Cameron Young was the only player in the Valspar Championship field to shoot in the 60s all four days. Yet, he came up two shots short of Peter Malnati.
His solo second finish is the seventh of his short PGA Tour career. He now has the most runner up finishes without a win on Tour since 1983.
The two players who held the record before Young were Colin Montgomerie and Briny Baird, with six apiece.
Young stood on the 18th tee in need of a birdie to tie Malnati. Instead, an errant drive put him in a tough position where he would ultimately bogey and clear the way for Malnati.
“Yeah, it was just a bad time for a pull. Trying to hit kind of the same, similar one that I hit off of 16. Not quite as dramatic of a cut, but just kind of started it on the wrong side of the wind, and it’s blowing pretty good off the right. So, yeah, just a bad time for a bad one,” Young said after his round.
For the most part, his driver has been his best club this year.
Young is one of the best drivers on the PGA Tour right now. He ranks No. 18 in strokes gained off the tee. However, the rest of his game can be a hit or miss. The 26-year-old ranks No. 113 in strokes gained putting, which left him short of the title on Sunday.
Nevertheless, he is 8-of-8 in cuts made this season, including finishing third in the DP World Tour’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic. Young also had a T4 at the Cognizant Classic.
The former Wake Forest Demon Decon has earned over $14 million in his brief career.
Sunday saw him climb up the leaderboard after beginning three shots behind Keith Mitchell, the 54-hole leader.
However, bogeys on the 2nd and 18th kept him from forcing a playoff with Malnati.
“I think I kept myself in it mentally really well today,” he said. “I hit a couple of shots I was really proud of late… But I think I handled my own thoughts really well and, for me, that’s a big win regardless of the outcome.”
When will the young star get over the hump? This record Young currently holds isn’t one anybody playing on the PGA Tour wants. Seven runner-up finishes in 60 events means he is finishing inside the top two 11.7 percent of the time.
Of course, the money is nice, but getting that PGA Tour win on the resume is surely the goal.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
