Cameron Young Is Calmer Than You Are, Dude

Unless you are Rory McIlroy or Scottie Scheffler and you happen to be reading this in anticipation of the final round of the 2026 Masters, you will never be able to hit a golf ball like Cameron Young. You cannot hammer your driver and send a golf ball ripping through the wind like an F-15. You cannot launch your irons so high in the air, they practically kiss the clouds. But you can still watch the way he plays golf and borrow something from his game.

His temperament and his attitude.

Young shot 65 on Saturday to storm into a tie for the lead, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt more envy watching a professional athlete go about his day. He looked like he had the resting pulse of an experienced neurosurgeon. Unflappable has always seemed like a hyperbolic description in golf, but with Young, it kind of undersells it. There is something zen about his demeanor that makes his peers — even the best ones — look like fussy toddlers by comparison.

As someone who writes about the game, I love watching McIlroy’s demonstrative body language, Scheffler’s competitive mania, Jon Rahm’s simmering rage. But as a golfer? I wish I could spend one afternoon as unbothered as Young.

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Take the fourth hole, for example. Young hit what looked like a good shot, a 4-iron from 240 yards that hit the green pin high. But he and his caddie realized they’d misjudged the wind. It was the right distance but wrong trajectory, and it bounded hard over the back of the green, leaving him a really difficult chip. He reacted like a barista at a coffee shop told him there were no more bran muffins.

He strolled behind the back of the green, nipped a chip that was probably going a little too fast, then watched it drift to the right, hit the flag stick, and go in. I’ve thrown bigger fist pumps than the one he threw after I successfully tossed a wadded-up paper towel into the garbage in my kitchen. It barely got above his shoulder.

He was just getting started.

On the ninth hole, Young hit his approach long again and into the patrons. Somehow, it ricocheted back onto the green — seemingly off someone’s leg or chair — leaving him an easy two-putt.

Then on 13, he hit a wicked pull hook off the tee that was about to be one of two things: deep in the forest or somewhere in the creek. Instead, it kicked hard to the right and into the middle of the fairway.

In both instances, he looked as unbothered as a librarian reshelving books. I think I’ve had more stressful experiences buying yard mulch at the hardware store.
“You're going to get good breaks; you're going to get bad ones,” Young said. “You're going to hit a bad shot or two. The ability to just swallow it and move on and go hit your next shot, the emotions of it, the frustration, whatever it may be, I think this place really punishes you if you play angry or impatient.”

The break on 13, which led to a birdie, felt particularly fortuitous. “Any time you hit it left over there, you're just praying that it goes in the hazard and somebody sees it because anything left of there is probably a lost ball,” Young said.

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You can call it lucky, but it felt like karma for the way Young goes about his day, always indifferent to the outcome, just trying to focus on the process. When his third shot came up a yard short on 15 and rolled back into the water, I was convinced he was about to spiral. I expected him to shake his head or for his shoulders to slump. Winning the Players is nice, but it’s not the Masters. The Masters carries the weight of the cosmos. It was busy battering McIlroy on Saturday, and he already has a green jacket.

Instead of pouting, Young calmly walked back to the same spot and hit the wedge again. He got up and down for bogey. “I didn't think it was that hard of a shot to begin with,” he said. “I just happened to hit a bad one, and more importantly, followed up with a good one and made the putt and moved on.”

When Young gets into the interview room, he is thoughtful and interesting, willing to speak at length about his faith and his family. Asked Saturday night if he thinks he’s under more pressure at majors now that he has won multiple times on the PGA Tour, he gave a great answer.  

“It’s great to have won again, but that guarantees me absolutely nothing moving forward,” he said. “I'm owed nothing. My past results don't dictate what I do tomorrow.”

Between shots, Young is about as colorful and dynamic as a dinner napkin. But when he stands over the ball, I’m riveted. I have no idea if he’s going to win a green jacket on Sunday, but I think I’m more jealous of his poise than I am his game. Whatever the final round brings, it feels like he’s ready for the moment.