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AUGUSTA, Ga. — The natural progression for Cam Young now is obvious: Win a major.
Entering this week’s 90th Masters at Augusta National, the 28-year-old Westchester native has as good a chance as any of the 91 players in the field to win a green jacket.
Young, who learned the game at Sleepy Hollow Country Club from his father, David — the head pro who remains his coach — has elevated his world ranking to No. 3 largely by winning the Players Championship last month.
In the fall, Young was by far the best performer of the 12 U.S. players in the U.S. Ryder Cup loss to Europe.
He’s now seasoned and ready to win a major — particularly since he’s already come so close with six top 10 finishes in the 17 majors in which he’s played as a pro.
Young said he’s comfortable being the No. 3 player in the world.
“It’s where I want to be,’’ he said. “I feel like the golf I’ve played over the last year has really been good proof of that. I have no idea what the stats would say, but I feel like I’ve played really consistent golf over the course of almost the last year.
“It’s been a long road to get to No. 3. I spent a lot of time between 15 and 20 (rankings) over the course of the last few years and then had a big dip in the beginning of last year.
“So it’s really been kind of a long march back up, and to finally be, for the first time in my career, a top 10 player in the world is pretty cool, never mind top 5.’’
Young called the win at the Players “a confidence boost’’ and “more validation that, when I play well, I can put myself in those situations. I feel like I’ve been in plenty of them over the last four or five years, and it’s nice over the last eight months or so to have two of them kind of shake out my way.’’
He bagged his first PGA Tour victory at the 2025 Wyndham, but the Players elevated him into a different stratosphere.
“The way that that final round at the Players went was a really good example of, if you can keep yourself in it, things like that can happen — especially around challenging golf courses, big-time events,’’ he said. “If you’re around the lead, things can happen. For a long time, it felt like I might always finish second in that scenario.’’
Before breaking through at the Wyndham, Young had seven runner-up finishes, tying the PGA Tour record.
“I think if you look at all those [close calls], none of the golf I played on Sunday was bad,’’ Young said. “I think it actually was really, really good. I don’t know what my scoring average was on those Sundays when I finished second, but it’s something, 68 or maybe 68-point something. In no case in any of those events did I throw away a tournament.
“Sure, I wanted to win. Sure, I wish I’d shot one better a couple of times, but at the end of the day, I was playing golf that was good enough to win tournaments. I just didn’t have a day where something happened and I won.’’
For example, Young insisted he didn’t necessarily play any better at the Players than he did finishing second at the British Open in 2022 or third at the PGA in 2022.
“It just so happened, at the end of the day, I was given the opportunity to win by one instead of lose by one,’’ he said.
Young said he’s “sure that some of the confidence that I took from the Ryder Cup’’ has played a role in his stellar play this year — particularly under pressure during his final-round duel with Matt Fitzpatrick.
“That event is really good preparation for big moments,’’ he said. “There’s no real greater pressure or sense of gravity of a situation than you get at a Ryder Cup. It’s unlike anything I’ve felt.
“In that sense, it’s kind of helped me add more proof that under those circumstances I can play some great golf. That’s the main thing that I want to take from that.’’
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