Cameron Young was in such a good position as the Wyndham Championship wound down that he knew he’d have the right finishing touch.
Young shot 2-under-par 68 in the final round and wasn’t challenged on his way to his first PGA Tour victory Sunday at Greensboro, N.C.
“It’s the end of my fourth season and I’ve had my chances — never quite like this,” Young said. “I wasn’t going to let it get away from me.”
Young strung together five consecutive early birdies and cruised to a six-stroke triumph at 22-under 258 at Sedgefield Country Club, where he matched the tournament scoring record.
Young, who began the day with a five-stroke advantage and held the 54-hole lead for the first time on the tour, became the 1,000th different winner in the history of the PGA Tour. He was a seven-time runner-up on the tour.
After tapping in the final putt, Young hugged his caddie and began to walk off the green.
“Where do I go?” he said. “I’ve never done this before.”
Mac Meissner posted 66 to finish as the runner-up at 16 under. Mark Hubbard (63) and Sweden’s Alex Noren (64) tied for third place at 15 under. Amateur Jackson Koivun (67), a junior golfer at Auburn University, Chris Kirk (68), and defending champion Aaron Rai (68) of England shared fifth place at 14 under.
Playing not far from the Wake Forest campus where he went to college, Young was in control for most of the tournament.
After a bogey on the first hole Sunday, Young put together his string of birdies for what became a nine-stroke advantage. Young then had pars on nine consecutive holes before bogeys on the par-3 16th and par-4 17th. He barely missed a birdie attempt on the last hole.
The final margin marked the third-largest winning spread on the tour this year. He became the tour’s 12th first-time winner of the season.
“I’ve been waiting for this for a while,” he said.
Young, who said he maintains his goal of landing a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team in a few weeks, tried to make the tournament’s final day as normal as possible.
“Really did a lot of the same stuff I normally do,” Young said. “Really the same morning routine.”
Colombia’s Nico Echavarria, who was in the final pairing with Young, tumbled from the leaderboard with a disastrous stretch on the back nine. After a bogey at No. 10, he carded double-bogeys on the next two holes. His 75 left him tied for 19th place at 10 under.
Denny McCarthy matched Hubbard’s 63 for the best score Sunday and ended up at 12 under and tied for 11th place.
Rookie Karl Vilips posted his first hole-in-one with a 179-yard shot on the third hole using an 8-iron. His 67 put him at 10 under.
The tournament marks the final regular-season event on the tour, with golfers needing to finish in the top 70 of the season standings to advance to the FedEx Cup playoffs beginning Thursday.
Koivun said he noticed the stress the pros were under during the weekend.
“It definitely eye-opening and just something to take in,” Koivun said.
Kirk played his way into the playoffs by jumping 12 spots since the beginning of the tournament.
Davis Thompson (68) ended at 12 under, missing the top-70 position by one spot. Gary Woodland was on the bubble, but his final-day 70 left him at 9 under for the tournament and sharing 23rd place. He was projected to finish 72nd.
–Field Level Media
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