The PGA Tour will retain the talents of one its most promising young stars.
Rookie Cameron Young told reporters at last week’s Tour Championship that he has decided to continue competing on the PGA Tour instead of defecting to LIV Golf.
“Frankly, I have decided to stay,” Young said, according to Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner. “It’s a really difficult situation because it’s not anything that anyone really wanted to happen. I think it wasn’t meant to be this hostile between the two.”
Young, the runaway favorite to win Rookie of the Year, had previously been reported as a potential defector to the Saudi-backed tour. However, after a slew of changes to the Tour were announced last week, Young has decided to continue competing on the establishment circuit.
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“With some of those changes coming, that’s what really helped me decide to stay and pursue those goals that I have for myself, like making the Presidents Cup team or Ryder Cup team and winning a major, when all of that is just uncertain if you go,” Young said. “It’s a tough place for me because I’m very young. There’s a lot of factors to it.”
LIV Golf is expected to announce their next crop of commitments early this week. Among those expected to be announced are Joaquin Niemann, Harold Varner III, Anirban Lahiri, Marc Leishman, Cameron Tringale and reigning Open champion Cameron Smith.
“Frankly, throughout the whole process with them I was very interested,” Young said. “I wish it hadn’t come along at this specific place in my career.”
Although Young did not earn a victory during his first season on Tour, he put together one of the most impressive rookie campaigns in recent memory, notching five runner-up finishes and earning over $6 million. He was one of just two rookies to reach the Tour Championship, and he finished 19th in the final FedEx Cup standings.
“I expected to play well and have chances to win tournaments,” Young said. “I kinda expected to win one. I feel like once a year, everything goes my way and I beat everybody, and that didn’t happen this season.”