What Should We Make of Cameron Young?

We’ve seen plenty of flashes from Cam Young, the 27-year-old Wake Forest product who has posted impressive finishes on the biggest stages in professional golf. Now that he’s nearly five full years into his professional career, it’s time to ask: who is he? And what should we make of his body of work so far?

Put one way, Cameron Young is a mega-talent with a wide array of shots in his bag. He has loads of power off the tee, a proven ability to slaughter the most demanding courses in golf from tee to green. Put another way, Young has to this point at least posted underwhelming results relative to expectations. Young has had many close calls, but he remains winless on the PGA Tour, a point hammered home during Sunday’s Rocket Mortgage broadcast.

To date, Young has 12 top-three finishes worldwide since his PGA Tour career began in the 2021-22 season. In the eight majors Young played in 2022 and 2023, he legitimately contended late into four, most notably eagling the 72nd hole to finish one shot behind Cam Smith at St. Andrews in 2022. At the 2023 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, Young shredded the course from tee to green for three days while putting poorly per usual, finding himself in the final pairing with Brian Harman, who led by five after 54 holes. Cam opened the final round with a bogey and never put up a fight, ultimately sputtering to an uncompetitive T-8: the Cam Young experience in a nutshell.

The 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic was yet another quintessential Cam Young event. Young entered the final round one back of tournament leaders Akshay Bhatia and Aaron Rai. Despite starting slowly and bringing his D-game off the tee, Young made birdies on the 8th and 9th holes and was immediately within striking distance of his first Tour win. Then he Cam Younged, although he certainly found new ways to do it. After Young continued to struggle with his swing on the back nine, his frustration boiled over on the 14th tee box as he angrily pressed his driver into the turf after a swing, breaking its shaft in the process.

Cameron Young cracks the shaft of his driver 😬 pic.twitter.com/ulV0hb1NHh

— Golf on CBS ⛳ (@GolfonCBS) June 30, 2024

He’d go on to miss a seven-footer for birdie on that hole, then bogeyed two of his last three holes (all played without driver) and finished T-6. It was another missed opportunity for Young, who would’ve theoretically only needed to shoot a two-under 70 on Sunday to make a playoff.

So what should we make of Cam Young, both at this point and going forward? His results so far are disappointing, yes. Yet he shows flashes of a player capable of winning major championships and cracking the top five of the Official World Golf Rankings . His current OWGR ranking of 23rd actually undersells his talent. Young can be as good as virtually any other golfer in the world. But it’s time for him to prove that. At 27 years of age, Young has plenty of time to break out and establish himself as a winner at the highest level. But while no career arc looks the same, 27 is no longer on the young end of the spectrum on the PGA Tour. Akshay Bhatia is only 22 and he nearly won for the second time this season in Detroit.

It’s time for Young to start converting his talent into trophies. That’s the only way he’ll shed his reputation as a talented player who hasn’t yet realized his potential.

This piece originally appeared in the Fried Egg Golf newsletter. Subscribe for free and receive golf news and insight every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.