Cameron Young holds off Matt Fitzpatrick on final hole to win Players Championship

The PGA Tour might have lost out in the court of public opinion over whether the Players Championship could be a major. However, the level of drama as shadows lengthened on this Sawgrass Sunday set the tournament aside from most others. It came down to Cameron Young versus Matt Fitzpatrick. As Fitzpatrick agonisingly missed for par on the 72nd hole, Young had secured the biggest win of his career. He had emerged triumphant from a sporting thriller.

Fitzpatrick will rue the 18th hole. He had taken a double bogey there on Saturday. As his tee shot in round four sprayed right and into pine straw, the Yorkshireman was in trouble again. Young had battered his drive 375 yards down the fairway. It was an advantage the New Yorker was unwilling to waste.

Fitzpatrick will take little consolation from the fact he was in the depths of despair when missing the Players cut in 2025. A year on, he was part of another painful scenario. The only point in which Young led this tournament was the final hole on the final day. Talk about impeccable timing.

“The nerves kicked in over an eight inch putt on the last,” Young admitted. “The hole looked really small at that point.” Not so at the iconic 17th, which Young birdied three days in a row.

Ludvig Åberg’s lead, three shots at the start of play, looked perfectly solid until the Swede found water on the 11th and 12th. Åberg collapsed to a dismal 76, including a back nine of 40. It may take some time for Åberg to recover from this. On three successive PGA Tour Sundays, there has been late trauma for golfers apparently close to victory. With wind whipping, Sawgrass was especially fiendish.

As Åberg stumbled, it was Fitzpatrick who initially forged into the lead. His trouble was Young played the treacherous final six holes in two under. Robert MacIntyre was also a key part of the equation before finding water with his third shot at the 16th. Fourth place still represented a fine return for the Scot. Xander Schauffele birdied the last to take third, two shots shy of Young’s 13 under par.

Rory McIlroy’s even par aggregate was sufficient for a place just inside the top 50. McIlroy is still to decide whether to play again before his Masters defence gets under way at Augusta National in early April. “I’ll see how my body feels,” McIlroy said. “We’ll see how I feel in practice and at home. If I get itchy feet at home maybe I will add an event.”