Cameron Young lands biggest PGA Tour title of career at The Players Championship

Cameron Young overturned a four-shot deficit starting the final round to win the biggest title of his PGA Tour career at The Players Championship at famed TPC Sawgrass.

Overnight leader Ludvig Aberg dramatically slid down the leaderboard on the back nine and it left the door open for Young and Matt Fitzpatrick to battle out the PGA Tour's flagship event of the season. Fitzpatrick held a one-shot lead with two holes to play, but Young finished birdie-par to card a 4-under 68 and prevail by one shot on 13-under par.

Fitzpatrick will be left to rue an errant tee shot into the pine straw down the right flank of the par-4 18th, and it forced him to play short of the green. The former US Open champion chipped up to 10 feet past the hole, but he failed to convert the par save to hand Young the tournament. 

Young, who was the top scorer for United States in their 15-13 loss against Europe at the 2025 Ryder Cup, is now a two-time PGA Tour winner. 

The 28-year-old American captured his first PGA Tour title at the Wyndham Championship in August 2025, which marked his 94th start on Tour. 

Young collects a whopping $4.5m first prize for winning the 2026 Players Championship. 

He is also now expected to move to World No.4 when the rankings update on Monday. That will be the highest ranking of his career. 

Sweden's Aberg will be leaving TPC Sawgrass tonight thinking what might have been.

Aberg led by three shots over Michael Thorbjornsen entering the final 18 holes.

He still held a two-shot advantage making the turn, but his lead totally evaporated when he found water on the par-5 11th.

That led to a bogey, and he then compounded that mistake by finding water left on the short par-4 12th, which led to a double-bogey six.

While all that was going on, Young and Fitzpatrick were putting their foot on the accelerator down the closing stretch.

Fitzpatrick hit the front with a birdie on the par-4 15th but Young delivered the hammer blow when converting a clutch 10-footer for birdie on the daunting Island Green par-3 17th to pull level on 13-under par.

The birdie on 17 marked Young's third consecutive this week. 

Young then collected the biggest title of his career when crushing a 375-yard bomb down the heart of the fairway, and sending a wedge 12 feet past the hole.

He took two putts from there for a par, and then watched Fitzpatrick miss his par putt from 10 feet on the right side. 

"I feel like we kept ourselves in a really good spot all week," said Young.

"I had nerves even on that eight-inch putt on 18. I'm just happy to finish it off and excited to play the way I did." 

On his stunning form since August, Young said: "There is a bit of pressure off when winning for the first time, but the pressure I've put on myself since I was young is still there. To now put my name on two different tournaments and a big one like The Players is just incredibly special, and I hope I can continue this form for the rest of the season." 

Cameron Young was one of GolfMagic's picks for The Players Championship - we hope you got on at advised 35/1! 

Xander Schuaffele birdied the par-4 18th to take solo third on 11-under par.

Scotland's Robert MacIntyre threatened to contend on the back nine but slipped back on the closing holes, and his 69 saw him finish solo fourth on 10-under par.

Aberg closed with a 76 to finish in a three-way tie for fifth on 9-under par alongside in-form Jacob Bridgeman and Sudarshan Yellamaraju.