Young Finishes as Runner-up WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play
3/26/2023 6:37:00 PM | Men's Golf
The Wake Forest men’s golf alumni and reigning PGA Rookie of the Year has now finished second in six PGA Tour events since earning his card a season ago.
AUSTIN, Texas – Wake Forest men's golf alumni Cameron Young finished as the runner-up Sunday at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in at Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas.
Young, who was a two-time All-American during his time at Wake Forest, reached the championship match against Sam Burns with a perfect mark of 6-0-0 including wins over three of the top-25 players in the world. The runner-up finish helped him earn 315 points in the FedEx Cup standings, more than doubling his season total coming into the event. Last season, he finish in the top 20 in the FedEx Cup.
En route to the final, Young defeated No. 57 Davis Thompson (3&2), No. 36 Corey Conners (1UP) No. 31 Sepp Straka (5&3), No. 22 Billy Horshel (5&4), No. 19 Kurt Kitayama (1UP) and No. 3 Rory McIlroy (19 holes).
In the semifinal win over McIlroy, Young was down two holes entering the Par-5 16th. He claimed two of the last three holes to force extra holes where he won on the 19th hole of the match.
This is the sixth time in his first two seasons on the PGA Tour Young has finished as the runner-up at an event including at the 150th Open Championship at historic St. Andrews. His five runner-up finishes helped him earn PGA Tour Rookie of the Year honors.
He also went on to compete for Team USA at the Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow in September, helping Team USA take home the trophy.
It nearly marked the second consecutive year that a Demon Deacon has won on the PGA Tour with former teammate Will Zalatoris picking up his first PGA Tour win at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August.
Additionally, this would have been the fourth win in the last four seasons for Deacs as Webb Simpson claimed two PGA Tour wins in 2020, winning the Waste Management Phoenix Open in a playoff and the RBC Heritage by a stroke.
Young's full path to the championship match:
Path to the Finals
Semifinals - Cameron Young (15) def. Rory McIlroy (3), 19 holes
Young took an early lead in the match on the third hole, taking advantage of a mistake from McIlroy to go one up. Hw would not hold that lead for long as McIlroy tied up the match on No. 5 with a birdie. The match continued to shift in McIlroy's direction as he claimed the sixth hole.
Young remained down for much of the remaining holes, entering the Par-5 16th down two to the No. 3 player in the world. There Young began his comeback.
The Wake Forest alum played a beautiful second shot on the par-5 16th en route to a stress-free two-putt birdie from 15 feet. McIlroy found a fairway bunker off the tee and was forced to lay up. His third settles in the left fringe, 14 feet away, and he can't convert the birdie try. Young won the hole and was one back with two to play.
Going into the 18th, Young needed to win the hole to force extra holes. Young hit his tee shot just short of the green at the par-4 18th, chipped to 8 feet and drained the birdie. McIlroy's tee shot caught a gnarly lie in the rough just short of the green; he could do no better than 40 feet on his pitch, and he two-putted for par. Young forced extra holes as the par played No. 12 as the 19th hole of the match.
Young found an awful break off the tee, his ball settling in a fairway bunker, nestled up against the lip and requiring a punch-out to 162 yards on the par-5 12th, the first extra hole of the match. McIlroy missed the fairway into the right rough and played a conservative second shot to just short-right of the green. Young played a sharp third shot to just outside 9 feet and drained the birdie. McIlroy chipped to just inside 9 feet, but he could not get his birdie putt to fall. Needing one extra hole, Young completed the come-from-behind win over McIlroy.
Quarterfinals - Cameron Young (15) def. Kurt Kitayama (19), 1-up
After Kitayama's winning birdie at the opening hole, Young took control of the match with three consecutive birdies on Nos. 4-6, winning two of the three holes. Early in the back nine, with Kitayama looking to cut into a 3-down deficit, Young tugged his tee shot at the par-3 11th nearly 30 yards left of the target, but the ball kicked off mounds and rolled to within inches for a tap-in birdie. It was one of the season's more remarkable bounces; all Young could do was smile and shake his head. To his credit, Kitayama responded with a crisp iron to 10 feet and converted the tying birdie to stay 3-down.
From there, the UNLV alum forged a rally, winning the 13th and 14th holes with mid-range birdies, then matching Young's birdie at the par-5 16th to keep pace. Young had 11 feet for birdie to win the match at the par-3 17th, but the putt burned the edge, requiring things to be decided at the short par-4 18th. There, both players found the left rough off the tee; Young better positioned and closer to the green. Kitayama wedged to 40 feet; Young played to 15 feet. Needing heroics to force overtime, Kitayama's birdie try stayed a foot out to the right. With a two-putt par, Young was on to a Sunday morning semifinal showdown with Rory McIlroy.
Round of 16 - Cameron Young (15) def. Billy Horschel (22), 5&4
After four matches, he improved to 4-0 and through four matches collected 24 total birdies and two eagles. He reached the 18th hole once, in his second match against Corey Conners, but none of the other three have seen the last two holes.
Saturday was just more of what we've seen from Young already this week – he made six birdies with no bogeys and, as tilted as the result was, it could've been worse. Horschel, the 2021 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play champion, defeated Jon Rahm to get into the knockout rounds but was off his game from the start, making two bogeys in the first three holes and ending with six bogeys total, against only three birdies.
Round Three - Cameron Young (15) def. Sepp Straka (31), 5&3
Young put the finishing touches on a perfect week so far and advanced out of the group stage after going 1-2 last year in his maiden Match Play appearance. On Friday, he opened with four consecutive birdies and was 4-up in a flash. The lead was extended to 5-up after 11 and then when Straka couldn't make birdie on 15 he conceded the hole and the match was over. Young made six birdies in 15 holes and has now collected 18 birdies in the three days along with two eagles.
Round Two - Cameron Young (15) def. Corey Conners (36), 1-up
The Demon Deacon's firepower proved just enough to eke out victory on the final hole. The match was defined by symmetry throughout – fourteen of the first 15 holes were tied, the only exception being Conners' winning birdie at the par-3 seventh. Standing 1-down on the par-5 16th, though, Young turned up the heat. He lasered a 252-yard approach from the left rough to 17 feet, then drained the eagle from the fringe as Conners faced 8 feet for birdie. Young made a winning 12-foot birdie at the par-3 17th, ultimately the deciding advantage as No. 18 was tied with pars. Young and Conners both remain alive into Friday; Young holds pole position in the group.
Round One - Cameron Young (15) def. Davis Thompson (57), 3&2
The Wake Forest alum proved Wednesday that his game suits Austin CC's shot-making demands as well, making six birdies and an eagle across the first nine holes and jumping to a 5-up lead at the turn – even with Thompson making three birdies against just one bogey in that span. The Georgia alum didn't surrender without a fight, making two birdies and an eagle across Nos. 12-15, winning three of four holes to move within 2-down. Young didn't miss a beat, though, two-putting for birdie at the par-5 16th to close out the match.
