The stage for the 2024 WM Phoenix Open is set! It has a lot of unique factors, like the tradition of happening during the same weekend as the Super Bowl and having the ‘Loudest Hole in Golf’. However, one more thing that makes the event unique this year is Bud Cauley.

The American golfer has been missing from the golf scene for five years. Why do you ask? Let’s take a stroll down memory lane to visit the complete timeline of events.

Bud Cauley’s return to the greens

Before 2018, the American golfer was known for his can-do attitude on the golf course. He was a rising pro with the badge of the former No. 1 junior in the world. However, all this changed on an unfortunate Friday night during the 2018 Memorial Tournament. Bud Cauley was involved in a serious vehicle accident that left him in a near-death condition.

The incident occurred when the 29-year-old Cauley and his friend’s BMW M6 crashed after multiple spins in the air near Muirfield Village Golf Club. With six broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and a fractured leg after the accident, the professional career of the American golfer came to a stop.

His fans thought he would never return to the greens, let alone have a normal life. But after five years, Cauley is back on his feet and ready for action. But during these five years, the PGA Tour pro has made multiple attempts for a comeback.

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In 2019, he competed in the Memorial Tournament again after the previous year’s tragedy and finished in the top 10. He followed it with an on-and-off appearance on the Tour, with his last event being the 2020 Safeway Open. But a recurring pain forced him to go back on hiatus.

Cauley’s second round of disappearance from the PGA Tour

During all his events, Bud Cauley played with a sharp pain on the right side of the chest. After much deliberation, surgery looked like the only viable option. The surgeons removed some of the scar tissues from his chest, thinking the plate in his ribs was causing the pain.

But things went as wrong as they could, leading to a “hole in the side of my chest,” according to Cauley. The doctors put in a wound VAC in that area until the PGAT pro was ready for his next surgery. But at his third follow-up surgery, the stitches on his chest got infected.

This made his day-to-day life a hassle, leading to mental stress for the PGAT player. At one point, he even thought about remaining in the golf industry, but not as a professional golfer.

However, the 33-year-old persevered through all those challenges. After another round of surgery later, he is now set to make his professional re-debut at the 2024 WM Phoenix Open. But in the eyes of golf fans, Bud Cauley is already a winner.

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