Cameron Young's Odds Are Short, But He Can Win the British Open

I saw Cameron Young win the IKE MGA Stroke Play Championship at Essex County Country Club in 2016. He didn't have the beard you see above, more of a constant four-o-clock shadow, but what he did have was the clutch gene needed to win the Tri-State area's most prestigious event.

While I'm not comparing an MGA Major to a real one, what I'm saying is Young has the steely reserve and self belief needed in clutch moments to come up with the shots that matter to win a major tournament. He proved it already this year at the PGA Championship, and I could see him proving it again at the British Open.

Cameron Young British Open Odds

Young fired an 8-under-par 64 in the first round of The Open to take the early lead at the final major of the year. He was three-strokes ahead of the field as of writing this and was the second betting favorite (+550) at WynnBET Sportsbook to claim the title. Rory McIlroy was atop the odds leaderboard at +250. While those odds are short, and I wouldn't bet on him right now (wait until after the second round), I could absolutely see Young winning this event.

At the PGA Championship this year, Young was one bad hole away from either winning the title outright or at minimum making the playoff. His double bogey on 16 left him two strokes off the lead, but his bounce-back birdie on 17 showed the kind of resolve needed to win a major and he finished in a tie for 3rd place at the event. that finished a three-tournament run where he finished T-3, T-2 and T-3 against the best players in the world.

But what I like about Young at this week's British Open isn't his past success on the local or national level, but the way his game sets up for St. Andrews. You need to be a good driver of the ball, creative around the greens and a great putter. Well, Young is second on tour in Shots Gained: Off-The-Tee, has a 61.6% success rate in scrambling and has the sixth-best overall putting average on Tour. That's a recipe for success.

I won't act like I had him pegged as my outright winner pick heading into this tournament. He missed two cuts ahead of this event, including shooting 76-77 at the Scottish Open last week. But whatever he did to fix his swing or his mental game or whatever it was ahead of the Open is working and I wouldn't bet against him hoisting the Claret Jug just as he hoisted the IKE trophy in 2016.