Bud Cauley

Was introduced to golf at age five by his father. Was homeschooled, and became a three-time All-American at Alabama. Selected to the 2009 USA Walker Cup Team and posted a 3-0-1 record as the USA easily defeated Great Britain and Ireland at Merion Golf Club.
Named a PING second-team All-American selection in his first two seasons at the University of Alabama. Finalist for the Hogan Award as a freshman and sophomore. Played in the Palmer Cup for the United States in 2011. Named SEC Freshman of the Year in 2009 and is a two-time first-team All-SEC selection. Won the 2009 United States Collegiate Championship with a 4-under-par score of 212. Also won the 2009 Isleworth Collegiate Invitational and the 2010 Linger Longer Invitational. Won the Players Amateur in 2008, qualifying him for the 2010 Verizon Heritage PGA Tour event at Harbor Town in Hilton Head, S.C. Beat then-world No. 1 amateur, Rickie Fowler, in the first round of match play in the 2009 U.S. Amateur. Also qualified for the 2010 U.S. Amateur. Three-time AJGA Rolex Junior All-American selection. Played in three U.S. Junior Amateurs from 2005-07, reaching the quarterfinals in 2006. Has eight holes-in-one in his golf career. His father is a Navy diver and his mother is a teacher.
Turned professional in 2011 prior to the U.S. Open were he finished T-63rd. Earned PGA Tour card for the 2012 season off from the PGA Tour non-member money list in just eight starts earning $735,150. Joined a shortlist of players who earned their PGA Tour card straight from college without having to go to the Qualifying School: Gary Hallberg, Scott Verplank, Phil Mickelson, Justin Leonard, Tiger Woods, and Ryan Moore.
2012 Notes: Posted his third career-top-10 finish (18 starts), with a T-4th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (third at the 2011 Frys.com Open, T-4th at the 2011 Viking Classic). Had veteran caddie, Tony Navarro, on his bag at Bay Hill. A week later, collected his second top-10 finish of the season, a T8th, at the Shell Houston Open. Had Had back to back 4th place finished first at the True South Classic, then another fourth-place showing a week later, at the RBC Canadian Open. Opened with an even-par 70 then played his final 54 holes in 14-under to finish three strokes behind winner Scott Piercy. His second-round 63 established a career-best 18-hole PGA TOUR round. Finished 3rd at the Wyndham Championship after entering the final round one shot behind the leader, giving him top-four finishes in three of his last four starts. Began his first Playoffs season with a T-10th at The Barclays, highlighted by a final-round, 4-under 67 at Bethpage State Park's Black Course. Later finished T-57th at the Deutsche Bank Championship and T56 at the BMW Championship to conclude the FedExCup season No. 38 in the standings. Was 44th in earnings with $1,774,479.
2013 Notes: Made the cut in 10 of 24 PGA Tour starts, highlighted by a T-14th at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, where he picked up a check for $112,000. Finished 131st in FedExCup points. Opened with a 65 at the first Korn Ferry Tour Finals' event, the Hotel Fitness Championship. Followed that round with scores of 69-68-69 to finish T5th. The final-day charge was derailed when he double-bogeyed the par-5 15th hole. Finished three shots back of winner Trevor Immelman.
2014 Notes: Made nine cuts in 19 starts. Finished 143rd in the FedExCup standings, making him eligible to try and regain his exempt status for the 2014-15 PGA Tour Season via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. Before the finals and made just one start after suffering a dislocated shoulder at the John Deere Classic in July. Before he got injured was T-4th at The Greenbrier Classic in late June for his first top-10 since finishing T-10th at The Barclays in 2012. In August, won his first event as a professional when he captured the Hotel Fitness Championship, the first of four Korn Ferry Tour Finals' events. The win came after 80 PGA TOUR starts and in his ninth on the Korn Ferry Tour...Missed the cut the following week (Chiquita Classic), before his season ended abruptly when he made the decision to undergo shoulder surgery the following week. Had surgery on Sept. 12 and was in a sling for six weeks.
2015 Notes: Because of his shoulder surgery did not make a start on the PGA Tour. Did play in 7 Korn Ferry Tour events but only made one cut. Was given 17 events on the PGA Tour in 2016 to earn $742,470 under a major medical extension.
2016 Notes. Played in 14 events and finished135th in the FedExCup race and 123rd in the money race with $760,430. He made the cut in 9 events and had three top-ten finishes, T-4th at the AT&T Byron Nelson, T-8th at the John Deere, and T-10th at the Wyndham Championship. With his back to back top-ten finishes to end the year jumped from 137th to 119th on the money race to claim exempt status for 2017.
2017 Notes: Played in 28 PGA Tour events making 18 cuts with five top-ten finishes. Was 65th in the FedEx Cup standings. In his 100th career PGA Tour start finished T-3rd at the CareerBuilder Challenge. It was his best finish since finishing 3rd at the 2012 Wyndham Championship. Went through his best streak on the PGA Tour (four top-tens in a row) in which he finished T-9th at Heritage, T-10th at Valero Texas Open, T-5th at the Zurich Classic (teamed with Justin Thomas) and then T-5th at the AT&T Byron Nelson.
2018 Notes: Played in 17 PGA Tour events making 11 cuts with two top-ten finishes. Was 124th in the FedExCup standings. Started his year one-shot back from the lead at the Safeway Open but shot a final round 74 to finish T-7th, five shots back of winner Brendan Steele. Was T-8th at the RSM Classic. After rounds of 77-76 to miss the cut at the Memorial Tournament was a passenger in a Friday night car accident which left him hospitalized with multiple injuries. After the accident, was 84th in the FedExCup standing, but fell to 122nd at the close of the Regular Season. Was not able to play, closing the season at 124th. Cauley was seriously injured in the accident, he suffered a concussion, six broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a broken left leg. Cauley had four plates attached to his ribcage to stabilize his right side and after a painful rehab period was able to hit his first shots in late August.
2019 Notes: Despite the injury and all the time off, Cauley still had his tour card, barley. He played his first event at the Safeway Open and finished T-46th. After a month off played at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open and after an opening round of 72, shot 66-67-65 to finish T-10th. Cauley had some patches of good play, a T-13th at the Farmers Insurance Open, a T-12th at the Honda Classic. At the one-year anniversary of his accident the folks at Memorial granted Cauley a sponsor exemption to the Memorial and he returned and finished T-9th. He was able to earn a spot onto the FedExCup playoffs but had to withdraw from the Northern Trust after three rounds. Cauley played in 25 PGA Tour events making 16 cuts with two top-tens and finished 95th in the FedExCup standings.
2020 Notes: At his first event of the season at the Military Tribute at The Greenbrier was T-14th. Was T-9th at the Houston Open. Was T-4th at the American Express shooting a final round 65 to finish six shots back of winner Andrew Landry.