– Bud Cauley was practising last Monday at the Bear’s Club in Palm Beach Gardens, where he lives, when his phone rang and he was told that Lee Hodges had withdrawn from the THE PLAYERS and he was in the tournament. He would have attended the event even if he had to go to the other side of the world, because this tournament is his favourite for many reasons. The first and foremost: he grew up in Jacksonville, started playing golf there, and practically since he was old enough to remember, he attended the tournament every year and ‘pestered’ his idols. So, no, the 375 kilometres that separated him this Monday from TPC Sawgrass were certainly not going to be an obstacle to rush to the call. Today, Sunday, he is in the leading group just one shot behind the leader, J. J. Spaun, and has the opportunity to put a perfect bow on a long story of overcoming adversity.
– Let’s remember: in 2018 Cauley missed the cut at the Memorial and that same Friday suffered a serious car accident in Dublin, Ohio, very close to Muirfield Village, in which he broke six ribs, among other serious injuries. He reappeared six months later, but after two years some complications with the plates that had been placed in his ribs after the accident kept him away from the game for three years, during which time he of course seriously thought he would not compete again, as each medical complication was almost followed by an even more serious one. He finally returned in 2024 with a medical exemption for 27 tournaments, of which he has completed 21 without yet reaching the necessary points to guarantee his playing rights on the PGA Tour… Although that is evidently the least of Cauley’s concerns: “I don’t even know how many points I need,” he said yesterday. Logical: many times, when you go through what he has gone through, you tend to downplay everything and feel lucky just to be alive.
– Cauley, by the way, has not yet won on the PGA Tour. Therefore, if he were to win in HIS tournament, his THE PLAYERS, the story would be one of ‘happily ever after’, after outsmarting the big bad wolf.
– Several big bad wolves, in any case, will have to be outsmarted by Cauley and Spaun, sticking to the surprising leading group this Sunday. Firstly, the playing conditions, with a lot of wind. And rain, which might also fall. Cauley’s 66 on Saturday, with gusts exceeding forty kilometres per hour, gives us a clue of what this player is capable of, a true talent in his amateur days, on a course he has played hundreds of times in his life. But nothing and no one guarantees anything.
– Another big bad wolf should be Rory McIlroy (-8), who is four shots off the lead and with the healthy intention of doing what Scottie Scheffler did last year, when he came back from five shots in the final round to win by one over Schauffele, Harman, and Clark. None of these three, by the way, are up there (in fact, only Schauffele made the cut: blessed golf, which does not respect the ranks). Nor does Scheffler seem likely to repeat the feat (blessed golf, which does not respect the ranks), as he is seven shots off the leader.
Some more big bad wolves will emerge from the group of candidates playing today within a more or less reasonable margin of shots: Glover (-9), Smalley (-9), Conners (-8), Bhatia (-8), Walker (-7), Jaeger (-7), McGreevy (-7), Cantlay (-7), Knapp (-7), or Straka (-7).
– Let’s go with Scheffler. Last year he finished the third round with three consecutive birdies on holes 16, 17, and 18 to still be far, five shots away, but with some chance that he later made good with a splendid 64 in the final round. This year, yesterday, he needed something similar: to finish well to get into the last groups and feel he still had the victory within reach. He didn’t even need those three birdies, but almost the opposite happened: bogey on 16, another bogey on 17 after three-putting, and a par by the skin of his teeth on 18, where he had missed behind the green and pulled off an excellent recovery.
In some way, all this could serve to summarise the great difference between the Scheffler of 2024 and the one of 2025, even if in a somewhat simplistic or vague way: a year ago, the Texan found a way to push when he needed it most; this year, however, he does not yet have that gear change. Rather, he is making some punctual mistakes at very inopportune moments and, even, on the wrong side, just when he needs to define the rounds and place himself definitively at the top.
– J. J. Spaun, by the way, saw the writing on the wall almost a year ago, in the middle of the 2024 season, but managed to dodge the beast in the best way. He explained it like this yesterday: “I think it was halfway through last season when I played terribly at the start. I had some health issues, like viruses and colds that physically affected me. But I didn’t want to blame my bad play. But halfway through the season, it seemed like I was done, that I wasn’t going to finish in the top 125, and I thought: “I’ve played here for eight years, I have a great family, I’ve achieved things, I’ve won. So it’s not the end of the world if that’s how I end up.” With that, that’s when my attitude changed. It’s not that I had a bad attitude, maybe it was a perspective problem. Then, in the second half of last year, I started off on the right foot to finish in the top 125 and maintain my status, and this year I’ve started the year with the same perspective. It’s gone quite well for me.”
Many consider that Spaun‘s golf is of much higher calibre than his record shows. Perhaps today that equation will balance out. The putt of more than six metres he holed yesterday on 18 to save par should help a lot. Or maybe it was just another proof that, indeed, his big moment has arrived.
