Long among the top-50 golfers in the world, Cameron Young finally captured his first PGA Tour victory earlier this month. And it came just in time for the most important event remaining this year: the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black.
On Friday at the Tour Championship, Young didn’t shy away from making a public case for why he should be one of U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley’s six captain’s picks for the American side.
Young lists reasons he should be in Ryder Cup
Young has only played on one U.S. team in his pro career, the 2022 Presidents Cup squad, and he has never appeared in the Ryder Cup. Just one month ago, he was firmly on the outside looking in.
But then Young won his first Tour event at the Wyndham Championship in early August, throwing the captain’s pick calculus further into disarray. His playoff run is adding to his case.
The 28-year-old Tour veteran finished fifth at the FedEx St. Jude Championship — his fifth top 10 of the season — and then 11th at last week’s BMW Championship.
But he wasn’t done yet. On Friday in the second round of the Tour Championship, Young shot a stellar eight-under 62 to move within two shots of the lead, setting up a run at the FedEx Cup title.
Following his round on Friday evening, he spoke to reporters. When asked what his biggest “selling point” was to make the U.S. team, he didn’t hold back. Young focused on his fine play of late, and his history at the host course, Bethpage Black.
“I think recent form is kind of a hard one to deny,” Young said on Friday. “Aside from that it’s obviously my home state, it’s a golf course I love. It’s almost exclusively a major championship venue, and my major record is pretty good. So I think there’s a few points that if I had to make my case to [captain Bradley], those are things I’d like him to know.”
Young was born and raised in New York State, and he won the 2017 New York State Open at the Black Course. So he knows the course as well as anyone. On Friday, he explained just what he loved about the A.W. Tillinghast classic.
“I’ve just always loved it. It’s just a straight-forward, big-boy golf course. There’s just not much funky about it. The greens are not crazy, the fairways aren’t really, really narrow. It’s long, but it’s not the longest place in the world,” Young said. “But it’s just straight-forward, it’s difficult. That’s the kind of golf I like.”
Keegan Bradley’s Ryder Cup captain’s pick decision gets harder
Young can be sure that Bradley is taking notice. Bradley is also in the field at the Tour Championship. He shot a 64 on Friday to charge into contention for the FedEx Cup title himself.
In his own post-round comments on Friday at East Lake, Bradley admitted that his upcoming captain’s picks decision was occupying much of his attention at the Tour Championship, making it difficult to concentrate on his own game.
“I am looking at the board all day, not looking for me. I’m looking for where my guys are. It’s just really odd. That’s a really strange feeling,” Bradley said on Friday. “I have no feeling of where I stand on the board, just seeing where our guys are, which is, that’s the opposite of what we do every week. I’m going to be really happy when this week is over. I’ve about had it with this whole thing, so I’m ready to figure out what we’re doing and get our team together.”
There’s a crowded list of American stars outside of the six automatic qualifiers hoping to earn one of Bradley’s captain’s picks. Multiple major champions Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa are among them.
One of Young’s chief competitors for one of the final spots is Bradley himself. Young currently ranks 20th in the Official World Golf Ranking, while Bradley ranks 13th. In the current U.S. Ryder Cup standings, Young is in 14th and Bradley is ahead of him in 11th.
One thing is for sure: if Young can pull off his second win in a month on Sunday at the Tour Championship, it will be almost impossible for Bradley to pass him up for the Ryder Cup team.
