Cameron Young has his parents along for an emotional Ryder Cup ride at Bethpage

• Keegan Bradley made Cameron Young a captain's pick following a hot finish to the PGA Tour season.
• David and Barbara Young have both caddied for Cameron over the years.
• Cameron Young's father is the former head professional at Sleepy Hollow Country Club and is his coach.

Any parent who’s logged thousands of miles in a car filled with kids and equipment bags and endured hundreds of early mornings within shouting distance of whatever youth sport is in season understands the emotional investment.

It’s never easy to stay calm in a well-traveled folding chair as the drama unfolds.

David and Barbara Young have packed the car and driven the miles for years. They were in the background at son Cameron’s baseball and hockey games before he went all in on golf. David was the head professional at Sleepy Hollow Country Club for 20 years and has always handled the swing mechanics. Barbara oversaw logistics and did most of the driving.

Most of the memorable wins during a noteworthy junior career came with mom or dad on the bag.

Cameron landed at Wake Forest where he continued to win and then catapulted from the Korn Ferry Tour onto the PGA Tour where he was named 2020-21 rookie of the year. And now the 28-year-old who grew up in Garrison and Scarborough is playing in the Ryder Cup.

And that makes David and Barbara next level sports parents.

The biennial us-against-them golfapalooza transcends the game. It’s provincial. It’s loud. It’s stressful. Putting the Ryder Cup on Bethpage State Park’s famed Black Course is only going to amplify the noise and nerves.

“I think what I love about the Ryder Cup is I feel like every hole is the last hole of a tournament, so you can kind of let that emotion out,” U.S. captain Keegan Bradley said this week. “And I think you see a lot of players that play with a lot of emotion play well at Ryder Cups because they don't have to hold it in. … And when you come out in an exciting environment like this, you can let that emotion out and enjoy it.”

That is usually the plan outside the ropes, too.

So how are mom and dad going to handle the heat of an international competition that was announced back when Cameron was at Fordham Prep dreaming of moments like this one?

They’ve never been part of the bleacher creature set.

“We've been to a few Ryder cups, so we kind of know what the atmosphere is going to be like, and it’s going to be at least that this time at Bethpage,” David said. “You know, I don't know how you prepare for this. We're just, we're looking forward to it. It's going to be exciting, and I think Cam is going to handle it really well, so should be fun.”

Cameron was part of the U.S. team that won the Presidents Cup in 2022, but aside from the format there is very little comparison.

“It's hard to really predict exactly how it's going to be and exactly how I'm going to feel about it,” Barbara said. “I know Cameron has a huge support system and fan base in New York, and I know they'll be pulling for him, which will be great. We’ll see how that looks. I’m excited for him.”

Young was never a lock for a Ryder Cup spot

There were a few mood swings for Cameron long before Bradley announced his captain’s picks. Missing six cuts in 11 events to open the season did not sit well. There was a lot of grinding before positive results validated the work.

“Yeah, there definitely were some frustrating times earlier this year,” David said. “He wasn't playing great, and we started to question a little bit whether we were doing the right things or not. We sort of stayed the course and kept working and he started playing well again.”

After seven runner-up finishes, Cameron earned his first PGA Tour victory at the Wyndham Championship last month. There was no Sunday drama.

“I was one tournament off,” David said. “I really thought he was ready to win at The Open Championship. Turns out, he missed the cut but actually played well. It was just one of those weird weeks. Then he came back and won his next event. So, you get the whole range of emotions. And it was really fun watching him win.”

Watching the process from a distance was not easy.

“I could see the stress on Cameron and on Dave,” Barbara said. “They worked really hard and were not seeing the results. I was just as happy for Dave as I was for Cameron when he won and my first thought was, ‘I cannot believe how much effort went into this, just the two of them working together, trying to figure it out and trying to get better.’ It's a long, process, and you don't always get the sweet victory or the reward of making a Ryder Cup team so I’m just so happy for both of them.”

The moment has never been too big for Cameron.

He’s been playing in Met Section championships and team events since middle school. He won in college. He won on the Korn Ferry Tour. He’s quick to adapt on and off the course.

“There have been a lot of life changes in about five years when you go from not having a tour card to all of a sudden getting your card and getting married and having three children,” Barbara said. “It's quite remarkable to me that he's been able to play at this level knowing everything he has on his plate, but he and Kelsey really seem to have a good handle on it, and they're managing it well. It's really great to see him playing like this right now, and to see what a great dad and husband he is, too. The fans don't know that because he's so quiet, but he's a remarkable dad and husband, and we’re real proud of him for that.”

The game face is always on

Like any professional athlete, Cameron has very high expectations.

The game face is always on, except for those occasional blurry moments where there’s no way to hold back the frustration.

“Unfortunately, he got some of that from me,” David said. “He probably hides it a little better than I do, most of the time anyway. I think he's in a really good place these days. He still gets mad but Cam’s got a better perspective on his career, on his life. The fire is still there, but he handles himself pretty well these days.”

There were moments following the win at the Wyndham Championship that provided a glimpse of what the breakthrough meant to Cameron. His watery eyes told that story.

Cameron and his family are based in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., 15 minutes away from mom and dad in Jupiter, Fla.

David only missed two events this season, and Cameron had his wife and kids along for the ride most of the way.

“I think it’s been really helpful,” David said. “Instead of sitting in a hotel thinking about what may have been a tough round, golf kind of gets put on the back burner until the next day when the family is around. That’s healthier. He’s a dad first and a golfer second and that's made him focus doing his job efficiently so he can be the dad he wants to be.”

Cameron has some history at Bethpage Black, where he became the youngest winner of the New York State Open in 2017.

Of course, he’s never experienced ‘The People’s Country Club’ like this.

“We've been waiting a long time for this, so I don't plan on missing anything,” Barbara said. “I don't take one thing for granted. We're just so thankful and grateful and excited and I want to soak it all in.”

It’s bound to be an emotionally moving experience, worth all the car rides and lost weekends.

“The family gets a couple of passes to be inside the ropes so we can actually see some golf,” David said. “Kelsey will be there with a couple of her brothers. We’ve got friends and family coming out to watch along with some of the members from Sleepy Hollow. We didn't have any trouble using up all the tickets we were allotted. We probably had more requests than we had tickets for tournament days. It’ll be fun.”

Mike Dougherty covers golf for The Journal News/lohud.