Cameron Young became PGA Tour winner for the first time, while Australia’s Cam Davis completed a mighty recovery to hang on to his place in the FedEx Cup playoffs at the regular season-ending Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club.
Young, who finished runner-up seven times before his breakthrough victory, prevailed by six shots from fellow American Mac Meissner with a two-under par final round of 68 taking him to -22 for the tournament.
The 28-year-old started the day on fire, making five straight birdies after bogeying the opening hole to kill off any potential challenge.
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A run of nine straight pars followed, before he reduced his commanding victory margin with bogeys at 16 and 17.
A relatively stress free two-putt par at the last then capped off the procession to become the 1000th golfer to win a PGA Tour event.
“I’ve been waiting for it for a while,” a teary Young, who was playing his 94th PGA Tour event, said.
“I never really thought I’d be that emotional about it. I wasn’t going to let it get away from me today.”
Young is hopeful that the victory can push him towards Ryder Cup selection for the US team for next month’s clash with Europe at Bethpage Black in New York.
“That team is the goal for many of us,” he said.
As the regular season finale for the PGA Tour, the event also contained several tournaments within a tournament.
Players were vying to either maintain their standing within the top 70 to ensure their place in the FedEx Cup playoffs beginning on Thursday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, or jump into the top 70 with a big week. Qualification gives players a chance to move inside the top-30 for the Tour Championship where USD$100 million in bonuses are handed out.
Australia’s Cam Davis was in the former camp, starting the week in 67th place and ending it in 69th after finishing in a tie for 44th at -4.
Davis’ one-over par final round of 71 was enough to hold on, but only thanks to an impressive back nine resurgence.
The 30-year-old from Sydney reached the turn in 36, but disaster struck at the 11th, registering a triple bogey seven off the back of a lost ball off the tee.
He showed excellent resilience to bounce back with a birdie at the very next hole, and he also earned shots back at the 15th and 17th.
“Honestly, I was trying my best to put a really good round together and not make any big mistakes, and after I made that big mistake on 11, I kind of just, I don’t know, the mindset changed from trying to have a really good score without making any mistakes to not really caring that much if I put a poor swing on it or not anymore,” Davis said.
“I just kind of, I don’t know, I just, I just freed up and just started playing golf because I kind of thought that my chances of getting through to next week were kind of out of my hands at that point.”
When Davis spoke to the media, there were plenty of his rivals still out on course and the live standings were jumping around almost with every shot.
He decided to avoid the tension of it all and wait to find out his fate.
“I’m not going to ride that emotional rollercoaster,” Davis said.
“I’ve been on the cutline every year I feel like since I’ve been on Tour, whether it’s for the 50 or for this.
“No, it’s too stressful to keep your eyes on it or try to follow too closely what’s going on.
“I’m going to get a text message at the end of the day that tells me where I sit, and I’m flying to Nashville (where his caddie Andrew Tschudin lives) tonight and I’m either driving to Memphis from there or I’m flying home. Either way, we’ll find out.”
Despite his place in the field in Memphis being secured, Davis is already looking towards the finish line for the year.
Having started the year ranked 51st in the world, he has slipped to 93rd at present.
Davis has had just one top ten finish for the year, at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, and has missed the cut in 11 of his 21 starts for the year.
“I feel tired,” he said. “I’ve pushed really hard for the last few months and it’s not led to any better golf.
“I’ve had a couple of little bright moments, but you can probably count on one hand since April.
“So I’m almost pretty much ready to put the clubs away for a little bit and just rest my brain and work on that as well because I would say that more than anything else has been the thing that I’ve found the hardest to get on top of.
“Yeah, either way, whether I get to play next week or not, I’m looking forward to the time after that where I can put the feet up.”
The heartbreak story of the final round was Davis Thompson, who three-putted for bogey at the last to drop out of the top 70.
Thompson reached as high as 67th in the standings during his two-under par final round 68 – he finished tied 11th at -12.
He had a six-foot par putt on the 18th green that missed left, and sunk his playoff hopes, and also meant he has to play the PGA Tour’s Fall Series to retain his card for next year.
Esteemed golf commentator Jim Nantz was on the call: “Oh boy, 6 feet for everything.”
“That was a pretty big pull,” added analyst Trevor Immelman after the putt missed. “Set up right edge and started left edge. … That stings.”
Thompson himself said of the miss: “Yeah, I mean, the putt went left when it got by the hole and I felt like I hit it on the left edge, and it went left. It’s unfortunate.”
Karl Vilips was the best of the Australians, coming in a share of 19th at -10 overall, but his rookie season came to a close as he needed a solo fourth finish or better to advance.
But he lit up the final round with a stunning hole-in-one, the first of his career.
Adam Scott fell down the leaderboard with a final round 72 to finish -3 in a tie for 55th to miss the playoffs for the second time in three years.
Aaron Baddeley came in a share of 72nd at +2, but was never in the hunt for a playoff berth.
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