Crack! It was a bad day to be Cameron Young's driver at the Rocket Mortgage Classic
Cameron Young stretches during the first round of the 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic at the Detroit Golf Club. (Kimberly P. Mitchell/Detroit Free Press)
Cameron Young broke his driver in anger and then blew another chance to claim his maiden PGA Tour title on Sunday at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Young, 27, knocked on the door yet again but shot 2-over 38 coming home, which isn’t going to get the job done when it matters. Young closed in 1-over 73 and finished T-6 in Detroit, recording his 18th top-10 since joining the PGA Tour at the start of the 2021-22 season; he is one of 13 players with at least 18 top-10s in that span, and he is the only such player without a victory.
The only other player without a victory and at least 17 top-10s on Tour since the start of the 2021-22 season is Tommy Fleetwood (17).
Beginning the day one stroke back, Young started with five straight pars and a bogey. Failure to launch again? Maybe not as he birdied the eighth and ninth and he was one back. The trophy was there for the taking. But then the birdies dried up.
As the frustration of missed fairways – he hit just five in the final round and ranked 74th or dead last in the field – and missed putts mounted, Young cracked his driver on the 14thtee, slamming it into the ground and pressing his weight into the shaft after a snap-hook. CBS’s Trevor Immelman and the announcer crew pointed out his negative energy down the stretch, especially as he brooded on the greens as his putter let him down too. He missed from inside 4 feet for par at 16 and then after reaching the par-5 17th with a pair of 3-woods, he still had a chance as no one else seemed willing to grab the trophy by the neck. That glimmer of hope died a painful death as he took three putts from 60 feet and walked off the green with par. The bogey at 18 merely cost him some dollars and FedEx Cup points. His fate already was sealed.
Young, who topped the field in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, is too talented to not get that elusive first win soon but until he proves it, he’s going to keep getting hounded by questions about his inability to close the deal. And here's to a better future for his next driver shaft.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Crack! It was a bad day to be Cameron Young's driver at the Rocket Mortgage Classic