Since he was a child, one thing Bud Cauley’s father always taught him was: ‘Don’t stop running.’ With that in mind, he joined one of the handful of players, like Tiger Woods, to get into the PGA Tour directly from college in the same year since 1980. But just seven years down the road, things took an ugly turn. And all Cauley could remember? ‘Don’t stop running.’

It wasn’t as easy, though. After missing the cut at the 2018 Memorial Tournament, Cauley was returning home on June 1 when his car went off the road and slammed into a tree. It became one of the most dreadful experiences of his life. But not only did Cauley not quit, but he also met his greatest support, as he recently revealed in a documentary series by PGA Tour Studios called Mindful.

“I couldn’t have gotten through any of it without my wife, Kristi. Three years is a long time,” Cauley recalled with teary eyes. “It was happening to me, but she was really going through it as much as I was.”

Cauley took half a minute to gather himself back up, before he confessed:

“Had it not been for that car accident, I would’ve been out on the ropes, playing golf. So, the worst thing that sort of ever happened to me led to the best thing. That’s how kinda stuff works out.”

The near-fatal accident had left Cauley with six broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a fractured left leg, and a concussion. At the time, surviving was a gift enough for him. But he did much more than that once he met Kristi.

Cauley met Kristi McDonald, then a digital marketing and relations manager at TGR Venues, through a mutual friend months after the crash. The golfer was still recovering and had nothing planned. However, the two clicked from the get-go, and on Christmas of 2019, Cauley proposed to her. By 2020, Cauley was back on the ropes and had played two seasons already when things got worse again.

In September 2020, he felt a sharp pain after practicing for about an hour. He thought resting would help and took a break until the next tournament, but then, he couldn’t even get through nine holes there.

In April 2021, just six months before their wedding, Cauley underwent another surgery to remove the plates that had been inserted into his chest. However, the bones had grown over the plates, making it impossible to remove. He had to be stitched up with scar tissue instead.

Just 12 days after that surgery, Kristi noticed his shirt was wet. When he took it off, his incision had popped open because of the seroma, a buildup of fluid. He also had C. difficile infection because of the same. That followed another wound VAC, his third surgery due to the accident. If this hadn’t worked, the doctors would’ve had to remove his ribs to get the infection out.

“Everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong,” he said back then.

Despite the setbacks, the couple navigated the recovery together. But first, watch him tell his story:

“When I would get down or lose hope, Kristi was always the positive one who said I would get it figured out and I would get back out there,” Cauley shared.

The couple got married on October 23, 2021, and welcomed their first son, Cooper William Cauley, in November 2022. Just two years later, he made his official return at the 2024 WM Phoenix Open. His wife and their son were there with him. It was also his first event back as a father.

“I’m so, so excited Bud is back,” Justin Thomas, his friend and best man at the wedding, had said. “He’s one of my best friends in the world. I just wanted to keep him positive. It’s going to work out. Just time will heal.”

The couple had their second son in January 2025, the year when Cauley needed good results on the green if he were to retain his PGA Tour card. That year, he finished tied for sixth at the Players Championship. The same year in May, he finished third at the Charles Schwab Challenge. But the biggest wins were his zero withdrawals.

Now, things are only looking up for the golfer who entered the PGA Tour as one of the touted talents.

In 15 starts this year, he has made 13 cuts, with six top-25 finishes, and most importantly, he fired a final-round 65 yesterday at TPC Toronto to win the RBC Canadian Open — his maiden win on the Tour in 239 starts. Cauley chased a Tour title for a very long time, but it is no longer his priority. But one lesson he will always keep close to his heart remains the same:

‘Don’t stop running.’