Cam Young’s victory at The Players Championship in March was the biggest win of his career thus far—but days later, at home in South Florida, he’s not thinking about golf, but simply being present with his family. “I’m happy to get home and take a couple days to try to soak it in a little bit,” he tells T&C.
Despite being a homebody, Young loves the week spent playing the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. “It’s a very historic event, so anytime you get to be a part of it is an honor,” he says. “The first major goal of the year is just to be ready to go there.” He has the momentum coming off The Players win. “Anytime you can put yourself in that kind of situation and find some success, that’s another kind of notch or proof that what you’re doing is the right stuff,” Young says. So while it does give him confidence heading into the Masters, “at the same time, we start fresh every week and there’s a lot of work to be done before we measure a result at the end of that week.”
In the past two years, the winners of The Players (Scottie Scheffler in 2024 and Rory McIlroy in 2025) have gone on to win the Masters. Whether or not Young—a breakout PGA Tour player who will feature in the upcoming season four of Full Swing—will continue this streak remains to be seen.
Here, the golfer spoke to Town & Country during a rare day off at his home in South Florida all about fatherhood, why he’s not on social media, and what his goal is at the Masters this weekend.
At The Players, what did it mean to have your kids there for your win?
David Cannon//Getty ImagesYoung with his family following his victory at the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, March 15, 2026. Young and wife Kelsey Dalition have three toddlers, Henry, John, and Vivienne, all under the age of five.
It was great. They weren’t there at the end of last year at the Wyndham Championship, which was one of only a few tournaments they missed. It was a bummer to miss them there. But all was well [when] they were there for The Players; they come with me almost everywhere and to be able to share that with them was really cool.
How has being a dad impacted your game?
It definitely changes things. It makes you—I mean, at least for me—it’s made me better at practicing. I’m much more efficient. I don’t just go to a golf course and wander around like I used to. Your time is more limited, but I feel like I’ve made better use of it. There’s something about [fatherhood] that does just drive you to be better at things; my drive to provide for my family, to set an example of working hard. But it’s interesting, I think about how important golf is to me and how much it means to me to perform well. And there’s a couple pictures of my oldest son running out to me on the green [after winning The Players].
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Young with his eldest son after winning The Players.
And seeing his face, he doesn’t know what I did. He doesn’t know that it’s the greatest professional accomplishment in my life. That’s just his face seeing me at the end of the day. I hadn’t seen him since nine in the morning, and it gives me some really good perspective on what’s important. It almost took that moment to help me with that, because he’s just so happy to see me at the end of the day. He doesn’t care what I did. He doesn’t care about the trophy. He doesn’t know. So to see his face just purely because that’s what he looks like when I come home every day, that was pretty cool.
How has being a dad made you reflect on your own father or your childhood?
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Young and his dad, Dave Young, in 2023.
I think all the time about how much my parents put into what I do, how much my dad still is involved. I think back about my dad working very long hours. He’s a golf pro in New York, and it’s a demanding job. He basically worked sun up to sun down all year round. And it just reminds me of the example he set for me of what that looks like.
I’m fortunate that [during] my weeks off, I can be home more. I can make my own schedule. I don’t go out there and practice for 12 hours a day. I might be gone for the morning or for the afternoon, but it’s one of the things I’m really grateful for. He worked very hard, but as a kid, I went to the golf course to see him. He wasn’t home a ton, just due to the nature of his job. And it makes me really grateful for that now because I know how much he would’ve loved to be home and be free more, but that just wasn’t in the cards for him. So it makes me realize how fortunate I am to do what I do, and to be able to have some of the flexibility and freedom that our job does give us.
Have you given any parenting advice to your fellow golfers?
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Young with his children and wife, Kelsey, after winning The Players.
We have three kids, and some of the guys around my age are having their first or having a second. So you get the odd question, “What’s your biggest thing going from one to two, or from no kids to having your first one?” And my main thing usually is: “You’ll figure it out.” And two, just to really appreciate the times that you do get with just your wife or just even just one child, because it really is special. For us, if I ever get to have one of our kids at a time, it’s a huge treat. They’re all amazing individually, and it’s only when they’re all together that it sometimes feels overwhelming. But any moment after they’ve gone to sleep and it’s me and my wife downstairs cleaning up after the day, just to be grateful for that time that you get to spend because it is fleeting. And I’ve really tried to make sure that I enjoy it as much as I can.
What do you look forward to about the Masters Par 3 tournament?
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Young and his sons during the Par 3.
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Young’s wife and children.
That’s our [family’s] big day of the year. It’s just great. I mean, you don’t get to take [the kids] to work much, so to get to have them out there, and it’s always just fun. You get to see all the pictures of them and the bibs, and get to spend some time with them, and they enjoy it. They get all these people out there cheering them on too, in a sense. Last year, my middle son, who was at the time just over two, was going down the line of older kids waiting for autographs. And all the kids there, they were letting him sign their flags, which was the sweetest thing ever. I mean, he’s basically ruining all of their flags, but it’s just fun. You get things like that that you won’t forget. And it’s just a really nice day.
Have your kids held a golf club?
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The Young boys.
They’ve taken a few swings here and there, but honestly, just being busy between doing my job and trying to take care of them as much as I can when I’m home, taking them out there… they’re still little. They’re unruly. So golf club is more dangerous than fun I think at this point, but they’ve taken some swings. And if you can get them to focus for a minute, both my sons can move it all right. So we’ll see. I hope they take some interest at some point, but it’s not something that I feel like I need to press them on at three and four years old.
Switching gears, can you tell me about your no social media policy?
I got rid of it all a couple years ago just because—I’m sure it’s a relatable thing—you’re on, say, Instagram and you close the app and your finger just goes back and clicks it again. And I remember doing that and I was like, man, what am I doing? So that was a little bit of, I don’t know if a wake-up call, because I already knew it was a waste of time for the most part for me. I didn’t post anything. It was just consuming content for no reason.
So for me, I felt like if it took me away from other things I could be doing for half an hour or an hour or two hours a day, I just felt like my time could be better spent elsewhere. And getting rid of it all together, ultimately, quieted my mind. And it just is something I don’t think about anymore. It’s not a part of my life. And I’m grateful for that because I understand it’s where a lot of the culture happens, but it’s also not always positive. I had gotten one too many negative messages and spent a little too much time on it and just decided that I’d be better [without] it, and not even open the door to any of that anymore.
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Young during the Ryder Cup.
Do you feel pressure from anyone to get back on it or have an account managed by someone else?
No. I think my position is pretty well understood about [social media]; anyone that would have that role, they’re incredibly supportive of me just being who I am. Everybody around me understands how I feel about it, and that’s pretty freeing just because it takes it off the table for me entirely. I’m not jealous of anyone whose job kind of revolves around that. It would drive me nuts.
Okay, I have to ask: What do you do on your phone?
I try to stay off of it, honestly. I use it to read a news article here and there. I use it to take golf swing videos. I used to take pictures of my kids, but I try not to be on it much. I just don’t think it’s generally that good for us. And for me, if I’m on my phone, that means I’m not looking at my kids, which is both sad, and also can be dangerous. They’re pretty wild and anything can happen at any moment, so I try really hard to just, especially around them, to stay off of it.
How much do the crowds impact your performance?
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The crowds at TPC Sawgrass after Young’s victory putt.
It can. Obviously if you’ve got a bunch of people booing you, that probably doesn’t feel great, but hopefully I don’t have too much of that. So generally, I feel like I have a relatively positive reception from the crowds, and I think it’ll probably be elevated now after The Players. So I’m excited to see what that’s like, honestly. I think it’ll be fun. And any amount of positive energy you can take out of them is a good thing. So I’m just looking forward to seeing how that’s changed and if I see a little bit more support than [I] have previously.
What would make Masters week feel like a success for you beyond the leaderboard?
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Young during a practice round.
If I can show up feeling prepared and healthy, the main thing after that is just trying to keep myself in a frame of mind where I feel like anything is possible. So for me, it’s just going to be a matter of doing my best to do that. And you have to let go of the results to some extent. I can’t control how I play. All I can do is control the inputs. So it’s really just a battle of trying to do what I can to control those things the best I can and seeing what happens with that.
Emily Burack (she/her) is the Deputy Digital Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, celebrities, the royals, and a wide range of other topics. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms.