GREENSBORO, N.C. – The first words out of Cameron Young’s mouth after he tapped in for par at the 18th hole on Sunday at Sedgefield Country Club were telling.

“Where do I go?” he said, a bit bewildered, to no one in particular. “I've never done this before.”

Normally, Young would shake the hands of whomever he played with as well as both caddies. He’d thank the walking scorer and the standard bearer, too, before heading through the tunnel under the grandstands toward scoring.

This Wyndham Championship was different, though. Young had just won his first PGA TOUR event, long-awaited and much-anticipated, in dominating fashion after seven runner-up finishes.

“Today there were about 150 people between me and that tunnel,” he said, smiling. “So, at that point I got confused and I didn't know if I did that first or if I, you know, spoke to somebody first.

“So yeah, that's the first time that I've really done anything any different after holing out on 18, so I would prefer that outcome more often.”

The runaway victory made Young the 1,000th unique winner on the PGA TOUR, as well as the 12th first-time champion this year. He took the suspense out of the day early with a string of five straight birdies on the front, closed with a 68 and coasted to the six-stroke win that vaulted him to 16th in the FedExCup.

“Today was a different situation than I've ever been in,” said Young , who played the front nine in 18 under this week. “You know, it was our goal today to come out and see how many I could win by if I stuck to our plan. About halfway through the round my brain just said, 'Let's make some pars.'

“So I was trying to aim at stuff and I honestly just, I think the mind is powerful and it was just taking me towards the middle of greens. I would like to have hit some better shots but got it done and happy to have done it.”

There was a time when the runner-up finishes – more than any other player without a win since 1983 – wore on Young. Five of them were posted during his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2022, coming so frequently that in retrospect he now thinks he may have taken the opportunities for granted. And don’t think he lost those tournaments. He was the chaser in each and shot a combined 20 under in those final rounds.

He said he doesn’t consider the second-place finishes a burden, deciding just to look at winning as “something that I hadn't done, and I'd like to.” That acceptance didn’t come easy, though, and there was some soul-searching earlier this year after he missed the cut in six of his first 11 starts.

“I started playing worse and the good finishes were less frequent, and I became happier about those good finishes, I think,” said Young, who has two ties for fourth and a win in his last six starts. “I think I just was more thankful for those opportunities.”

Young’s peers didn’t have any doubts he’d finally break through. Gary Woodland, who contended until a tired body took its toll on Sunday, called the win “awesome.”

“We all know he's got a lot of talent,” said the former U.S. Open champion. “… The start that he got off to today, I saw the leaderboard, him taking off, it's awesome. I'm happy for him, he deserves it. I think it's just the start.”

Webb Simpson, who is the leading money winner at the Wyndham Championship, agreed. He’s a fellow Wake Forest Demon Deacon, one of four now who has won the Sam Snead Cup, and he used to play practice rounds with Young at major championships early in his career.

“I think he has a very high ceiling,” Simpson said. “He's long. Now he's 10th in putting this year so I think this will be one of those situations where … he'll be a guy we're talking about for 10 or 15 years.”

Wake Forest golf coach Jerry Haas, whose brother Jay and nephew Bill, were mainstays on the PGA TOUR, was in Young’s gallery on Sunday. So was his dad, David, a retired club pro who first put a driver in his son’s hand when he was about 3 years old and continues to monitor his swing.

One of Young’s Wake Forest teammates, Will Zalatoris, winner of the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship, was watching on TV. He said in a text message to a local sportswriter that he was “beyond excited for my man Cameron’s first win.” Zalatoris added that Young’s dominant play over the weekend was a “statement to his mental toughness."

“I hope this gets him in for a Ryder Cup spot because he’s been playing some great golf for a few months now,” the lanky Texan wrote.

Young would like to keep the conversation focused on Bethpage Black, too. He came into the week ranked 19th with only the top six making the team automatically.

But there’s considerable upside as Keegan Bradley contemplates his captain’s picks for the U.S. Team. Young’s from Scarborough, New York, which is 90 minutes from Bethpage Black where the matches will be played. Not to mention, he won the 2017 New York State Open there, the first amateur to take the title.

Simpson, who like Woodland, is one of Bradley’s vice captains, hedged his bets Sunday afternoon. But he acknowledged Young, who narrowly missed out on a pick in 2023 after finishing ninth in the standings, is back in the picture.

“He's just adding his name to the list of many guys that are hard for us to say no to,” Simpson said.

Young has two weeks to make it even harder.