Eight Years After Near Fatal Car Crash, Cauley Headed To Shinnecock Hills Ending 238 Tournament Victory Drought.

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Eight years after a near fatal car crash Bud Cauley is headed to this week’s US Open along with next month’s Open Championship as well as a maiden Masters showing next April after capturing a maiden PGA Tour title at his 239th appearance.

Cauley took the lead with a birdie chip on the par-4 12th and won the RBC Canadian Open in rain and wind Sunday for his first PGA TOUR title, eight years after his career nearly ended in a car accident at the Memorial Tournament.

The 36-year-old Cauley won just over two years after he finally returned to the TOUR following the accident.

“There were times when I was hurt that we really weren’t sure if I was going to be able to play again,” said Cauley, who was a passenger in a car when he sustained six broken ribs, a collapsed right lung and a fractured left leg.

On Sunday at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, Cauley closed with a 5-under 65 to get to 17-under 263. He began the round a stroke behind Jackson Suber, and ended up beating Matt Fitzpatrick by two shots.

“That’s a moment I’ve thought a lot about. Even last year a couple times when I was in contention my family wasn’t with me and it would always crossed my mind that hopefully for my first win everyone would be here,” Cauley said.

“I had to try to not think about it a lot today. Obviously, with them being here and I was playing well, I really had to think almost on every hole about staying focused and not thinking about that celebration if I were to win.”

Final-Round Notes – Sunday, June 14, 2026

Weather: Rainy. High of 67. Wind NW 6-12 mph. Note: Preferred lies were in effect for the final round.

 Final Leaderboard

Pos. Player R1 R2 R3 R4 Total
1 Bud Cauley 69 63 66 65 263 (-17)
2 Matt Fitzpatrick 67 68 66 64 265 (-15)
3 Viktor Hovland 68 69 64 65 266 (-14)
T4 Jimmy Stanger 65 67 68 67 267 (-13)
T4 Brice Garnett 65 67 67 68 267 (-13)
T4 Jesper Svensson 66 65 68 68 267 (-13)
T4 Jackson Suber 66 65 66 70 267 (-13)

 Bud Cauley (Winner/-17)

  • Earns first PGA TOUR victory in 239th career start at the age 36 years, 2 months, 29 days

    • Previous best finish on TOUR: 3rd, four times, most recently: 2025 Charles Schwab Challenge

  • Becomes 18th first-time winner at the tournament and first since Robert MacIntyre in 2024

  • Becomes first American to earn their first career win at this event since Chez Reavie in 2008

  • Becomes fifth first-time winner on TOUR this season and first since Kristoffer Reitan (Truist Championship)

  • Last five players to earn first win after 235 starts on TOUR:

    • Bud Cauley/2026 RBC Canadian Open/239

    • Adam Schenk/2025 Butterfield Bermuda Championship/243

    • Chris Stroud/2017 Barracuda Championship/290

    • Greg Chalmers/2016 Barracuda Championship/386

    • Alex Cejka/2015 Puerto Rico Open/287

  • Two-stroke victory marks largest at the RBC Canadian Open since Rory McIlroy in 2022 (won by 2 strokes)

  • Victory marks second top-five in seven starts at the RBC Candain Open (T4/2012)

  • Earns 500 FedExCup points and moves from No. 55 to No. 28 in the FedExCup standings

  • Move to No. 40 in the Official World Golf Ranking and qualifies for next week’s U.S. Open via the top 60 players in the Official World Golf Ranking

  • Win marks second top-10 in his 15th start this season (7th/RBC Heritage)

 Additional notes

  • With a final-round 6-under 64, Matt Fitzpatrick (2nd/-15), the highest-ranked player in the field (OWGR No. 4) earns his fifth runner-up finish and second this season (THE PLAYERS Championship); was seeking to become the first player since Scottie Scheffler (6/2025) to earn four or more PGA TOUR wins in a season (three wins: Zurich Classic of New Orleans, RBC Heritage, Valspar Championship)

  • Making his Canadian Open debut, Norway’s Viktor Hovland (3rd/-14) finishes solo-third, his best finish since the 2025 U.S. Open (3rd)

  • Three qualifying spots were available for The 154th Open at Royal Birkdale (July 16-19) through the Open Qualifying Series; the leading three finishers, not otherwise exempt, from the RBC Canadian Open earned spots in the field: Bud Cauley (Won), Jesper Svensson (T4), Jackson Suber (T4)

  • Defending champion Ryan Fox (T8/-12) finishes T8 in first title defense; was seeking to become the fifth player since 1950 to successfully defend at the RBC Canadian Open (Rory McIlroy/2022, Jhonattan Vegas/2017, Jim Furyk/2007, Jim Ferrier/1951)

  • PGA TOUR rookie who plays from Ontario, Canada Sudarshan Yellamaraju (T8/-12) claims the Rivermead Cup as low Canadian; records third top-10 in 17 starts this season

  • Making his third start at the RBC Canadian Open, 22-year-old Justin Matthews (T29/-8) wins the Gary Cowan Medal as low amateur

  • In his first start as a PGA TOUR member and as a professional, Ben James posted rounds of 67-63-78-69 to finish T54

  • Nine-time PGA TOUR winner Brooks Koepka (hand injury) withdrew prior to the start of the final round



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