Three-time PGA Tour winner and 11-time PGA Tour Champions winner Scott McCarron was diagnosed with cancer on March 23, 2026. After the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational in early March, he noticed a scratchy throat. An ENT specialist performed a biopsy. He was later told that he had Stage II B‑cell lymphoma, which is a fast‑acting non‑Hodgkin’s cancer.

Later, in April 2026, he said that when you get a diagnosis like that, “you want to beat it and you want to come back and win again.” That’s what kept him motivated throughout the journey, as he now comes out cancer-free from the battle.

“Diagnosed March 23 2026 with Diffused Large B cell Lymphoma and today I’m Cancer free! Thank you to all the Dr’s and Nurses that took great care of me. Thank you to all my friends, Family and everyone that sent prayers my way. I’m forever Grateful. Now back to golf!” Scott McCarron wrote in an X post.

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The post also featured a video, where he is seen ringing the bell at Duke Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.

Despite the diagnosis, he never gave up playing the sport he loves. In April, he was already back in the field at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic. That was his first round just days after beginning chemotherapy.

Between April and July 2026, he had eight starts on the PGA Tour Champions. Across these eight events, he missed the cut only once, at the Senior PGA Championship. His performances did take a hit, though, which is natural for someone whose body is taking the toll of chemo treatments.

He called himself a “hairless cat” from chemo. And he even admitted that climbing stairs left him dizzy. As for playing golf, he said that every shot felt like “the first tee of a Ryder Cup” because of his elevated heart rate and exhaustion. However, he could still manage a best of T30 at the American Family Insurance Championship in eight events.

This isn’t the first time he has fought health concerns and made a comeback to golf. He has dealt with many similar issues, including ankle and back injuries. But the most straining of them all was the 2020-2022 ankle injury saga.

He played through chronic left ankle pain for roughly a year in 2020. Then, imaging revealed that he had two torn tendons. This led to a major reconstructive surgery in August 2021.

Across these health struggles, he came to realize that early detection is the key.

“Most of us are pretty stubborn and don’t do anything for a while. As soon as the thing showed up, I said, ‘I don’t like the looks of it,'” Scott McCarron told Golfweek.

“It was just like a little white thing. But the little white spot was becoming larger, the size of an eraser, and was blocking my esophagus and making it hard to swallow and really sore. So, it was a fast-acting cancer … early detection is the key for any of the cancers.”

In fact, in a video the PGA Tour Champions uploaded to Instagram, he said that if he had waited another six months, the outcome would have been far worse.

There are many other professionals who battle with health injuries. For instance, Steve Pate had lung cancer. He underwent chemotherapy and radiation starting in June 2025. After a long layoff, Pate returned to competition in February 2026 at the Chubb Classic. Similarly, there’s Jason Day, who has been struggling with back issues from when he was a teenager. He recently had to withdraw from the US Open because of that. Day blamed his gym routine for it.

Be it Day’s back injuries, Pate’s lung cancer, or Scott McCarron’s ankle issues, the pattern is clear that early diagnosis and treatment is the key to minimal disruption.