THE 154TH OPEN

July 19, 2026

Cameron Young

Mixed Zone

Q. Cam, great round to finish. Can you talk us through the last hole?

CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah. It was a really hard tee shot. Driver is aggressive there, but the only option to take out all the bunkers is to leave yourself like 265 in, which didn't feel that smart to me either. I just figured go ahead and try to hit a good one.

Off the face, I really thought I did. I hit a nice shot. It's just windy. When it gets going that way, the wind carries it, and it's always going to kick right. Unfortunately, I missed the fairway, then I was trying -- I felt like I had a chance to get the second one on the green. I kind of had a wide open 6-iron. It was only 160-something yards to the front. So I felt like there was an off chance I could get something on the front edge.

I wasn't trying to miss it thin, but did. I was very grateful it got out of the bunker. Then hit a decent third shot but not my best. Then the bunker shot really had a chance. At that point, bogeys become a good score at that point, unfortunately, and proud of the putt I hit.

Q. Did you hit 6 or 7 out of the fairway bunker?

CAMERON YOUNG: I hit a 6-iron. I hit a wide open face 6-iron.

Q. Are you thinking birdie there at all?

CAMERON YOUNG: Not at that point. I would have paid a lot for Bob's birdie today. That's a good 3 on that hole. It's a really difficult golf hole.

Yeah, I really wasn't. On the tee, I was trying to hit the fairway. Once it gets in that bunker, you're playing for a decent look for 4.

Q. What was your mindset coming in today? I know you were pissed at the end of the day yesterday.

CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah, I wasn't pleased. In particular, not really at my golf. I actually played quite well yesterday. I hit 15 greens and made one birdie and made four bogeys. So just a day where everything was 28 feet and I missed them all.

Knowing that anything can happen. We've seen 62s every day. Keeping yourself in it at all, you could have -- from three shots back, you could have run away today.

Yeah, I've been frustrated yesterday, but you know it's out there if you play well. I'm grateful that I was the one that made the run up the board today.

Q. There's a chance you'll be sitting around for a playoff and then going back to 18. Will the approach be the same on 18 again?

CAMERON YOUNG: Absolutely not. (Laughter.)

No, it will be relatively the same. It's just -- I know the left miss is pretty good, especially that hole location. I really thought I hit a good shot honestly. It's just windy.

Yeah, it will be much the same, just try to hit a really good drive.

Q. I know you're not prone to superlatives, but how proud are you about the round you put together today and putting yourself in the position you put yourself in?

CAMERON YOUNG: I was really just proud of the way I put it together, the way I did it more than the round itself.

Yesterday was tough. It's one of those nights where you're kind of -- I don't want to say down. It's still just kind of a bad day at work, and I'm fortunate to have a cool job. Yeah, it's a frustrating night.

To come out, and I feel like I was really clear minded all day. I had a really clear intention what I was going to do. Yeah, just executed that really, really well, and it happened to add up to 64. It could have been 68; it could have been 60. Just I played really well.

Q. Was there a number you thought you might have to hit today given what was in front of you?

CAMERON YOUNG: I thought 10 had a decent chance. I've played around the lead in majors enough to know that scraping out even par on a Sunday in a major championship can be really difficult. So you figure those guys at the top, somebody's probably going to make a run, but I was just close enough where I felt like maybe the lead could stay the same. Right now that's holding true. So we'll see where we are at the end of the day.

Q. There's not a lot of leaderboards early on the back nine. At what point did you kind of know where you stood on the back nine?

CAMERON YOUNG: On the back nine? I kind of knew all day. I remember now like I think I was in 20th starting the day. It was 11th, 9th, 6th, or something. I knew right off the bat, okay, you're right there. I see my name on the 3rd hole or whatever. So I was pretty aware all day.

I happened to catch a glimpse on 16. I had like a three-footer for par to stay tied for the lead. Yeah, you're aware of it generally all day. You can't miss it out there.

Q. All golfers tend to try to be a little greedy. You had a couple of looks on every hole on the front I want to say and then some more on the back.

CAMERON YOUNG: Absolutely.

Q. Do you wonder where it could have been if those things don't squirt to the right a couple times?

CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah, like I said, it could have been 60, and I also could have missed a couple shorts ones in the wind. The greens, they're not perfect; they're links greens. It's windy, and you're nervous. I certainly could have missed two of those coming in, and it could have been 66.

I don't think there's any sense in doing that. I played a great round of golf, and I did it in a really good way.

Q. What's the wait like now? You've probably done this before a handful of times.

CAMERON YOUNG: Honestly, I really haven't. I'll probably just go get something to eat. Frankly, I'll probably start packing up my locker either way just for efficiency's sake later on.

Q. No pints or anything like that?

CAMERON YOUNG: No, not right now.

Q. Did you do anything different last night in preparation for today?

CAMERON YOUNG: No, same old. Went to bed.

Q. How much did the wind kick up throughout the day?

CAMERON YOUNG: It did exactly what it's done every day. It's 4 out of the east in the morning, and by noon it's north/northwest at 10 with some gusts at 15 to 17. It's been the same every day, I feel like.

We had different earlier in the week, so we kind of didn't get to see it until Thursday. But I think this is the wind that you're supposed to get out here. It's been very consistent. It's exactly what you would have expected right now.

Q. This is not the first time you got really close. Can you talk about your memories of St Andrews and what you're looking forward to next year?

CAMERON YOUNG: Obviously I really enjoyed that golf course four years ago. I think it's really fun. So I'm looking forward to going back.

Honestly, I haven't thought that far ahead. I'm lucky if I know where I'm going next week. I know tomorrow I'm going home one way or another, so I'm excited about that. Yeah, I haven't thought that much about it, to be honest.

Q. If you look at this -- somebody ends up at 10 or 11 or whatever the number is and you're not in the playoff, how are you walking away looking at this Open for yourself?

CAMERON YOUNG: I walk away feeling like I could have won with a C-plus day in there. Not that the golf was bad yesterday, but the first couple days were fine. I wouldn't say they were excellent. Just kind of steady. I didn't make many bogeys.

I mean, if you give those a high B, a C-plus day, and really an A day today, I ended up feeling I had a chance to win with not everything I've got. So I think that's a good takeaway. I've got a long stretch coming up, so I'm just trying to piece together some good weeks.

Q. You mentioned how you were feeling last night and how you're feeling today. Were you able to do the same things as normal this morning, go to mass with the family, that sort of thing?

CAMERON YOUNG: I couldn't this morning, just with tee time and not having a car and such. Yeah, it's something I'm looking forward to next week at home.

Q. Bob was struggling a little bit today, and he was talking a lot with Mike. You spent a lot of time walking by yourself down fairways and things. What do you use that time for?

CAMERON YOUNG: I was counting breaths today, yeah.

Q. Something you literally do?

CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah, I was today. I don't always, but I've been struggling a little bit just to occupy my mind in a good way. Yeah, I was just counting walking down the fairways.

Q. Do you have a total for the day?

CAMERON YOUNG: No, I started over at 10. Once I got to 10, I started over, most of the time. Sometimes I forgot and got to like 24 and go back.

Yeah, just trying as much as I could just to kind of deal with the thoughts that come along and just keep walking, keep breathing. Not that I was super nervous, but I just needed something to latch onto.

Q. Where does the idea come from? Is that a tip from someone?

CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah, it's something we've done throughout the year. I've kind of gotten away from it. I've gotten a little lazy.

Q. Who got you onto that?

CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah, a combination of people.

Q. You looked understandably upset after the second shot on 18. Can you talk through your feelings in that exact moment, especially given the round today?

CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah, it's just one of those like -- one of the times you just wonder what you've just done a little bit.

But I was trying to hit it on the green, to be honest. I felt like I could. I really felt like 10 had a good chance to win the golf tournament. It was just trying to win the golf tournament.

I couldn't lay it up anywhere great. It would have been tough for me to like guarantee getting over the lip and guarantee covering that cross-bunker and stay short of the other one. I would have had to dump it out in front of me really to be sure of it. It just felt worth the risk.