After two surgeries, Tyler McCumber returns from two-year hiatus at Sony Open in Hawaii

HONOLULU – Professional golfers are often conditioned to avoid surgery at all costs.

Tyler McCumber underwent two surgeries in the past two years, addressing his left shoulder and left hip. At times he questioned whether returning to professional golf was a reality. That made Thursday all the sweeter.

“I feel like I went through the whole gamut of emotions,” McCumber said after opening the Sony Open in Hawaii with an even-par 70 in his first TOUR start since 2022. “Obviously those are two major surgeries; there are a lot of unknowns … There are new joints, new stuff I'm dealing with in my body and I didn't know that process. That's a little scary, but … it feels great teeing it up on the first tee. It’s been a while doing that, but all good feelings coming back.

“It’s been quite the journey to get here.”

Before Thursday, McCumber, 32, hadn’t made a TOUR start since the 2022 Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. His two-birdie, two-bogey effort Thursday at Waialae Country Club was solid if unspectacular, but his post-round grin suggested that he had won the day.

McCumber, the son of 10-time TOUR winner Mark McCumber, first stepped away with a pre-tournament WD at the 2022 PLAYERS Championship, as a nagging shoulder issue grew more troublesome. He tried various strength-building approaches like PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injections, but things weren’t progressing as intended. He went under the knife on July 1, 2022, undergoing left shoulder surgery for a posterior labral tear. “They can only do so much without the invasion of surgery,” he said Thursday. After attempting to ramp up for a return, he had a second surgery last summer – for a posterior labral tear in his left hip. The expected return time was a year, but he made it back in six months.

He has four rods from one surgery, three from the other. When asked whether he has picked up any new hobbies in his time away, he quipped that he learned a lot about anatomy – “I know parts of my body that I never knew the words before,” he said.

McCumber played a Bo Tour event last month in Palm Springs, carrying his bag and walking 54 holes. That was his test of his game and mind. He was “super nervous on the first tee,” but he felt well enough afterward to register for the Sony Open. He’s playing this week on a medical extension, the first of 16 available starts to earn 175.766 FedExCup points and retain his full card (he finished No. 99 on the 2021 FedExCup).

It was a long road for McCumber just to reach the TOUR; after turning pro in 2013, he was slowed by shoulder issues as his volume of play increased from college to pro golf. He underwent his first shoulder surgery in late 2017, so he was familiar with the inherent issues of shoulder instability into this latest hiatus.

That surgery didn’t slow him down. If anything, it propelled him. He won three PGA TOUR Canada titles in 2018 to earn Korn Ferry Tour status, then earned his first TOUR card the following year. He wouldn’t mind following this latest hiatus with a similar upward trajectory.

Golf Digest magazine once described McCumber as “the toughest guy on TOUR” after opening the 2021 Genesis Invitational in 4-under 67 just two days after undergoing emergency surgery to remove a fingernail. He surfed and rode BMX before turning to a full-time pursuit of golf, and he lives by the words, “if you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much room.”

McCumber likes it when things are uncertain. His latest comeback, then, is right in his wheelhouse. He looks forward to the challenges ahead – including Friday, where he’ll battle to make the cut at Waialae.

“The whole left side needed some love, so I had to do it,” McCumber said of his decision to undergo these latest surgeries. “Definitely had belief in myself as a player; I knew it wasn’t going to be from a lack of effort and belief (if I didn’t return).

“Felt like I was ready, so I figured I would start in one of my favorite spots in the world.”