Rex Hoggard has praised Cam Young for an ‘amazing’ achievement during this past week’s Players Championship, as he suggested that his drive on the 72nd hole was not the most important shot of his tournament.
Young is now a two-time winner on the PGA Tour after an enthralling Sunday at TPC Sawgrass. With Ludvig Aberg faltering, it gradually became apparent that the event was going to come down to Young and Matt Fitzpatrick.
As the pair approached the 18th tee, it had the feeling of a Ryder Cup battle between them.
Cam Young lauded for what he became the first Players Championship winner to do
The crowd was certainly on Young’s side. And he gave them what they wanted to see, with the 28-year-old hitting a monstrous drive down the middle of the fairway.
Ultimately, a par on the last hole was enough to give Young the victory. But perhaps the most significant moment came on the penultimate hole of his week.
Young hit an amazing tee shot into the par three 17th. It set the stage for the American to dribble his putt down the hill and in for birdie to move him level with Fitzpatrick.
And speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Rex Hoggard said he was blown away by how well Young played the iconic hole across the week.
“When he hits a 375-yard drive on the 18th hole, which we have talked about it really for four days, really about how demanding that hole was coming down the stretch, how much carnage there was on Saturday afternoon, just trying to thread the needle there, trying to make sure you don’t make worse than a bogey. We saw so many players that just couldn’t do it. JT couldn’t do it. Matt Fitzpatrick couldn’t do it on Saturday. Not only did he execute that shot, but to hit the longest drive on that hole in the ShotLink era, that goes back to the early 1980s, that’s shocking to me, and I’m going to argue that’s not the best shot,” he said.
“That shot did not win the golf tournament. I’m going to go to the shot that he hit with a wedge, it was downwind, he called it the perfect number, I know all of these things, but to execute the shot on 17 and to pull that off, he’s the only Players champion to birdie that hole the final three days in a row. That’s amazing to me. He made 54-feet of putts over those final three days.”
How hard the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass played at the 2026 Players Championship
The 17th hole has delivered so many memorable moments over the years. No one can relax while they have the final two tee shots ahead of them.
Interestingly, it played as the ninth hardest hole across the week, with the average score being 3.095. No hole on the course saw more pars during the tournament, with 279 threes made.
There were just 52 birdies, with just four holes seeing fewer birdies. So the fact that Young made three of them is seriously impressive, particularly with the amount of pressure he was under going down the stretch on Sunday.
Young should be able to take so much confidence from how he has performed both at the Ryder Cup and now at TPC Sawgrass.
Should he get himself back into contention in a major, he could be incredibly difficult to beat.