There was little question at any time Sunday that Cameron Young would win the Cadillac Championship at Doral’s Blue Monster, which he eventually did by six strokes over Scottie Scheffler, the world’s top-ranked player.
The major questions left: Where does Cameron Young rank among the world’s elite golfers? Will he become the best Wake Forest golfer since Arnold Palmer.
The Official World Golf Rankings put Young at No. 3, behind Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.
That’s fair. Hard to drop McIlroy after his second straight Masters victory followed by a playoff loss at Harbour Town. Or Scheffler, who began the year with a victory and has three straight second-place finishes as well as a third and tie for fourth.
Young has crept ahead of Matt Fitzpatrick who has three victories and a second-place finish sandwiched around a top 20 finish at the Masters.
So, Scheffler, McIlroy, Young and Fitzpatrick are the obvious top 4.
It’s now hard to image that Young came to Sedgefield last summer without a PGA Tour victory. Nine months later, he’s No. 3 in the world.
After breaking through in Greensboro, he’s gone 3-1 in the Ryder Cup and added victories in the Players Championship and Doral. He also tied for third at Bay Hill and the Masters.
As for his place in the Wake hierarchy, he has a ways to go. Since Palmer, who has seven major titles, Curtis Strange has two and Lanny Wadkins and Webb Simpson have one each. Jay Haas won nine times on the PGA Tour and had top 4 finishes in each U.S. major. Bill Haas won the FedEx Cup.
Young’s Wake teammate, Will Zalatoris, had runner-up finishes in the three U.S. majors, including a playoff loss to Justin Thomas in the 2022 PGA Championship, before back injuries began slowing him down.
There’s only one path left toward any march to the top for Young, who will turn 29 next week at the Truist Championship.
He needs to win a few major championships. He has three more chances this year.
