On a medical extension, Bud Cauley began the 2025 season on the PGA Tour. He has been given 27 tournaments by the PGA Tour to accumulate enough FedEx Cup points to get his playing card back and stay a member of the tour.
That and more have been accomplished by the former Alabama All-American.
The last pairing for the BMW Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland, will see Cauley and Tom Hoge tee off at 1 p.m. CDT on Thursday.
Cauley secured a place in the eight Signature Events of the PGA Tour in 2026 by making the cut with a solid performance in the previous tournament, which is restricted to the top 50 golfers on the PGA Tour. Compared to standard PGA Tour stops, the Signature Events are limited-field competitions with greater prize money and FedEx Cup points.
During an appearance on SiriusXM this week, Cauley stated, “It’s easy to get caught up in the year and kind of forget where I was last year or, you know, especially the years before that.” So this year, I’ve made an effort to be conscious of it and truly appreciate and be thankful for the opportunity to play again and for having a decent season. Therefore, I believe it kind of keeps my viewpoint in a healthy place and frees me up a little.
Additionally, I seriously considered it last week; I was playing this year merely to make sure I had my card. I wouldn’t say that I was really interested in Signature Events or anything else like that, but I had to finish my medical first. I believe that’s helped me have some success this year because I tried to think back to that last week, when I obviously wanted to place in the top 50 really badly, but it’s nice to be in that position instead of competing in the last tournament, trying to make enough money to fulfill your medical and just keep your card.
At Alabama, Cauley was named to Golfweek’s first team of All-Americans in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Cauley skipped his senior season with the Crimson Tide and went pro after earning a spot at the 2011 U.S. Open.
On sponsor’s exemptions, Cauley participated in seven more PGA Tour events that season and earned enough cash to be eligible for a 2012 playing card. Without attending qualifying school, he became the sixth non-tour member to be granted a PGA Tour card.
However, on June 1, 2018, Cauley was involved in a vehicle accident at The Memorial in Columbus, Ohio.Cauley was a passenger in a BMW M6 that lost control, struck a culvert, and went airborne, according to the police report. The vehicle crashed into a ditch after crashing off a big tree and toppling a number of smaller ones.
Cauley sustained a fractured left leg, six broken ribs, a concussion, and a collapsed lung. Cauley returned in the 2019 season to participate in 25 events and 20 more in 2020, despite his severe injuries.
Surgery didn’t help, either, and his suffering remained. Rather, Cauley ended up with a colon inflammation and a seroma, which is a collection of fluid beneath the skin following surgery. Between the Safeway Open in September 2020 and the WM Phoenix Open in February 2024, he did not participate in any PGA Tour events.
Cauley’s medical expansion began with that. In 2024, he participated in 17 tournaments. He finished in the top 20 once and missed the cut seven times.
Cauley missed one cut and finished 30th, 21st, and 56th in four tournaments entering 2025. He then launched his comeback with a three-tournament run at the Valspar Championship, The Players Championship, and the Valero Texas Open, where he placed sixth, fourth, and fifth, respectively.
Even though he didn’t make the cut at the two tournaments prior to the FedEx Cup playoffs starting, Cauley advanced to the FedEx St. Jude Championship with the top 75 golfers of the season after finishing third at the Charles Schwab Challenge on May 25.
However, in order to qualify for this weekend’s BMW Championship, Cauley needed to move up at least three spots in the point standings from his current position at No. 53.
At TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, Cauley shot an 8-under-par 272 to tie for 14th place in the competition. His position in the points standings went from 53rd to 46th.
Cauley holed his sand shot for a birdie in the final round on Sunday as he was in the bunker on the 17th, which he had double-bogeyed in the third round.
“I was definitely feeling it,” Cauley added. My start was quite positive. I was making good contact with the ball. I didn’t miss a lot of putts. I was trying not to look when it got to the back nine, but I just happened to catch it on a couple holes to see where I was supposed to be. I knew I was actually kind of right there on the edge.
Yes, there was a lot of pressure, and I’m just grateful that the bunker shot was fired on the seventeenth.
Especially on Saturday, that hole has been beating my ass all week. I managed to get it past that tree and that bunker on Sunday after pulling it in the left rough once again and just so happened to get a slightly better lay than I did on Saturday. We were hoping to nail it exactly there.
The bunker shot was actually not that hard. A bit of a climb. I was hurled into the green. I was just fortunate enough to get in.
Although it may feel like icing on the cake at this point, Cauley will be attempting to move up the points rankings in order to qualify for the Tour Championship, which will take place at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club from August 21–24.
The top 30 golfers from the BMW Championship move on to the tournament the following week, where the season champion will receive $10 million and the last place finisher will receive a check for $355,000.
There are other former Alabama All-Americans competing in this week’s BMW Championship besides Cauley.Justin Thomas, who shared a room with Cauley when he first started playing on the PGA Tour, is ranked ninth in the FedEx Cup points standings going into this week’s competition.
In 2017, Thomas won the FedEx Cup.
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Mark Inabinett works for Alabama Media Group as a sports writer. You may follow him at @AMarkG1 on X.
