'I Realized I Wasn't Going To Win Pretty Quickly' - Cameron Young Sets Unwanted 40-Year PGA Tour Record After Valspar Championship Disappointment

Cameron Young's second-place finish at the 2024 Valspar Championship helped him set a new record for most runner-up results on the PGA Tour without a win.

Young has now claimed silver on seven separate occasions since joining the US-based circuit in 2022, the highest number without lifting a title since 1983.

Colin Montgomerie and Briny Baird previously held the record after both managing six near misses without putting their name to a PGA Tour title.

The supremely talented 26-year-old has long been known as one of the best drivers of the golf ball but has regularly been unable to creep over the finish line on the PGA Tour despite putting himself in plenty of strong positions.

Young has made the cut in all nine events he has teed it up in this season, finishing third in his lone DP World Tour start (Hero Dubai Desert Classic) and T4 at the Cognizant Classic.

He has won over $14 million in total prize money, however, and has two victories on the Korn Ferry Tour in his professional trophy cabinet, so it's not all bad.

On Sunday, the Wake Forest Alum began the day three shots back of leader Keith Mitchell before steadily tip-toeing his way through a chaotic leaderboard to move into a share of top spot alongside eventual champion Peter Malnati late on.

With two holes to play and an 18-foot birdie putt in front of him, Young had a chance to put his name on the trophy. Yet, after a missed attempt from the Scarborough-born player and birdie from Malnati in the group behind, momentum began to slide away.

An untimely pulled drive on 18 all but put the final nail in Young's chances of success, as - despite a brilliant recovery shot out of the trees - he three-putted from around 50 feet for a 72nd-hole bogey.

Post-round, Young admitted it was "a bad time for a bad one" - referring to his pulled drive - and that "I realized I wasn't going to win pretty quickly" during the last two holes but said that he was proud of the way he handled the day from a psychological point of view.

Young said: "I think I kept myself in it mentally really well today. I hit a couple shots I was really proud of late.

"Those two par-3s on the back, both kind of can bite you. I kind of let 15 get me yesterday, in a similar situation, similar wind and everything. So I was proud of that shot, just making sure it didn't bite me.

"But I think I handled my own thoughts really well and, for me, that's a big win regardless of the outcome."

Unfortunately for Young, there is no exact pattern to his shortcomings as the cluster of second-place results have arrived across a variety of different course styles in four consecutive seasons.

Before the 2024 Valspar Championship, the 26-year-old had secured a runner-up spot at: the 2021 Sanderson Farms Championship, the 2022 Genesis Invitational, the 2022 Wells Fargo Championship, The 2022 Open Championship, the 2022 Rocket Mortgage Classic, and the 2023 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.

The list of players he has lost to is nothing to be ashamed of either, with Sam Burns (twice), Joaquin Niemann, Max Homa, Cameron Smith, Tony Finau, and Malnati just pipping Young to the post.

Despite Young's seemingly endless misfortune, he can console himself with the fact that he does not hole the outright record for most second-place finishes without a victory. England's Oliver Wilson was 'assistant to the regional manager' nine times - including four occasions in one season (2008) - before finally securing top spot.

After 228 European Tour starts, the 2008 Ryder Cup player eventually reeled in the big fish at the 2014 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship - a tournament he only played after receiving a sponsor's invite.

Following a tumultuous period in which Wilson reportedly considered quitting the sport altogether, he went on to bag a second European Tour crown at the 2022 Made In Himmerland, beating Scotland's Ewan Ferguson by a single shot.

Playing on both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, Young will hope his debut success arrives quickly and before another few near misses so that Wilson keeps his long-standing record.