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Cameron Young caught the eyes of golf fans with his youthful explosiveness, unique pause at the top of his swing and strong T2 finish at last week’s The Genesis Invitational. The 24-year-old shot 17 under at The Riviera Country Club and was bested by only the champion, Joaquin Niemann. The Genesis was Young’s second runner-up finish of his rookie season, which moved him to 17th in FedExCup. It also continued his rapid ascent in the Official World Ranking. He was still outside the top 500 in the world last May, but now ranks 53rd, with invitations to THE PLAYERS and Masters within his reach. Making the transition from the Korn Ferry Tour to the PGA TOUR isn’t always easy, but Young has made it look that way. His driving distance has been a big asset, as he already is one of the top players on TOUR in that aspect of the game. He ranks second in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (+0.81), fourth in driving distance (320.5 yards) and fifth in clubhead speed (124.1 mph). Significant changes to his swing and equipment have allowed him to capitalize on his superior speed (more on Young’s swing speed and carry distance here). Throughout his life, Young’s swing has been honed and shaped by his father (David Young, the longtime head professional at New York’s Sleepy Hollow Country Club), and it currently produces driver ball speeds of around 189 mph. Yes, that’s serious speed. Titleist tour rep J.J. Van Wezenbeeck, who now works closely with Young on his equipment, was taken aback at first by Young’s distance while at the Titleist Performance Institute for a fitting session. “He was out at TPI warming up once and I went inside to grip a club; when I came back, I was looking at the launch monitor data and it was 171-172 mph,” Van Wezenbeeck told GolfWRX. “When I looked at what he was hitting, though, I realized he was hitting a 7-wood, not a driver.” Despite the speed, Young was lacking control due to a severe in-to-out swing path of 6-7 degrees. Along with his father/coach, Young worked hard this off-season to neutralize that swing path and bring it closer to square. By squaring up his club delivery, Young could reduce the right-to-left curve of his tee shots. This would give Young greater control over his golf ball and help him take advantage of his speed. The problem with the swing change, though, was that Young didn’t initially adjust his driver setup to match his different delivery pattern, so the performance wasn’t increasing as much as it should. During a driver fitting session at Torrey Pines ahead of the Farmers Insurance Open, Van Wezenbeeck found the fix. “When he first got on the PGA TOUR, he was actually in a 9-degree TSi3 driver with an H2 heel setting, because his path was severely to the right, like 6-7 degrees,” Van Wezenbeeck told GolfWRX. “So he needed all the help he could to not hit blocks from there. And then, in the offseason, him and his dad worked on neutralizing that a little bit so it’s not as severe. That’s when we moved to the H1 setting and the 10-degree TSi3 head to accommodate the new delivery at Torrey, because he felt it was over-drawing in his previous setup.” It’s important to remember – especially for amateurs who don’t work with top PGA TOUR fitters every day – that every variable in a modern driver head makes a big difference. A small tweak to weight settings in the sole, or to the hosel adapter, can change launch, flight and spin. For Young, he started out in an H2 setting, which has Titleist’s SureFit CG weight all the way toward the heel to promote a draw. He then changed into the H1 setting, which moves the weight closer to center for less draw. He also switched into a D1 SureFit hosel setting, which means it’s a standard lie angle with -0.75 degrees of loft compared to the standard A1 setting. While the changes may seem small, they were all Young needed to free up his driver game. “It was kind of a light bulb moment, and he’s gone on a nice little run since then,” Van Wezenbeeck said. “He’s top three in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee in that time. It’s one of those things where when you’re making changes, you have to change the settings with it. Say you have an injury and you’re not swinging the same, or you’re working out and you’ve added flexibility, or you’ve added speed, or you’ve started seeing a new swing instructor, all those things point to changes, and those changes need to get accommodated with your equipment. So those are good times to go back to your fitter and get a check up.” Since joining the PGA TOUR, Young has also rearranged his bag setup a bit to accommodate the more difficult course layouts. On the Korn Ferry Tour, Young used a driver, 5-wood and 7-wood, skipping over the 3-wood entirely. Now, after his work with Van Wezenbeeck, Young uses a driver, a 16.5-degree 3-wood, and a T200 2-iron and 4-iron to go along with his set of Titleist 620 MB irons (5-9). These adjustments have helped ensure Young has a go-to club off the tee without leaving yardage gaps throughout the set that are too wide. Amateurs should take Young’s changes as motivation to figure out what driver and bag setup is right for them. Small changes can reap huge benefits.

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JACKSON, Miss, – The University of North Texas has since been bypassed by its larger in-state rivals, but the school was once known as the “Notre Dame of golf.â€� Led by future PGA TOUR winners Billy Maxwell and Don January, it won four consecutive NCAA titles in the middle of the 20th century. The leaderboard of the Sanderson Farms Championship harkens back to the Mean Green’s glory days. Sunday’s final group is comprised of a pair of former North Texas teammates. They both left homes in Latin America for the opportunity to play college golf in the suburbs of Dallas. Sebastian Munoz and Carlos Ortiz still live in Texas and hang out together when they’re home. They’re practice-round partners on the PGA TOUR. And now they’ll go head-to-head as they each seek their first PGA TOUR victory. RELATED: Tee times | Leaderboard Munoz, of Colombia, is 16 under par (70-67-63) after three rounds at the Country Club of Jackson. Mexico’s Ortiz is one shot back after shooting 65-71-65. “I’m going to have a great opportunity tomorrow,â€� Munoz said. “Just one shot at a time.â€� He and Ortiz showed Saturday how comfortable they are together, combining to shoot 16 under par while paired together in the third round. Munoz’s 63 was one stroke off the Country Club of Jackson’s course record. Ortiz shot 65. The Sanderson may be held in the heart of SEC country, but a crop of international players has risen to the top of the leaderboard one week after Chile’s Joaquin Niemann won the season-opening event. “That just validates that any of us can win,â€� Ortiz said. “Me, Joaquin, Sebastian, we play every practice round together. It’s a guy we know pretty well and he’s winning. It just gives you extra belief that if he can do it, I can do it.â€� South Korea’s Byeong Hun An is in third place, two shots off the lead, as he seeks to bolster his Presidents Cup candidacy. Australia’s Cameron Percy is another stroke back. Percy, who was a victim of Jonathan Byrd’s playoff ace at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open nine years ago, regained his TOUR card after fracturing his wrist earlier this year. Another South Korean who’s seeking one of Ernie Els’ captain’s picks is in fifth place. Sungjae Im recently won the PGA TOUR’s Rookie of the Year Award. Now he’s trying to win his first PGA TOUR title. He’s tied for fifth with four Americans: Harris English, J.T. Poston, George McNeill and Dominic Bozelli. They’re all 12 under. Among the top nine players on the leaderboard, only English, Poston and McNeill have PGA TOUR wins. Poston won last month’s Wyndham Championship, becoming the first player since Lee Trevino to win on TOUR while going bogey-free over 72 holes. It’s been seven years since McNeill won the second of his two PGA TOUR titles. English doesn’t have full status on the PGA TOUR this season, but his once-promising career seems to be headed in the right direction. In 2011, English won on the Korn Ferry Tour while still an amateur. He won on the PGA TOUR in the 2013 and 2014 seasons. He hasn’t won since, though. He leads the field in greens hit while ranking second in driving accuracy. He had similarly strong ballstriking at last week’s A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, where he finished T3. It was his best PGA TOUR finish since 2016. The Sanderson Farms Championship has favored first-time winners. The five previous tournaments at the Country Club of Jackson all went to players who had yet to win on the PGA TOUR. The tournament was held opposite the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in those years, though. This is the first year the tournament has its own date and the winner will receive 500 FedExCup points. One thing will likely remain the same, though. Another low score will be needed Sunday. No winner at the Country Club of Jackson has shot higher than 68 on Sunday.  Munoz has held the 54-hole lead once before in his PGA TOUR career, taking a two-shot lead into the final round of A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier two years ago. He shot 2-over 72 in the final round as Xander Schauffele collected his first PGA TOUR victory. He has one win on the Korn Ferry Tour, winning in his home country in three years ago. Ortiz had the best finish of his career at last year’s Sanderson Farms (T3). He was the Korn Ferry Tour’s Player of the Year five years ago after he won three times. His success was an inspiration to Munoz, showing him that they could succeed at the professional level. On Sunday, they’ll be both friend and foe.

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The bulked-up fall portion (11 events) of the 2019-20 PGA TOUR season ends this week at Sea Island Resort in Georgia. The RSM Classic features two courses, along with 156 players, each one determined to go into the holiday break on a high note. Several pros, including tournament host Davis Love III, live in the area, so maybe their local knowledge will pay off this week. RELATED: Tee times |  Power Rankings | Daily fantasy preview THE FLYOVER Instead of focusing on one hole as we usually do, here’s a look at the renovated Plantation course overseen by Davis Love III. “We feel like this is a historic resort and it needs a historic-looking course,â€� Love told our Sean Martin for this story. LANDING ZONE At 368 yards, the eighth hole is the shortest par 4 on the Seaside Course. Not surprising, it’s also the easiest, playing to a stroke average of 3.842 last year. It’s too long for most players to drive the green, although Sam Burns’ tee shot in the first round last year finished on the far side of the green, a 380-yard bomb. Players must decide whether to lay up short or carry the bunkers guarding both sides of the fairway. Here’s a look at where all tee shots landed last year. WEATHER CHECK From PGA TOUR meteorologist Stewart Williams: “High pressure will continue to dominate the Southeast’s weather over the next few days with a gradual warming trend. Temperatures will return to the low-70s by Friday and mid-70s on Saturday. A fast-moving cold front will likely bring showers towards midnight Saturday night that will linger into early Sunday morning before pushing off. Mostly sunny skies and cooler temperatures will return Sunday into Monday with highs in the low to mid 60s.â€� For the latest weather news from St. Simons Island, Georgia, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK It’s all on you, it’s all on the player. Golf is never about one competitor versus another and it never will be. It’s against the player versus himself and versus the golf course.â€� BY THE NUMBERS 769 – Number of PGA TOUR starts (including this week) by tournament host Davis Love III. That’s fourth most all-time, behind Mark Brooks (803), Jay Haas (799) and Dave Eichelberger (784). 9 – Starts by Love at his RSM Classic. His best finish is a T4 in 2012. 559 – Number of PGA TOUR starts (including this week) by defending champ Charles Howell III. He enters this week with 1,916 rounds played on TOUR. 63 –Number of players who have ranked No. 1 in points in the history of the FedExCup. Brandon Todd is the most recent after winning last week’s Mayakoba Golf Classic to move into No. 1 in points. Scattershots Sea Island connections: Besides Davis Love III, here are some of the other TOUR pros who live in the area: Patton Kizzire, Zach Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Jonathan Byrd, Harris English, Brian Harman, J.T. Poston, Hudson Swafford, Josh Teater, Keith Mitchell and Michael Thompson. Perfect attendance: Six players have played in each of the first nine RSM Classics – Davis Love III, Charles Howell III, Chris Kirk, Chad Campbell, Zach Johnson and Brendon de Jonge. That number will drop to five after this week, as de Jonge is not in the field. Back-to-back: The last six players to win back-to-back starts on the PGA TOUR – Billy Horschel (2014), Adam Scott (2016), Jason Day (2017), Justin Thomas (2017), Bryson DeChambeau (2018) and now Brendon Todd. Of those six, Todd is the only one to do it in the fall portion of the TOUR’s schedule. Hot Harris: Harris English owns a TOUR-best four top-10s in 2019-20, most recently finishing fifth at the Mayakoba Golf Classic, and sits No. 13 in the FedExCup standings. Harris enters this week having posted all 20 of his rounds this season at par or better.

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