Cameron Young laments the putts he missed in the final round of the 2026 Masters.
Jared C. Tilton, Getty Images
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA | Cameron Young poured in an 11-footer to save par on the 72nd hole and claim a quarter share of third place in the Masters. He had to be wondering where that putt had been hiding all day on Sunday.
“There is no negative to take away other than obviously I would’ve loved a different result,” Young said after his Sunday 73 left him in a four-way tie for third behind the world’s two best players – Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler. “But in terms of the golf, I played plenty well enough to win today and plenty well enough to win by a couple, I think.
“So just one of those days. If you go through the back nine I pretty much had a birdie chance on every hole and didn’t make any. That’s how it goes sometimes.”
Young wasn’t exaggerating. After making a bogey on No. 9 to fall one stroke behind his playing partner and eventual champion McIlroy – and two strokes behind Justin Rose, the leader at the time – Young hit every green but the last in regulation on the second nine. He stuck it to 14, 12, 17, 8 and 17 feet on holes 12 through 16 with good looks to make birdie on every one of them and put pressure on McIlroy. None of his putts found the bottom of the cup.
“I think 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, all right in a row. Just, I mean, any one of those or three of them could have gone in and it’d be a different story,” he said. “So, yeah, like I said, hit the necessary shots and just couldn’t quite get it in the hole. …
“You know, gave myself all the chances in the world and just didn’t make them.”
Young has come painfully close before on major stages. As a 25-year-old PGA Tour rookie in 2022, he finished one stroke behind the winner at both the PGA Championship at Southern Hills and the Open Championship at St Andrews. He never flinched at either one and projected the aura of inevitably that one day he’d join the cast of major champions.
While it took him four full seasons to finally win on tour in the 2025 regular-season finale in his Wake Forest collegiate backyard of Greensboro, North Carolina, it only validated what everyone knew he was capable of.
“I feel like I played the golf I needed to. Just didn’t have the day making anything at all.”
Cameron Young
Claiming the Players Championship last month was a huge step and he came to the final round in Augusta looking to follow Scheffler and McIlroy as the third consecutive Players champion to win the Masters as well.
Did contending in his fifth at-bat at Augusta feel any different than his prior opportunities?
“Different than three years ago? Yes,” he said. “Different than one year ago or eight months ago? Maybe a little. But not that different. Feel like I’ve gotten really comfortable with my golf and with where I’m at, and I think I just am starting to understand more and more how to handle myself on days like that. I feel like I did a good job today. Just was not my day.”
A year ago, Bryson DeChambeau grumbled about McIlroy not speaking to him when they battled in the final Sunday pairing. Young was of like mind with McIlroy that the final group in the final round of the Masters is no place for conversation – especially after they’d already played the first two rounds together.
“I’m not one to talk a ton to begin with, and I don’t think he really wanted to talk to me today,” Young said. “Sunday at the Masters in the final group, you know, don’t wish anything poorly on the guy, but we’re playing against each other. Not trying to be best friends out there.”
After being the best American golfer in a losing effort at the Ryder Cup last September, Young held his own against a fan favorite at Augusta and earned his own share of support from Masters patrons.
“I wouldn’t have expected the crowd to necessarily be on my side; I feel like there was maybe more than I expected and that was fun,” he said.
His comfort going head-to-head with the man who completed the career Grand Slam a year ago at Augusta can only serve him well going forward.
“I think I handled it fine, just didn’t make anything,” Young said. “That’s the story of the week honestly if you look through all four rounds. I had a chip-in yesterday and maybe made a putt or two over 10 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.”
Scott Michaux
