THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome Cameron Young to the interview room here at the Truist Championship. He's coming off of his second win of the season, winning last week at Doral at the Cadillac Championship. Cameron, if you can take us back to last week, a dominating performance and the state of your game, which is obviously really good coming into the week.
CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah, it's been good. Last week was a really good week. I feel like a lot of pieces came together pretty well. Yeah, difficult golf course, kind of an a typical week with the President around, just some different things that go on with that piece of it. But I feel like I did a really good job just staying where I was and doing my job. Yeah, very pleased with the outcome?
THE MODERATOR: Now you're coming to Quail Hollow, you're a Wake Forest alum, so I know tournaments in North Carolina are special to you. Can you comment on being back at Quail Hollow?
CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah, no, this is a great place, not too far. I went to Wake Forest, probably about an hour and 15 or 20 minutes a way from here. Always nice coming back to North Carolina and especially here. I mean, this is a top-notch golf course facility and tournament. I always look forward to coming back here. It's quite a challenge, so I really look forward to the challenge of this golf course.
THE MODERATOR: We'll go into questions, please.
Q. You're kind of grouped into a group of four right now, you, Scottie, Rory and Matt Fitzpatrick based on your play this year. All three of them have chosen to take off one of these three Signature Events between the Masters and the PGA Championship. Why have you chosen to play all three?
CAMERON YOUNG: I mean that was kind of my plan to start the year. There's really not any of the Signature Events that I want to miss. You don't want to miss the majors and I just kind of group these really in with those. I don't want to miss any of 'em. Would a little bit of rest at some point be great? Maybe. But I took three weeks off after THE PLAYERS, didn't play until the Masters. I feel like that was kind of a really unexpected, nice break. Now I feel like I'm just kind of into the heart of the season and ready to play. There's going to be a few times that I can take two weeks off the rest of the season and this is just a long stretch and it just kind of is what it is. I was planning to play and I've just kind of stuck to my plan.
Q. Continuing on that theme, momentum is a real thing in sports. So how do you balance what you were just talking about taking breaks but also continuing the momentum that you've got going on right now?
CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah, for me at the moment I think it's just trying to maintain the same approach each week. I think that was one of my concerns taking three weeks off after THE PLAYERS. I played really well at Riviera, played really well at Bay Hill, played great at THE PLAYERS. Then taking three weeks off, that's kind of one of the things you think about is does it go away in these three weeks. I think that was a really good example of just how well you can maintain that even with a break. I feel like I just picked up where I left off after THE PLAYERS in terms of mindset and physically I had had time to practice at home. I think it's a good thing to learn for me that, you know, I can take a couple weeks off and just come back and keep beating the same process. That worked out great and I feel like -- it is easier when you're just playing week-to-week. But it's a nice thing to look back on for me that I was able to take those breaks and still come back and play some good golf.
Q. 18th here great finishing hole, but one that you really have to play well. Talk about how you strategize on that hole and where you think you can attack that hole at?
CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah, you just better hit a good one. It's a beast of a hole. That water left is very in play. You don't want to be left of it, obviously. The right kind of shortens pretty quickly. It's just one of those you got to be really, really committed to your target and focused on hitting a good one and not trying to avoid a bad one. Because if you're protecting anything there it's really hard to make a good swing off that tee. It's a bit awkward and, you know, especially if you get a wind off the left or a wind -- I feel that downwind or down off the left can be awkward too, just because that right does get short. It's just a hole, I mean, if you hit, you're probably going to be scrambling once over the four days, but if you hit three good ones you might make a birdie as well. It's just a hole you got to step up and hit a really good one.
THE MODERATOR: I know you're focused on Quail Hollow but with your New York roots how excited are you for Shinnecock coming up.
CAMERON YOUNG: Very excited. Golf out there on Long Island is amazing. I'm not particularly familiar with Shinnecock itself, but I know that area and I played tons of golf out there. So always excited to go back up in that area and get to play some golf on what's at least kind of my home turf.
Q. I know Rory's good at a lot of courses, but he is certainly been really good here winning it four times. Wonder, why do you feel like that is? Because is there something with the course setup that just plays to his strengths, why do you think he's been so successful here?
CAMERON YOUNG: I would probably attribute a lot of it to his driving. He's a great driver of the ball. There's a bunch of holes that get a lot shorter for him that he can carry bunkers that maybe other guys can't. Kind of get around some corners that other guys can't. The rough doesn't tend to be super long here, so I think, you know, the guys that hit it really far are not going to hit as many fairways, and this is a place where maybe that isn't penalized quite as much kind of if you know where you're going and you know what angles to be playing. So, yeah, combination of that, and then the greens can get really firm. When the greens get firm he hits it higher than everybody else and can stop it a lot of places that not everybody can. He's hitting less club and he's hitting it higher. So I think those are some pretty good traits to have out here.
Q. Curious, obviously with your recent results folks like us and fans are going to put expectations on you now since you've vaulted yourself to No. 3 in the world. Is there any change in your life? Are you able to keep sort of things the same focus and sorts of block out all the other noise, which obviously doesn't mean a whole lot?
CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah, it really hasn't been too different, in my opinion. I do a few more things like this, but most of the noise and the noise that's probably more difficult to deal with is the noise in your own head. So to me that's where a lot of my time is spent, just trying to go back to -- those World Rankings are based in the past. It's a good indicator of how you've played recently or whatever it is, but that No. 3 next to my name in the World Ranking doesn't give me one thing this week. Doesn't give me one thing next week. So I think I always thought I might be more comfortable in having myself up there in the World Rankings. I thought it might mean something in terms of how I thought I was going to play or my level of belief that I was going to play well or whatever it is. But I feel like those things I've built before I've gotten to this place and I have a really good understanding that that world No. 3 ranking can come and go and it doesn't really guarantee me anything going forward, so I might as well try to deal with the task at hand and try to go through and do what I do tomorrow.
Q. You arguably have the best beard on TOUR, so has there ever been any thoughts about shaving it, or is that your super power?
CAMERON YOUNG: Yeah, I don't think it's coming off. I'm kind of afraid to see what I might look like without it. It's been a couple years now and, yeah, I don't know, we weren't allowed to have a beard in college, so it was one of those things, as soon as I was allowed to, I just did it for no reason, other than that. Yeah, it's been there since. Between that and not having to deal with it on a daily basis, it's kind of lower maintenance and I've grown accustomed to the way I look with it.
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