Cam Young deserves huge credit for making the cut at The Masters, let alone being in contention to win at Augusta National on Sunday!
Young began his Masters week in truly abysmal fashion and was four-over-par through seven holes of his first round.
The 28-year-old New Yorker then came home in 33 to shoot a round of 73, and followed that up with rounds of 67 and 65 to tie the lead heading into the final round at Augusta National.
Cam Young began the final round of The Masters solidly as well, and walked off the sixth green with a two-shot lead over Rory McIlroy.
However, The Players Championship winner ended up posting a round of 73, while McIlroy carded a 71 on Sunday at Augusta National to win his second consecutive green jacket.
Young was disappointed after failing to win The Masters, and so he should have been.
He didn’t quite have his game on Sunday, and now it has been claimed that something his caddie was doing throughout the day actually prevented him from winning.
A potential reason for Cam Young’s failure to win The Masters
Young’s momentum completely disappeared on the back nine at Augusta National on Sunday.
After making a bogey on the ninth he parred every hole on the back nine to lose out to McIlroy by two strokes.
Johnson Wagner was a guest on CBS on Golf, and made a comment about Young’s failure to win The Masters last week.
“Cameron Young should walk away with his head held high,“ Wagner said.
“I mean, he was in our featured group coverage on Thursday and he was 4-over-par through nine holes, and, and it was like, this guy’s out of it.
“And the run he made to work his way into the final group with Rory on Sunday, was just absolutely amazing.
“I think this may be a bad thing to say, but his putting performance on a Sunday, he relied, basically, I’m gonna say 95% on his caddie reading his putts and telling him where to hit them.
“Like, reading putts and hitting them on the line. It’s a huge skill, and I think that when you saw the putter get ice cold on Sunday, for me, I would personally, in those situations, want to know the way I’m feeling when I’m picking lines.
“Having someone tell you where to hit it, while it can lead to a nice hot run when the pressure is off, when the pressure’s on on a Sunday at a major, you better have full commitment of your read and your belief with the putter.“
Johnson Wagner’s Cam Young claim is absolutely true
Wagner makes a great point here.
How can another person read someone’s lines if they have no clue how they are coping with the feel in their hands on the putter grip?
For example, if Young was feeling the nerves and he wanted to die his putts into the hole but his caddie is thinking he will be rolling the ball at the pace he usually does, there will obviously be a big problem.
Young’s caddie would be setting him up far too low on his start lines, and the opposite is true if Young’s adrenaline was causing him to hit his putts firmer.
It’s fair to argue that Young should read his own putts moving forward after his performance on the greens during the final day of The Masters.
Young ranked 46th out of 54 players in putting stats on Sunday at The Masters and that stat in itself should be a wake-up call for the 28-year-old.
