Homegrown Carson Young stays true to roots in TOUR chase

Bruce Springsteen is known for many things as a multi-decade, multi-platinum, multi-everything performer. He’s the ‘Born to Run’ guy – his biggest album and biggest song talks about getting up and leaving town and chasing your dreams with someone you love. Turns out, Springsteen, now 72, laughs that the sentiment wasn’t quite true. The iconic musician, with all the money in the world, lives just 10 minutes from his hometown.

Carson Young can relate.

The winner of The Panama Championship earlier this year has never been closer to his dream of playing the PGA TOUR and enjoying the bright lights of the biggest stage in golf. But with his dreams within reach, so too are the comforts of Anderson, South Carolina.

He and his wife Riley – a fellow golfer he met while in high school nine years ago – live about 500 yards from her parents’ home.

Young grew up in Pendleton, a small town in Anderson, along with Riley’s family. It’s near Greenville, which was a little out of the couple’s initial home-buying price range after tying the knot.

So a return to Anderson it was.

“I travel out to Clemson, which is a 20-minute drive away, to practice with the team and at their facility, or I’ll play most of my golf right in Greenville … it’s about a 30-minute drive there,” said Young. “I’m right in between, and it’s perfect for us and our setup.”

Young couldn’t have asked for a more perfect start to his Korn Ferry Tour season, winning just the third event of the year – and in his 10th career Korn Ferry Tour start, all of which came via Monday qualifiers or a singular sponsor exemption. He had earned eight guaranteed starts for 2022 via his T29 at Final Stage of the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament, but the win has set him up without issue for the balance of 2022. And now some of his preseason goals have changed for the better.

“After missing (both cuts) in the Bahamas, I was just trying to make a cut, trying to put some points on the board so I could reshuffle in for the rest of the season,” said Young. “But it’s cool when your goals change when you’ve achieved one of them. The beginning of the season, I was just trying to play a full year on the Korn Ferry Tour and my goal was to win an event … to do that early on was awesome.

“Now my goal is to finish top five on that end-of-season list and maybe even get that No. 1 spot. It’s cool to have goals change. There is always something else out there you can play for after you reach your goals.”

Young captured The Panama Championship by one over Carl Yuan, Brandon Matthews and Jimmy Stanger after a closing 2-under 68. It was one of just 16 under-par rounds that Sunday.

“I’m probably going to cry later,” Young said after the victory, “just because this is a huge deal for me.”

Young has always had a big-time family support system. That extends to his community as well, especially after he played so well as a youngster. Clemson was his dream school. He remembers going to football games there as a kid – “Everyone wakes up and breathes and eats football down here” – and at his home course, Boscobel Golf Course, he grew up watching the Clemson team with its standout orange-and-white golf bags.

“The dream was to have one of those one day,” he said.

Young earned his way to Clemson after all and was a four-year starter at his dream school. He was a member of the All-ACC team in 2016 and 2017 and helped the Tigers win the ACC Championship in April 2016. He and the squad were recognized on the field at a football game after the win.

He turned professional in 2017 after his senior season but ended up bypassing PGA TOUR Canada and PGA TOUR Latinoamerica Q-Schools to spend more time at home with Riley. He finally qualified for PGA TOUR Canada in 2020, but that season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, he played well at the alternative tournament series set up by the PGA TOUR (the LOCALiQ Series in 2020 and the Forme Tour in 2021). With that momentum spanning about 18 months, he finally made it past Second Stage in the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament.

“Ever since I started playing golf, my dream was to play on the PGA TOUR. Going through the junior golf ranks, I was playing pretty well, and I thought maybe I had a chance,” said Young. “We’re still on that route and chasing that dream and we’re closer than ever.”

With a win under his belt – and all the points that go with it – he’s going to have a more balanced schedule through the end of 2022. It’s unlikely he’ll play more than four weeks in a row because he plays better golf, he said, when he’s well-rested – physically and mentally.

He does have a big, bold circle around the BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX, however, since the longtime Korn Ferry Tour event is played in Greenville. Young will sleep in his own bed that week and has a bunch of family and friends coming to it. He earned a spot in the 2021 field via a qualifier but missed the cut, so he’s keen for a little redemption.

Otherwise, he said, he’ll run to the end of the season and hopefully cross the finish line with a PGA TOUR card in hand.

“I just know that I’m good enough to compete out there, and my dream is closer than it’s ever been to play the PGA TOUR,” said Young. “Just keep doing what I’ve been doing, and I think the rest will take care of itself.”