Before 2018, Bud Cauley was a rising star. A three-time All-American at the University of Alabama, a Walker Cup hero, and one of the rare players to bypass Q-School and jump straight to the PGA Tour. But a horrific 2018 car accident left him with six broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and a fractured leg. Cauley’s career and life hung in the balance. For over three years, he battled setbacks, surgeries, and doubt. But through it all, he discovered the true nature of his friendship with Justin Thomas.

“JT is one of my best friends,” Cauley said. “Whether it’s, you know, even if we’re not playing golf, just hanging out and doing things together, you know, now he has a young daughter, too. So, we’re kind of going through that together, too.. He’s obviously seen me struggle with injuries and the things that I’ve gone through. And I feel like it’s kind of rare to have, you know, like a friend like that on tour…” Cauley told Tom Coyne on the Golfer’s Journal Podcast.

The sentiment was sincere, and it wasn’t just words. Cauley wasn’t talking about surface-level tour friendships or practice-round acquaintances. This was a real connection forged not just through ups and downs in the game, but through life’s toughest moments.

“And it’s just fun to have a friendship like that. And, you know, I think that’s just another great thing about golf. Justin, along with a lot of other friends of mine I’ve met through golf…” Cauley added. 

Justin Thomas and Bud Cauley’s friendship goes back to their University of Alabama days. Cauley had already turned pro by the time Justin Thomas arrived on campus in the fall of 2011, but they crossed paths during Thomas’s frequent campus visits. They didn’t become close during their college days, but only after they reconnected in Florida, their bond became so strong. But it wasn’t just for the good times.

When Cauley’s car accident shook the golf world in 2018, Thomas dropped everything. He spent most of that Friday night at the hospital, trying to keep it together while his friend fought through pain and uncertainty. The next day, Thomas played his third round at the Memorial Tournament distracted and heavy-hearted.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about it and thinking about him,” Thomas said. “I just really wanted to get done and go to the hospital.”

It took years, long, frustrating, and painful years for Cauley to feel healthy enough for a comeback. After two early returns in 2018 and 2019 that saw him keep his card, things flared up again in 2020. Surgeries didn’t heal well. Incisions reopened. He battled infections, complications, and a sense that nothing was going right. “

Everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong,” he said last year at the WM Phoenix Open.

Cauley teed it up at the WM Phoenix Open for his long-awaited PGA Tour return after grinding through rehab and quietly making two starts on the Korn Ferry Tour in The Bahamas, where he finished a respectable T21 and T35. And not only did he look ready, he looked like himself again. And the comeback wasn’t just emotional for Cauley, but even for Justin Thomas, who couldn’t wait to root for his best friend again.

Justin Thomas Has Been Bud Cauley’s Biggest Cheerleader

Ever since Bud Cauley’s accident, Justin Thomas held onto a quiet hope that one day, he’d compete alongside his best friend on the PGA Tour again. That dream finally came true last year. When Cauley fully returned on the tour, Thomas was excited.

“I’m so, so excited Bud is back. He’s one of my best friends in the world … I’m really happy and proud of him… I know how good Bud is, and I know his raw talent. I just wanted to keep him positive and keep telling him because my thing I always said is it’s going to work out … just time will heal.” He also added that Cauley is “just too good a player to not have won out here at some point.”

And that support didn’t fade with the start of this season. At this year’s Players Championship, with Cauley in the mix, Thomas was emotionally all-in.

“I’d do some really, really weird things for Bud to win today,” Thomas confessed, half-joking. Earnestly, adding, “I probably want it too bad… I was like a nervous parent. I just want him to play well so bad because I know how bad he wants it.” Cauley ultimately finished tied 6th in that event.

And Cauley feels the same for Thomas. Speaking on the Golfer’s Journal podcast, he admitted that Thomas and he root for each other constantly.

“I really feel like unless he’s in contention, he’s pulling as hard for me almost as I am for myself,” Cauley said. “Of course I pull for him, too. It’s just fun to have a friendship like that. I mean, he’s been, like I said, one of my best friends. I’d do anything for that guy. He’s been very supportive of me and the things I’ve gone through trying to get back.”

Now, with Cauley playing the Baycurrent Classic and sitting tied for 38th, there’s no doubt Thomas is watching closely and cheering for him.