Back in 1962, Jack Nicklaus arrived at Doral as a rookie, just seven tournaments into his pro career. The course was just under 7,000 yards and couldn’t even fill a field of 144 players. Both the Blue Monster and the Tour were still new, and so was Nicklaus, who was years away from winning 18 majors and 73 titles that would set the standard for greatness in golf. That Doral belonged to a completely different era. This Sunday, Cameron Young earned $3.6 million for four days of play, and that wasn’t even his biggest check this spring. Nicklaus watched it all on his phone and his reaction quickly caught the attention of the golf world.
“I just saw a man win for the second time in less than two months and win almost as much money in those victories ($8.1 million) than I won in my entire career on both the @pgatour and @pgatourchampions — combined! Well played, Cameron Young! Nice going! Now, can I get a job caddying next week?”
The significance here is not just the amount, but who is acknowledging it. When a figure like Nicklaus openly reacts to these numbers, it signals a fundamental change in the sport. Young earned $4.5 million at The Players Championship, then added $3.6 million at Doral just eight weeks later. He led from start to finish, called a penalty on himself, and still made par. He moved from fourth to third in the world rankings that week.
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To see why Nicklaus is surprised, it helps to look at what he earned during his own career. In his 1962 rookie season at Doral, he made $61,868. His best year, 1972, brought in $320,542. Over 25 years, from 1962 to 1986, he averaged about $198,000 per season and never made more than $350,000 in a single year. He won 73 times on the PGA Tour, took home 18 majors, and set new standards for the sport. Yet Young made more than twice Nicklaus’s best season in just one week at TPC Sawgrass.
If Nicklaus’s 73 wins happened today, the prize money would be on a completely different scale. Even conservative estimates show the numbers are in another league. The rewards for top players have grown so much that they would be unrecognizable to those who set the original standards.
Nicklaus also recognized that Young is now establishing himself as a closer.
“Winning breeds winning. When you’ve won and then put yourself in that position again, you believe and you’re confident you can win again.”
Nicklaus has a history of making accurate assessments. In 1996, after playing with a young Tiger Woods at Augusta, he predicted Woods would surpass him and Palmer in Masters wins, which proved correct. Nicklaus does not make these statements lightly, and now he has focused his attention on Cameron Young.
Doral itself shows how the sport has changed. The course has expanded from 7,000 yards in 1962 to 7,739 yards today, reflecting the demands of modern players and the institution’s response. The field now includes 72 top players, a significant shift from earlier years. The course stands as evidence of the sport’s evolution, something Nicklaus recognizes.
How the PGA Tour’s Signature Event Era Turned Cameron Young’s Two Wins Into a Career
Young’s $8.1 million earnings are not unusual. They are the result of a competition the PGA Tour had to join. When LIV Golf started attracting top players with guaranteed contracts, the Tour answered by launching Signature Events with smaller fields and bigger prize money. Each week, $20 million is available, and The Players Championship offers a $25 million purse.
Now, a player like Young can earn in one spring what used to take an entire career. According to his career earnings profile, Young had already earned over $32 million on the PGA Tour by 2026, and that number will continue to grow as he competes in the biggest events.
What Nicklaus is describing, without quite naming it, is the redefinition of what a great career looks like right now. A player who had to scramble through U.S. Open qualifying last summer is now among the first to win both Doral and The Players in the same season, a distinction he shares only with Tiger Woods. Nicklaus built his numbers across four decades. Young is building his in concentrated bursts at events designed for exactly that.
“Winning breeds winning,” Nicklaus said at the end of his post. He meant more than just the prize money.
