Cameron Young wins Players Championship with family moment | D'Angelo
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PONTE VEDRA BEACH — Cameron Young did not know where to turn.
Young was on the 18th green at TPC Sawgrass, clutching the gold trophy of the golfer in the iconic follow-through pose that goes to the winner of The Players Championship when his boys, Henry and John, escaped the clutches of their mom, Kelsey, and dashed toward daddy.
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Then he was eyeing Kelsey, who was sitting just off the green with the couple's daughter, Vivienne, as he started talking about the woman who holds everything together while he's traveling the country and the world to work on a game that has been trending up for about seven months.
Soon after, he was pointing at the flagpole as the traditional raising of the flag from the champion's native land was taking place.
"I've dreamed of having that moment with them for a long time," the Palm Beach Gardens resident said. "To get to see them after I did my interviews and got to actually give my boys a hug, see my wife, see my little girl … that's something I'll remember for a long time."
The moment was made possible by two tee shots Young never will forget.
The first was on the iconic No. 17 with the island green. A hole that has seen many golfers' hopes sink with their tee shots. But Young, who stepped up to the penultimate hole one shot behind Matthew Fitzpatrick, stuck his tee shot to 10 feet. He pulled even by making the birdie putt.
What happened at No. 18 was more remarkable. Young, who said he "drove it so average this week," hit a ball on the final tee that was anything but. The most important tee shot of his career traveled 375 yards and not only was the longest of the day on that hole by 20 yards, but the longest on the hole since they started tracking the drives in 2003.
Young closed with a par and a 72. His overall 13-under 275 defeating Fitzpatrick by one stroke. The win was sealed when Fitzpatrick, who lives in North Palm Beach, missed an 8-foot par putt that would have forced a playoff with his friend and TGL teammate.
"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."
Chances are he thought long and hard on that ride home to Palm Beach County. And was still thinking as he continued to celebrate. And he won't think of one. Especially considering he ended the third round by putting his tee shot on No. 18 in the water and carding a double-bogey.
Cameron Young's Ryder Cup experience helped him at Players
Young, 28, checks two boxes when it comes to South Floridians: A transplant from New York and a professional golfer.
The move came after he graduated from Wake Forest in 2019 and joined the Dye Preserve Golf Club. "The culture," he once said about the area, "evolves around golf."
Young is one of the more unassuming, unemotional golfers on the PGA Tour. When you line up the best in the world, he was No. 15 entering The Players. Young is among those who go unnoticed.
Part of that is because he never did much to break out. A one-time winner on the Tour, the 2025 Wyndham Championship, he tied a PGA Tour record for the most runner-ups (7) by a player before his first Tour win.
That talent, though, is not unnoticed by his peers. Young was chosen by captain Keegan Bradley for the 2025 U.S. Ryder Cup team, and led the team with three wins, equaling Xander Schauffele.
That experience at Bethpage Black, when the Americans' rally fell short in a two-point loss to the Europeans, helped steady Young at The Players, even to the point where he was inspired by the USA chants at the 18th tee box.
"I just was pretty under control," he said. "I feel like I kept really good control of my mind, made really good decisions. And it didn't have to work out that I won, but today it did."
Fitzpatrick, though, wanted more from the fans. He was part of the European team that endured three days of insults at New York before having the last laugh.
"That was literally child's play compared to Bethpage," Fitzpatrick said about the taunts as he and Young were battling.
"If they think that that was anything, then they need to reassess. Get yourself up to New York."
Cameron Young has been there and he's not going back anytime soon.
He's just fine with his life in South Florida and his flourishing golf game.
Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Cameron Young wins Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass