Cameron Young credits new golf ball as big reason for first PGA Tour success

Cameron Young says changing to a new golf ball contributed to his first PGA Tour title. 

Young prevailed at the Wyndham Championship, winning by five strokes over fellow American Mac Meissner. 

His victory arrived on his 94th start and, until last week, the golfer had finished the runner-up on seven occasions. 

Young was visibly emotional as he spoke to reporters in the immediate aftermath of picking up his winner's cheque for $1.46m. 

He later explained a key quiet equipment switch which improved his performance.

It has been in the works for the last 10 months, Young said.

The 28-year-old decided to switch to a new Titleist ProV1x prototype instead of using the Titleist Pro V1x Left Dot.

According to Golfweek, Young hit a few balls on the range with the new prototype, took a few onto the course and was intent on using the prototype after only two holes of practice.

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• Cameron Young WITB

He hit shots with both during the first two holes but then stopped switching. 

"It's just been something we've worked on over the last nine, 10 months," Young said. 

"It's very, very similar to what I was playing before, it's just a tiny bit different. It's, like you said, a new Pro V1x prototype.

"I think it definitely contributed to some of the good play this week, so I'm excited about the next few weeks."

Young led the field in strokes gained on the putting surfaces and was second in driving distance. He ranked in the top five in scrambling and also hit 79 per cent of greens in regulation. 

The new model has two dots, which suggests its an even lower-spinning version of the Left Dot.

"I've always been a super high spin person, so it's really just trying to manage that," Young said. 

"And given I hit it pretty hard, so if I hit it hard and hit down on it a lot that just generates spin, so it's just trying to manage that."

It's not the only big change

Young also credited a caddie change and a better approach to the mental side of the sport that helped him get into the winner's circle. 

He has had several loopers throughout his four years on the Tour.

He started out with his former college teammate Scott McKean on the bag before he had stints with Chad Reynolds and Paul Tesori.

Young appears to have settled with Kyle Sterbinsky, who also went to college with the golfer.

"We've worked a little bit harder on the mental side of the game, which has helped," Young said when asked for the reasons for his turnaround in form.

"I think it allows me to be me more often and play the golf that I feel like I can. I think some of it is just grinding through tougher times and finding better ones. 

"Some of it's hiring my caddie, Kyle. He's one of my best friends, a college teammate. He's great at reading greens. I think he's very quickly picking up a lot of technical skills that's required to be a really good caddie out here. 

"So he's been a great resource for me, great on a day like today when you're not necessarily comfortable kind of from the jump. So between those things, I think I'm headed in the right direction and happy to see some results."