Cameron Young’s biggest goal this year was to play in the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, about an hour away from where the native New Yorker grew up, the course where he once held the scoring record while becoming the first amateur to win the New York State Open.
And there he was in May, spinning his wheels. He missed five cuts in eight tournaments, finished out of the top 50 in two others. That’s when he called an old friend.
Young was teammates at Wake Forest with Kyle Sterbinsky, who was still trying to make his way through various mini-tours. Sterbinsky is from the Philadelphia area, and the PGA Tour was at the Philadelphia Cricket Club for the Truist Championship.
“He was nearing the end of when he was going to keep playing or not. I needed a change. Things were going poorly, and when things are going bad, you change something,” Young said.
“I didn’t want to force his hand,” Young said. “He said, ‘Yes, I’ll work for you as long as you want.’ It was going to be a couple of weeks. Played well. Another four weeks. Played well. And here we are.”
Another key change was Young switching to a Pro V1 prototype before he broke through at the Wyndham Championship for his first PGA Tour victory. Young said it helped him manage how much he spins the ball.
More than close friends and teammates, Young said Sterbinsky is a “fantastic” — he emphasized each syllable — reader of greens.
“Caddies can help you with a lot of things, but I don’t know how many you’re going to find who are actually better at reading greens than any of the players,” Young said. “If he’s not better, he’s very, very good.”
Young, on the cusp of winning two majors as a rookie in 2022, finished the year with a win, a tie for fifth in the first FedExCup playoff event, a tie for 11th at the BMW Championship and a tie for fourth at the Tour Championship.
He has gone from No. 67 in the world ranking to No. 20 with Sterbinsky. And as he left East Lake he found himself hopeful of a call from Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley.
