to do tomorrow. I started with a nice place, so I just wanted to beat second as much as I can.”
He needed 67 points on Sunday in 20 innings under 190 to set a game-scoring record. What matters to Young is the PGA Tour champion, especially now his ultimate goal is to be the Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black.
He left the team at No. 9 in the 2023 Ryder Cup standings.
Young grew up in Sleepy Hollow, and his father was a long-term leader. He lets this Ryder Cup hover over the day the PGA announced it was going to Long Island public courses.
A win would only put him in 15th place, but it certainly would have him having a conversation with his strength and history at Bethpage. He became the first amateur to win the New York State Open in 2017, setting a 64-year-old course record at Bethpage Black.
“That’s the goal for a whole year,” Young said. “I just wanted to see this and just take away all the little things that happen every day.
echavarria is the only player in Young’s eight shots.
Defending champions Aaron Rai (69), Chris Kirk (67) and Mac Meissner (70) tied for third place.
Kirk ranks No. 73 in the FedEx Cup rankings. The Wyndham Championship was the last game of the regular season and identified the top 70, he made the lucrative PGA Tour playoffs to start next week in Memphis, Tennessee.
Davis Thompson (78th) is seventh. Gary Woodland was very popular when he returned from brain surgery about two years ago, ranking 75th in the ranking. He shot 70 and was taken to the ninth, putting him in a bubble to advance to the FedEx Cup playoffs.
One of the biggest moves was Saturday morning. Matti Schmid is ranked 70th in the FedEx Cup, two shots on the tangent. But he scored the last six holes with 65 and 5 shots, and shot 68 in the afternoon. His tie is 13th.
Danish twins Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgaard were on Nos. 71 and 82, respectively. Both finished 36 holes with 137 low 3 and thought they would miss the layoffs. But the incision fell from drop to 3.
Rasmus Hojgaard finished 10th in the third round and then hit 29 and shot 41 from the back nine. Both need a low Sunday, but they aren’t completely out of the way.
