Cameron Young Wins the Wyndham Championship for His First PGA TOUR Title

Seven times Cameron Young had come close enough to see a PGA TOUR trophy and walked away without it. On Sunday at Sedgefield, nobody got close enough to make it interesting.

Young closed with a 2-under 68 to win the Wyndham Championship at 22-under 258, six shots clear of Mac Meissner. It is the first PGA TOUR title of his career, it ties the tournament scoring record shared by Henrik Stenson (2017) and J.T. Poston (2019), and it makes him the 1,000th different winner in PGA TOUR history, per the TOUR.

"I've been waiting for it for a while," Young said.

A Wobble, Then a Wave

The day did not start clean. With a five-shot lead in hand, Young bogeyed the opening hole, the kind of start that invites every old question about closing.

The answer came fast. Young holed an 8-footer for birdie at the second and then ran off four more in a row for five straight. The key exchange came at the third, where Nico Echavarria, the only player who had been within eight on Saturday, made birdie from just inside 30 feet and celebrated with a fist pump. Young answered right on top of it with a 25-footer of his own. By the end of the run, the lead was nine.

From there it was management. Young made nine straight pars, then gave back two late bogeys that cost him a chance to own the scoring record outright. Nobody was complaining. The scoring line for the week reads 63, 62, 65, 68.

The Weight Comes Off

The context makes this one land. Young arrived with seven career runner-up finishes, including at a World Golf Championships event and The Open at St. Andrews in 2022, and the PGA TOUR noted that was the most runner-ups before a first win since David Duval. The AP added that his final-round scoring average in those seven near misses was 66.7. He was not losing them by collapsing. He was getting beaten.

That history showed when it was over. Young admitted the emotion caught him off guard.

"I never thought I'd be that emotional about it," Young said.

The win is worth 500 FedExCup points and $1,476,000, and it moves him to No. 16 in the standings, per the PGA TOUR.

Bethpage on the Brain

All week Young was clear about the bigger target: a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black, the course where he won the 2017 New York State Open as the first amateur to take that title. The AP reported the win moved him to No. 15 in the Ryder Cup standings, with two more Playoffs events left to make his case.

"Obviously, I would love the chance to play," Young said.

Meissner's Consolation, Koivun's Arrival

Meissner shot 66 to finish alone in second at 16 under. Entering the week at No. 152, Meissner needed a win to reach the Playoffs and did not get one, but the $893,800 check and the jump to No. 86 put Meissner in strong position to keep a full card.

Mark Hubbard closed with a 63, tied for the low round of the day, to tie Alex Noren (64) for third at 15 under. Hubbard rose from No. 98 to No. 77 in the standings, a huge week for status even if it came up just short of Memphis.

Jackson Koivun, the Auburn amateur, shot 67 to tie for fifth at 14 under with Chris Kirk and defending champion Aaron Rai. Koivun earned a spot in the next PGA TOUR event in September, per the AP, and is deferring the TOUR card he earned through PGA TOUR University until next year.

Echavarria, the closest chaser to start the day, faded to a 75 and tied for 19th.

Bubble Math, Final Edition

The top 70 race came down to putts on the last few holes.

Kirk's tie for fifth was the big move, taking Kirk from No. 73 to No. 61 and into the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Byeong Hun An, who missed the cut, slid from No. 69 to No. 74 and was the only player to fall out of the top 70 this week, per the PGA TOUR.

Davis Thompson was the hard-luck story. Thompson came in at No. 78, birdied the par-5 15th from just inside 50 feet to get within reach, then three-putted the 18th from 45 feet, missing a 6-foot par putt. That dropped Thompson to No. 71, five points behind Matti Schmid.

"Sucks ending the regular season this way," Thompson said.

Schmid, who entered at No. 70, made double bogey on the 11th and then birdied the last three holes to hang on to the final spot. Gary Woodland shot 70 and finished at No. 72, two spots short.

What It Means

Young has spent four seasons as the best player in the room without the hardware, and that label is gone. What is left is a player who led the regular-season finale over the final 36 holes, heads to Memphis with momentum and has given a Ryder Cup captain something real to think about.

The bubble gave Kirk and Schmid a ticket and left Thompson, Woodland and Hubbard with long flights home. That is the Wyndham, every year.

Relive the week with our Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3 recaps. Final scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's final-round story (opens in a new tab) and FedExCup update (opens in a new tab) have more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (final-round story, FedExCup update, Wire to Wire, leaderboard), AP, CBS Sports, Golf Digest, The Golf News Net. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.