Cameron Young blew the flags off the pins at Bethpage Black in a final round that tied the course record and made him the first amateur to win the New York State Open. Young, a 20-year-old rising junior at Wake Forest and son of Sleepy Hollow CC head pro Dave Young, took the title in a playoff against Chris Deforest of Roundout CC.
Young’s final round 64 tied the course record for the Black, a score initially set by Metropolis head pro Craig Thomas and equaled by Lucas Glover and Mike Weir in the 2009 US Open and Padraig Harrington in the 2012 Barclays Championship. He had posted 70s for the first two rounds to put himself into position to storm the leaderboard on the final day. A birdie on the second playoff hole sealed the deal.
The NYS Open isn’t the first come-from-behind thriller in Young’s career. Last year, he made up an eight stroke deficit to force a playoff in the MGA’s Ike Championship. His win there was his second consecutive Ike title. The first, in 2015, made him the youngest winner of that prestigious event and led to a season where he was named MGA Player of the Year. Young sat out this year’s Ike with a wrist injury.
Other Westchester pros in the top ten included Dylan Newman, Westchester CC (T4), Mike Ballo, Winged Foot (T4), and Peter Ballo, Old Oaks (T7). James Nicholas, an amateur playing out of Westchester CC, placed 12th.
