Shedding himself of expectations, Cameron Young meets the moment with dramatic Players Championship win

After going winless for three years, Young now has two wins in his last 11 starts on the PGA Tour -- and he may not be stopping there

When Cameron Young won his first PGA Tour title at the Wyndham Championship last summer, he became the 1,000th unique winner in the circuit's history during his fourth season as a card-carrying member. That victory three years after he burst onto the scene with a rookie season that created significant expectations, it was fair to wonder whether Young would have been better served by being less successful as a neophyte.

At first glance, it's a ludicrous quandary (no, not the rapper who kicked off the festivities at TPC Sawgrass over the weekend). Young's 2022 rookie campaign was among the most memorable in recent years. The powerful right-hander compiled seven podium finishes and earned Rookie of the Year honors.

He fell a couple of strokes shy at Riviera, one outside of the playoff between Will Zalatoris and Justin Thomas at the PGA Championship and one short of Cameron Smith at the 150th Open at St. Andrews. Young was a member of the winning U.S. Presidents Cup team at Quail Hollow that fall, too.

The close calls were supposed to serve as learning experiences -- enough of those, and surely, the trophies would start to fall into his hands.

Instead, Young learned that close calls come with more than just that.