Everything You Need to Know About Open Championship Contender Cameron Young

PGA Tour rookie Cameron Young doesn't have much experience playing major championships. But you wouldn't know that watching the 25-year-old work his way around the Old Course at St. Andrews in this 150th Open Championship.

While Young has worked his way into the top 35 of the world rankings this season, the New York native certainly isn't a household name.

So here's what you need to know about Cameron Young.

Cameron Young grew up in New York and then played his college golf at Wake Forest

Born in Scarborough, New York, in May 1997, Young grew up near Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Westchester County, where his father, David has long been the club pro. He played his high school golf at Fordham Preparatory School in the Bronx and was a member of both the Junior Ryder Cup team and the Junior World Cup team in 2014.

Young played his college golf at Wake Forest and won twice as a freshman in 2015-16. The following year, he entered and won the New York Open, becoming the first-ever amateur to take that title. As a junior, he was an honorable mention All-American with a stroke average of 70.11, the third-best in school history. And as a senior in 2018-19, he won three events to earn All-ACC honors.

Soon after graduating, Young played his first major championship, qualifying for the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach via the qualifying process. He shot 75-76 in the first two rounds to miss the cut by seven.

Young turned pro in 2019 and now has full-time status on the PGA Tour

Young turned pro not long after his appearance in the 2019 U.S. Open and tied for fourth in his first event on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica. In 2020, he played eight events on the Korn Ferry Tour, making the cut in five and finishing 14th or better in four events, including a runner-up.

After missing five of eight cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour to kick off 2021, Young won back-to-back events last May, which bumped him up more than 300 spots in the world rankings to No. 170. He finished 19th on the regular-season points list for the 2020-21 KFT season, which earned him a PGA Tour card for the 2021-22 campaign.

And he's certainly made the most of his rookie season. In just his second event with full-time status, Young tied for second at the Sanderson Farms Championship. He also tied for second earlier this year at The Genesis Invitational and the Wells Fargo Championship. He also recorded a third-place finish at the RBC Heritage the week after appearing in his first Masters, where he missed the cut.

His most notable performance to date was at this year's PGA Championship at Southern Hills, where he shot 71-67-67-71 to finish at 4-under, just one shot out of the playoff between Justin Thomas and Will Zalatoris.

And he's now put himself in position to win another major as he's playing some brilliant golf at The Open Championship, where he opened as the first-round leader with a blistering 8-under round of 64. He followed it up with a 69 and was in the final group in the third round alongside Cameron Smith. With a Saturday round of 71, the New Yorker will start Sunday four strokes behind Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland.

Cameron Young came to St. Andrews as the 32nd-ranked player in the world and stands to continue his ascent with another good showing in a major.

Stats courtesy of PGATour.com and Official World Golf Ranking

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