Bud Cauley set for triumphant return to professional golf after car accident

Bud Cauley’s Instagram grid last week featured a simple screen capture that turned into his most-liked post in three years. To make a “very, very long story short,” the caption read, he was coming back.

Back to work. Back to golf. And back to the thing that, at a few points over the last three years, he didn’t think he’d ever be able to do again.

“It’s hard to really describe how much I missed it,” Cauley said. “It’s something you wake up and do every day and then it gets taken away. It’s definitely an adjustment.

“At first just going out and hitting balls was a lot of fun. Then that progressed into playing. And then I got to play with some friends in town. It’s all been great.”

Cauley, now 33 and a father of a son, Cooper (who turned one in November) will be teeing it up at a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event for the first time since 2020 when he returns to action at The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay. He’ll also play next week at The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club before, hopefully, returning to the PGA TOUR. He has 27 TOUR starts left on a Major Medical Exemption.

Cauley has been on the sidelines for almost a half-decade after suffering a multitude of injuries in a car accident in 2018. At the time of the accident, he wrote that night was the “scariest” of his life and he was “so thankful to be alive.”

The University of Alabama alum – a celebrated amateur and collegiate golfer – won on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2014 and had been a stalwart on the PGA TOUR ever since.

The car accident forced Cauley to step away for the longest period from the only thing he had really known in his life – competitive golf.

His last start on TOUR was the Fortinet Championship in 2020 where he finished tied for 14th. Since then, he’s underwent “a bunch” of procedures and had some minor surgeries in 2021. He recently had significant surgery on his ribs and chest wall and started his return to golfing action in September of 2023.

Cauley said he had traveled to a few states to see about different treatments from different doctors, but the majority of his medical care came in his native Florida.

And over the last few years, he and his wife had talked about what he could, maybe, just in case, do instead of playing professional golf.

“I tried so many things and a lot of things I didn’t see any improvement with,” Cauley said. “After a while, your optimism starts to fade a little bit. (Not playing again) was definitely something I considered and thought about. But even when I would get down or lose hope (Kristi, Cauley’s wife) was always the positive one that said I would get it figured out and I would get back out here.”

Kristi and Cooper are with Cauley this week in the Bahamas. His first tournament back is also his first as a father. With a laugh, traveling with a 1-year-old has meant a significant increase in checked bags. But knowing that he is playing golf again – and not just TOUR golf – is so meaningful.

“I remembered a time where I just wanted to be able to play golf – even if it wasn’t professionally – just so then when he grows up he and I could be able to play together,” Cauley said. “For him to be out here… hopefully I’ll be able to play for a lot more years and as he gets older he can see it more and understand it more. All that is really exciting for me.”

So, Cauley’s life routine is a little different these days. Diapers and daycare. But he’s working on his work-life balance harder and stronger than he has in recent memory. He said his swing speed is basically the same as it was before and said these two weeks on the Korn Ferry Tour are going to be great tests for his new competitive baseline. Cauley has new things in the gym he has to do to warm up and some things he needs to do to recover for the next day. He’ll have to see if what he has planned for these two weeks is enough or if he'll have to tweak things going forward.

“It’s a learning process for me but the way it’s progressing the last few months feels better and better. I hope that continues,” Cauley said.

There have been plenty of familiar parts to Cauley’s week already, he said – like checking in and playing practice rounds. But the unfamiliar part is yet to come. He’s spent most of his days the last three years at doctor’s appointments or in physiotherapy clinics. This week, though, he got on a plane and traveled to a professional golf tournament. That part’s been fun. A return to normalcy.

But there’s still a big thing he needs to do this week – put a tee in the ground after his name is called and hit a shot in competition. Something he hasn’t done in a long while.

“I’ll be a little nervous on the first tee. Even back before I was injured there was excitement for a new tournament, though. When I get back out there I’m sure I’ll fall back into the tournament and competing,” Cauley said. “When you’re out there you stop thinking about everything else and just focus on the shot you’re about to it.”

Since September 2020, all Bud Cauley has been able to think about is “everything else.” But now it’s time to get back to work. And he can’t wait.