PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Cameron Young was a runner-up seven times on the PGA Tour before he finally picked up his first victory at the Wyndham Championship in August 2025.
In the final round of the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass on Sunday, Young looked determined to make sure he didn’t finish second again.
Trailing England’s Matt Fitzpatrick by one stroke with two holes to play, Young tied his playing partner with a birdie on the iconic 17th hole and then beat him with a par on the 18th, where Fitzpatrick’s drive into the trees on the right led to a bogey 5.
“I feel like we just kept ourselves in a really good spot all day today, really all week,” Young said. “The nerves kicked in over the 8-inch putt on the last. That hole looked really, really small there from pretty close range. So happy to have finished it off, and just really excited to have played the way I did.”
Fitzpatrick, who was trying to become the first English golfer to win the Players Championship, narrowly missed an 8-foot par putt on the 18th hole that would have forced a three-hole playoff.
He didn’t have much of a chance for birdie after his drive failed to draw and stopped in thick pine straw without much of a path to the green.
“I picked up the tee quickly,” Fitzpatrick said. “I felt like I hit a good shot, maybe pushed it slightly. [We] felt that the wind was a little bit off the right. Obviously, I know Cam hits a draw. His moved a little bit, as well. Figured mine would do the same. Obviously, just [went] dead straight.”
Young carded a 4-under 68 to finish 13 under 275, one stroke better than Fitzpatrick and two over two-time major championship winner Xander Schauffele.
After tying Fitzpatrick, Young bombed a 375-yard drive down the right side of the 18th fairway, leaving just 98 yards to the hole. It was the longest drive by any player on No. 18 at TPC Sawgrass in the ShotLink era (since 2004).
Young’s approach shot then stopped on the back fringe, and he two-putted from 9½ feet to collect the biggest victory of his career — and the $4.5 million winner’s check.
Young caught Fitzpatrick at 13 under on the famous 17th, taking a more aggressive line off the tee to the island green. Fitzpatrick hit his tee shot to the middle of the green and needed two putts from 28½ feet for par.
Young calmly made his birdie putt from 9½ feet to tie Fitzpatrick with one hole remaining.
“It ended up being a great number,” Young said. “It’s 130 [yards] over that bunker, and I got to see Matt hit a sand wedge right in front of me. And I felt like if he flew it right about where I was looking, I felt that I could fly it the same number. So, it was just a full out, not as many nerves as a little touchy-feely one would have been.”
Fitzpatrick seemed to be in control with two holes to play. He started the final round tied for fourth at 8 under, five strokes behind 54-hole leader Ludvig Åberg. Fitzpatrick came out of the gates blazing hot, posting birdies on three of the first four holes. He made putts of 12 feet, 3½ feet and 7 feet on Nos. 1, 2 and 4, respectively, to move to 11 under.
Fitzpatrick cooled off with pars on seven straight holes, before another stretch of three birdies in four holes. On the par-4 12th, he hit his second shot to 3 feet. On the par-3 13th, his tee shot stopped 4 feet from the hole.
After making a bogey with a three-putt on the 14th, Fitzpatrick made a 12-foot putt for another birdie to get back to 13 under.
Åberg began the day with a three-stroke lead to start the round and led by two after 10 holes, but then disaster struck on back-to-back holes. On the par-5 11th, Åberg badly sliced his approach from 267 yards into water on the right, leading to a bogey 6.
On the par-4 12th, Åberg hooked his tee shot into water on the left, leading to a double-bogey 6. He bogeyed the par-4 15th as well and fell four strokes behind Fitzpatrick.
Åberg posted a 4-over 76 and tied for fifth at 9 under.
“It got away from me quick there,” Åberg said. “Yeah, it was just poor swings. I felt like I’ve had that sort of 7-wood right miss a few times this week, on No. 4 especially twice, and it came up on 11 as well. Then tried to press a little bit on 12, hitting driver, where sometimes you can play 3-wood a little short of that bunker.”
