Cameron Young has been named the 2022 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, seeing off competition from Tom Kim and Sahith Theegala to succeed 2021 winner Will Zalatoris.
The American earned the Arnold Palmer Award for a hugely impressive 2021/22 season that included seven top 10 finishes from his 25 tournaments. Of those, he was runner-up five times, including in the 150th Open at St Andrews. He also finished his rookie season a highly creditable 19th in the FedEx Cup standings.
The 25-year-old, from Scarborough, New York, burst onto the PGA Tour in style after graduating from the Korn Ferry Tour in 2021. Despite stiff competition from Kim and Theegala, that impressive introduction to the Tour saw Young win an incredible 94 percent of the vote, which was open to PGA Tour members who played in more than 15 official FedEx Cup events during the 2021-22 season.
Speaking ahead of the CJ Cup at Congaree, Young said: “It’s very special. I know the namesake Arnold Palmer obviously was a giant in the game of golf, and we have him to thank for a lot of what we do today, what the PGA Tour is. Just to have, to be related to that in some small way, is very cool. I know we had a very strong rookie class, and I know it’s voted by my peers, so it’s a huge honour to be thought of in that way, just to kind of finish the year that way."
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan offered his congratulations to Young, saying: “Congratulations to Cameron Young on being voted PGA Tour Rookie of the Year by his peers. Cameron’s career has seen a remarkable rise over the last several years, and he quickly became a favourite among fans last season with the style in which he attacks the golf course. And of course, given Cameron’s Wake Forest ties, receiving the Arnold Palmer Award as PGA Tour Rookie of the Year will certainly hold a special significance for him.”
Young graduated from Wake Forest University in 2019, and he and Zalatoris are the first pair from the same college to win Rookie of the Year in successive seasons. Meanwhile, apart from running winner Cameron Smith so close at the Open Championship in July, Young also finished runner-up at the Sanderson Farms Championship, The Genesis Invitational, Wells Fargo Championship and Rocket Mortgage Classic – a tie for the most runner-up finishes by any player in a single season over the past 40 years, with Vijay Singh the last to achieve the feat 19 years ago.
It wasn’t just Young’s results that were impressive, though – his earnings eclipsed those of any other rookie in PGA Tour history, with $6,520,598. While Young is yet to win on the PGA Tour, he entered the 2022/23 season as the highest-ranked player without a victory, at World No.17, accentuating his consistent form throughout the season.
Young's award comes after Masters champion and World No.1 Scottie Scheffler was named PGA Tour Player Of The Year last month.
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