PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 21, 2022

Cameron Young

Southern Hills Country Club

press conference

JOHN DEVER: Welcome back to the 2022 PGA Championship here at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Happy to be joined by Cameron Young who carded a 3-under par 67 today. He is 5-under par for the championship. Want to ask you two questions in one. I want you to talk about the eagle on 17 but then also kind of reflect on your front nine where you went 2-under par, and that's a place where you're going to make up some strokes today because that's been difficult for most.

CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah, the eagle came at a really nice time. I had just kind of butchered 16 from the middle of the fairway and wasn't terribly happy with myself. So, I mean, just to hit a solid shot there on 17 and kind of give yourself what should be a pretty easy birdie was momentum enough, and for that putt to go in is a huge bonus.

The front nine, I think I played really nicely. I didn't miss many shots. I misjudged the wind a couple times. But, yeah, the birdie on 6, the par 3 was a huge one today. That hole had to average something well over par and to even just hit the green there, never mind make a 30-footer was a huge kind of step toward building that front nine.

Q. But what have you felt differently this week? What's different right now?

CAMERON YOUNG: I think I was playing well before the Masters, and I played well after. So I think that was just kind of a hiccup. I don't really have much of an explanation for it, but I think I've played really nicely, honestly, in this calendar year. I've been very consistent and I've been around the lead a decent bit.

So I don't know if it feels that much different. Obviously there's bigger stands and more people, and it's the PGA Championship, which means a lot to me given my family connection to it.

But golf-wise it feels very similar to what I've been doing. I don't think it's terribly different.

Q. When you got here this week, did the course fit your eye? Did you feel like you had this coming this week?

CAMERON YOUNG: Like anywhere, I think there's definitely some uncomfortable holes, but I think they are uncomfortable for everybody. I've been driving it really well, and it's long par 70 golf course. It's somewhere that you have to hit a lot of greens, and I don't think I've necessarily done that that well, but I've certainly driven it really well. I think that's a major part of it. I've hit a lot of fairways, and from there you don't have to hit it quite as well as everybody else to be up there.

Q. Was there a mix-up with your clubs earlier this week?

CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah, we had a little separation. I left Miami on Monday night and they left on Tuesday morning. I beat them here by about five hours probably, five or six hours. The Titleist van made me a couple so I could come out and chip shots when I got here. I finally got them about 3 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon. It was certainly annoying, but not the end of the world.

Q. Did it help you a little bit?

CAMERON YOUNG: I think we had that debate. All in all it was a good thing. Speaking of the majors, we got to Augusta Sunday before, and it was such a big deal to get in and we were so excited to go, and I think I just was there too early.

So for one, I said, I'm going Monday afternoon, and it turned into Tuesday morning obviously. But that's more a typical schedule for what we do, and I think making it more similar to what we are familiar with is probably one more piece of the puzzle as far as building a consistent mindset.

Q. You did get one extra look when Tiger was here; any advantage to that?

CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah, I was. Just to see the golf course is nice. Obviously takes some of work out of it the tournament week. Any time you're around Tiger, there's a little bit of something to it. He carries a lot of weight in the world of golf. You can feel when he's here, and you can feel when he's not. To be around that day with a buzz is different, and maybe nice to associate that with the golf course and the week.

Q. What did you hit on 17? How far was the carry?

CAMERON YOUNG: About 285 flag. I hit 4-wood as good as I could hit it. It went just long.

Q. I know that's a ways to go tomorrow, but can you expand a little bit, because it's the PGA and because of your dad, can you expand on what this would mean for you and him and the family?

CAMERON YOUNG: Sure. It's because of the PGA that he's had the job he had for the last many years. Without that, at Sleepy Hollow I don't start playing at four years old or earlier. I don't have the access that I did growing up. I started playing in PGA junior events when I was nine, eight, something like that.

For me I've been given so much access to golf because of that organization. So to kind of have the chance to go from local PGA junior tournaments, national PGA juniors to Junior Ryder Cup, to even play in a PGA Championship is really cool for me. It kind of has been with me my whole way through.

Q. Is the PGA the favorite for you?

CAMERON YOUNG: I wouldn't discriminate. If I were to win a major championship, I would take any one of them. This one specifically with my parents here this week would be pretty incredible.