Young clutch on island green and rallies to win The Players Championship

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Cameron Young picked up a big title to go with his major talent Sunday, making the most clutch birdie of his career with a shot into 10 feet on the wind-blown island green for birdie and winning The Players Championship when Matt Fitzpatrick missed an 8-foot par putt on the final hole. Young played bogey-free on the back nine where so many hopes faded. His sand wedge for birdie on the par-3 17th tied him for the lead. And then he blistered a 375-yard drive — the longest ever on the 18th at the TPC Sawgrass — that set up a par and a 4-under 68. "It's so loud on 17. You just know kind of all eyes are right there on you so there's nowhere to hide," Young said. "And I feel like I stepped up really well and hit a bunch of good shots those last couple holes, so I'm very proud of that." It was only his second victory on the PGA Tour. He tied the tour record with seven runner-up finishes before finally winning late last summer in the Wyndham Championship. But this is the PGA Tour's crown jewel, loosely known as the fifth major, and the pressure was just intense at the end. Ludvig Aberg, who had a three-shot lead going into the final round, imploded on the back nine with shots into the water on consecutive holes. He shot 40 on the back nine for a 76 and tied for fifth. Fitzpatrick was second, shooting 68. He was the first to seize on Aberg's collapse, hitting wedge to tap-in range for birdie on the 12th and a tee shot to 4 feet for birdie on the 13th. Young stayed with him and caught him with the clutch birdie on the 17th, and then faced a tee shot he described as "scary" because he knows from experience. The day before, his drive barely down the water down the left and he had to scramble for double bogey. He made sure he was committed to the line off the tee, and then Young said he had one more thought: "I'm going to hit the best shot of my life right here." And it was. "I don't know if I can think of one that's better," he said. He hit it so far he had only 98 yards left, a lob wedge that settled on the fringe behind the flag 15 feet away. Fitzpatrick went too far right into the pine straw and pitched out just short of the green, then hit a good chip to 8 feet. When Fitzpatrick missed his putt to force a playoff, Young was left with a tap-in par to finish at 13-under 275. "The nerves kicked in over the 8-inch putt on the last," Young said. "That hole looked really, really small there from pretty close range. So happy to have finished it off, and just really excited to have played the way I did." He earned $4.5 million and moved to No. 4 in the world, a far cry from a year ago when his only goal was to make the Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black in his native New York. He was the best American player that week, winning the leadoff match during a furious U.S. rally that fell short. There were a few chants of "U-S-A! U-S-A!" as he played with Fitzpatrick of England and it became clear the winner would come from that group. "That was literally child's play compared to Bethpage," Fitzpatrick said of the crowd. "If they think that that was anything, then they need to reassess. Get yourself up to New York." The 28-year-old Young said he drew from that Ryder Cup experience coming down the stretch. "Definitely some nerves, but also some confidence," he said. It showed when Young followed Fitzpatrick to 4 feet to match birdies on the 13th and stay one shot behind. Fitzpatrick fell into a tie when he three-putted from 60 feet on the 14th, only to regain the lead with a 12-foot birdie on the next hole. They remained tied going to the 17th, with the wind gusting hard at their backs as they stared across the water to what looked like a tiny target. Fitzpatrick was safe in the middle, 30 feet away. Young's shot caught the ridge and rolled out on the baked green to 10 feet. That turned out to be the winner when Fitzpatrick ran into trouble on the 18th. "I felt like I hit a good drive," Fitzpatrick said. "And once you're out of position it's difficult to make your par." Xander Schauffele birdied three of his last four holes, including a 20-foot birdie on the 18th, to close with a 69 and finish third, one shot ahead of Robert MacIntyre (69). MacIntyre watched a chip from deep rough on the 16th roll across the entire green and into the water. Sepp Straka (71) had two double bogeys on the last five holes, including the 18th when his shot out of the woods bounced off a cormorant sitting on the wood-framed edge. Aberg, however, was the real shocker. He was still two shots ahead and in the middle of the fairway on the par-5 11th when he flared one out to the right and into the water, leading to bogey. On his next tee shot, he pulled that badly into the water, hit over the green and took three to get down for double bogey. That put him three behind, and he never recovered. "I would have loved to be standing where Cameron is standing right now," Aberg said. "It definitely stings a little bit." ___ AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf