Ryder Cup: Team USA's Cameron Young won NYS Open on Black Course

The winner of the 2017 New York State Open did not receive a penny of the $17,500 first-place check. The whole amount went to the golfer who placed second that day at Bethpage Black. At the awards ceremony, Chris DeForest said, “I don’t feel guilty about taking it because Cameron is going to make a lot more money than I ever will.”

DeForest’s golf judgment and futures-value insight proved spot on. “Cameron” was Cameron Young, the rising Wake Forest junior who won the playoff but could not accept prize money because he was still an amateur. He was, in fact, the first amateur ever to win the State Open.

It was indeed a huge springboard to days such as Aug. 3 of this year, when Young earned $1,476,000 for winning the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship. The victory pretty much secured his place on the U.S. Ryder Cup team and a trip back this week to Bethpage Black.

As far as David Young, Cameron’s father and coach, can remember, it will be the 28-year-old star’s first time at the Black since he tied the then-course record of 64 and birdied the second hole of sudden death eight years ago.

So, the Tour standout from Westchester County will be the only one on either side of the tense, raucous three-day matches who can say he has won on the massive layout that Cameron Young has called “one of my favorites on the planet.”

DeForest, a former Web.com player who now runs a thriving wealth management advisory practice for Morgan Stanley, said from his Hudson Valley office, “I think his history, his being from New York, his style of play are an excellent fit for Bethpage. Having a New Yorker on the team is a great thing. It’s a real tough place to play and having a good tough New Yorker on the team will be a benefit for the fans. I think Keegan [Bradley, the U.S. captain] made an excellent choice in picking him.”

Young showed a portent of this result when he overcame a four-stroke deficit on the third and final day of the 2017 State Open. His dad, then the head pro at Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Briarcliff Manor, was his caddie. The elder Young recalls his son hitting “one of the best shots I ever saw him hit” after pounding one out of the rough on the first playoff hole. The younger Young stuck his approach close and saved par.

“The Met Section is pretty well known for having some of the best players in the country, so to beat all the pros that week while he was still an amateur gave him confidence that his game was progressing in the right direction,” David Young said.

Then and now, Cam Young’s powerful game seems a perfect fit for the Black. “Nobody is going to really bully that course, but if he drives it pretty well, it turns into a do-able setup,” the dad/coach said on the phone from his home in Jupiter, Fla.

DeForest also was an excellent driver, but with a child on the way and his financial licenses within reach, he had decided that the 2017 State Open would be his final tournament as a pro. “That’s probably why I played so well that week,” he said the other day, with a laugh. He also recalled that his younger brother grew up playing against Young, “And he always told me Cam was going to be better than me.”

Now with a busy work schedule and three young daughters, DeForest plays more tennis than golf (easier to get home quickly). “I don’t really watch much golf, but I do love the Ryder Cup,” he said. “I will watch the Ryder Cup. I might be going down there for one of the practice rounds, so if I see Cam, I’ll have to give him a shout.”