Wake Forest's Cameron Young ties for third in his bid for a major championship
Cameron Young's bid to win his first major championship in his young professional career came up short at the 90th Masters.
Young, who had a share of the lead with Rory McIlroy as the final round began, shot 73 to finish in a tie for third.
McIlroy broke away from a crowded leaderboard with birdies on the 12th and 13th holes and stayed in the lead for the rest of the day.
Young had a chance to pull within two at the 16th hole, but his long birdie attempt lipped out.
"I think I handled it fine, just didn't make anything," Young said about being in the final pairing with McIlroy. "That's the story the week honestly if you look through all four rounds. I had a chip in (Saturday) and maybe made a putt or 2-over ten feet and really that was it.
"So, I feel like I played the golf I needed to. Just didn't have the day making anything at all."
Scottie Scheffler shot a 68 to finish at 11 under, one shot behind McIlroy.
Young, 28, was trying to become the second former Wake Forest golfer to win the Masters. Arnold Palmer won the tournament four times.
Young tied for third at 10 under with Tyrrell Hatton (66), Russell Henley (68) and Justin Rose (70).
It was Young's third top-10 finish in his five appearances at the Masters.
Michael Brennan, a 24-year-old rookie on the PGA Tour who is also a Wake Forest graduate, shot 73 on Sunday to finish his first Masters tied for 24. Brennan wound up finishing 2 under for the tournament.
Former Wake teammate talks about Young
When Young arrived at Wake Forest for the 2015-16 season it didn't take senior Davis Womble long to know that Young was a talent.
"He was a gamer," said Womble, who lives in Winston-Salem and is one of the top amateurs in the country. "He and his caddie (Kyle Sterbinsky) came in the same year. But we could tell that Cam always delivered when he got into tournaments in our starting five."
Young, who won five times and was an All-America during his time at Wake Forest, and Sterbinsky were also roommates for their four years in college.
Womble, who was going to watch Sunday's final round on TV, said that in Young's freshman season, he would sometimes struggle in qualifying matches to get into tournaments, but that Coach Jerry Haas would name Young as a starter.
"And coach was right about it because even though Cam may have struggled, he'd get into the tournament and finish in the top 10," Womble said. "Cam just always wanted to help the team, and he was such a good teammate."
Womble said that Young, who often shows very little emotion on the golf course, was about the same way in college.
"I was only there for Cam's freshman season, but he could joke around a little bit as well," Womble said.
As for Young's strength when he arrived at Wake Forest it was definitely his ability to drive the ball.
"Unfortunately, he didn't always drive it straight like he does now," Womble said. "He could always hit it so far, but he learned to harness that during his time in college and it's still one of his strengths."
As for his friendship with Sterbinsky, that's helped Young as the two came together as a team last summer, Womble said that's been great to see. Strebinsky became Young's caddie last summer and then Young won his first PGA Tour event at the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club.
From there, Young starred for the US Ryder Cup team at Bethpage, then won the Players Championship last month.
"I think it's helped Cam that Kyle is so good with the putting aspect," Womble said. "So, it's great to see them working together as a team like that."
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