Cam Young Says He Fell Short of a Green Jacket for One Reason

AUGUSTA — Add Cam Young to the long list of names who played in the final pairing on a Masters Sunday and didn’t win a green jacket.

The 28-year-old, who won the Players Championship less than a month ago, started the final round co-leading with Rory McIlroy. Young snatched a two-stroke lead early in the round, only to see it dwindle and eventually turn into a deficit at the turn, thanks to bogeys on Nos. 6, 7 and 9.

But, like so many before him, the tournament got away from Young at Amen Corner. He hit his tee shot to 14 feet on the iconic par-3 12th, but missed his birdie try. Then, on the par-5 13th, his drive fell in the pine straw, and he missed the green with his approach, which settled 22 feet from the hole. He pitched up and faced a 12-footer for birdie, which missed to the left.

Young, ranked third in the world, made a par on every hole on the second nine to ultimately finish T3, three strokes behind McIlroy, who won his second straight Masters.

Despite the near-miss, Young isn’t kicking himself for how he performed Sunday.

“In terms of the golf, I played plenty well enough to win today and plenty well enough to win by a couple, I think,” said the 28-year-old, who shot a final-round 73. “So just one of those days. If you go through the back nine, I pretty much had a birdie chance on every hole and didn’t make any. That’s how it goes sometimes.”

Using the mounding, Cameron Young displays deft touch on No. 8 to make birdie. #themasters pic.twitter.com/b337WiFoKm
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 12, 2026

Young added: “How much closer do you want me to hit it than I did on the back nine? Want me to aim right on 12? Just one of those I think the shots are pretty obvious and I hit a lot of them; just didn’t make anything.”

In the final round, Young ranked T46 in the field’s 54 competitors with 32 putts.

“I think [holes] 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, all right in a row. I mean, any one of those [putts] or three of them could have gone in and be a different story,” he said.

Trying to win a green jacket is a tall task. Last year, for example, Bryson DeChambeau played with McIlroy on Sunday and shot 75 en route to a T5 finish. Young, though, didn’t feel the moment was too big for him.

“Think I handled it fine, just didn’t make anything,” he said. “That’s the story the week. Honestly, if you look through all four rounds. I had a chip-in yesterday and maybe made a putt or two over 10 feet, and really that was it.”

And, even though the patrons were clearly rooting for McIlroy, Young received plenty of support. He didn’t think that would be the case, but he tried to feed off that.

“I wouldn’t have expected the crowd to necessarily be on my side,” he said. “I feel like there was maybe more than I expected and that was fun.”

Young now looks toward the next three majors. It took him several years to win a PGA Tour event, and perhaps the next step in his career is a major win. With three still to come this year—and a long career ahead of him—today was more evidence he’s one of the game’s premier talents.

“There is no negative to take away other than obviously I would’ve loved a different result,” he said.

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