03/15/26 07:33:00
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03/15 19:32 CDT Cameron Young is clutch on the island green and rallies to win
The Players Championship
Cameron Young is clutch on the island green and rallies to win The Players
Championship
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) --- Cameron Young delivered the biggest birdie of
his career on the most notorious hole on the TPC Sawgrass, a sand wedge to 10
feet to tie for the lead in The Players Championship. And then he was even
better on a shot equally daunting.
Young finally won a big title to go with his major talent on an electric stage
with pressure at every turn. He produced the goods on the final two holes ---
the birdie on the wind-blown island-green 17th, and a 375-yard drive down the
18th that set up a one-shot victory Sunday.
"It's so loud on 17. You just know kind of all eyes are right there on you so
there's nowhere to hide," Young said. "And 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."
Most impressive was the previous day on the 18th hole, his drive ended with a
splash and a double bogey. There was no margin for error this time, tied for
the lead with Matt Fitzpatrick. Young picked out his line and had one final
thought: "I'm going to hit the best shot of my life right here."
He had never had a thought like that because he had never been in this position
before. But he couldn't think of a better shot he ever hit. Moments later,
Fitzpatrick failed to save par from the trees when he missed an 8-foot putt.
Young tapped in for par and a 4-under 68.
"The nerves kicked in over the 8-inch putt on the last," Young said. "That hole
looked really, really small there from pretty close range."
It was only his second victory on the PGA Tour. He tied the tour record with
seven runner-up finishes before finally winning late last summer in the Wyndham
Championship. But this is the PGA Tour's crown jewel, loosely known as the
fifth major, on a Stadium Course that taxes brains and more than not breaks
hearts.
It was like that for Ludvig Aberg, who had a three-shot lead going into the
final round and was still in control until he imploded on the back nine with
shots into the water on consecutive holes. He shot 40 on the final nine for a
76 and tied for fifth.
And it felt that way for Fitzpatrick, who thought he nailed his drive on the
18th only to see it run through the fairway and into the pine straw. He pitched
out to the front of the green, pitched beautifully to 8 feet and missed the
putt to force a playoff. He closed with a 68.
"I felt like I hit a good drive," Fitzpatrick said. "And once you're out of
position it's difficult to make your par."
Young finished at 13-under 275 and earned $4.5 million with a victory that
moves him to No. 4 in the world. His objective early in the year was to get
into contention as often as possible to prepare for the Masters, and he did
better than that.
Fitzpatrick was the first to seize on Aberg's collapse, hitting wedge to tap-in
range for birdie on the 12th and a tee shot to 4 feet for birdie on the 13th.
Young matched the great tee shot on the 13th for birdie to stay one behind, and
it was duel from there.
Young felt that mixture of nerves and confidence, a lesson learned from his
Ryder Cup debut last fall at Bethpage Black in his native New York. There were
a few chants of "U-S-A! U-S-A!" as he played with Fitzpatrick of England when
it became clear the winner would come from that group.
"That was literally child's play compared to Bethpage," Fitzpatrick said about
the crowd. "If they think that that was anything, then they need to reassess.
Get yourself up to New York."
Fitzpatrick three-putted from 60 feet on the 14th to lose the lead, and he
regained it with a 12-foot birdie on the 15th. The closing two holes belonged
to Young on a course where he had not finished in the top 50 in four previous
tries.
"This place has had my number the last few years," Young said. "And yeah, it is
incredibly taxing. Every shot all day long you can get yourself into trouble.
There's no easy ones. There's no givens. And you're going to make mistakes. So
it's a great test of will, a test of patience and obviously a test of hitting
some good shots.
"So I feel like I did a lot of those things really well this week."
Xander Schauffele birdied three of his last four holes, including a 20-foot
birdie on the 18th, to close with a 69 and finish third, one shot ahead of
Robert MacIntyre (69).
MacIntyre watched a chip from deep rough on the 16th roll across the entire
green and into the water. Sepp Straka (71) had two double bogeys on the last
five holes, including the 18th when his shot out of the woods bounced off a
cormorant sitting on the wood-framed edge.
Aberg, however, was the real shocker.
He was still two shots ahead and in the middle of the fairway on the par-5 11th
when he flared one out to the right and into the water, leading to bogey. On
his next tee shot, he pulled that badly into the water, hit over the green and
took three to get down for double bogey.
That put him three behind, and he never recovered.
"I would have loved to be standing where Cameron is standing right now," Aberg
said. "It definitely stings a little bit."
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