Bud Cauley

35-Year-Old Golfer

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2025 Stats

Rank

Winnings

$3,284,510

Winnings/Entry

$156,405

Entries

Rounds

2026 Fantasy Outlook

Cauley's first season on the PGA Tour was 2012 and just about everything went as planned. He ended that season in the top 50 and the future looked bright for Cauley. His game got off track soon after however and he spent the next five seasons searching for his game. He rebounded in 2017, only to end up in a car wreck that set his game back for a few more seasons. After a few seasons away from the Tour, he came back in 2024, with little success. Entering the 2025 season, there wasn't a lot of hope, but somehow, he managed to put up the best numbers of his career. Cauley is in his mid-30s, and while his numbers from this past season look like an abberation, remember that he was highly-touted as a rookie. He's got plenty of talent and he might have finally unlocked it. As such, he's an interesting salary cap option for this season. Read Past Outlooks

Handedness Right

Status Pro

Height 5'8"

Weight 161 lbs

DOB 3/16/1990

Birthplace Daytona Beach, Florida

College Alabama

Country USA

Notches first top-20 of season

March 9, 2026

Cauley closed with a two-over 74 on Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational to finish three-under and tied for 18th.

ANALYSIS
Cauley carded just one final-round birdie while losing 2.47 strokes putting Sunday, though he ultimately ended the Signature Event ranked fourth among the field in rough proximity, fifth in putting from 10-15 feet and 10th in Par-5: Birdie or Better percentage. The T18 result not only marks a solid rebound from his missed cut at The Genesis Invitational, but it's also Cauley's best finish of the 2026 season through six outings. He'll tee it up again this week at TPC Sawgrass where he tied for sixth last year.

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PGA Stats

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Tournament Results

Scoring

FanDuel

DraftKings

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PGA Advanced Stats

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Projected PGA Tournament Status

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Past Fantasy Outlooks

2025

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

Cauley had not teed it up in competition since 2020 due to a lengthy list of injuries prior to the 2024 season. It certainly was a bit of a struggle, but he found some momentum down the stretch making four of his last five cuts, including a T5 finish at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Cauley has 10 more events left on his major medical extension going into the 2025 season. He has already clinched at least conditional status, but is also just 136 FedExCup points away from regaining full status. There are some exciting things working in his favor like ranking 21st in GIR percentage and eighth in scrambling. Now finally healthy, Cauley is in position to get his career back on track.

Cauley looked like a future star after two top-5 finishes in 2011 at age 21, but his results have failed to live up to the talent. He does a good job of making cuts, but he's not very long or a great putter which makes it difficult for him to contend often and get that breakthrough victory. He's a good DFS option on courses that force layups off-the-tee and it would be a shock to see Cauley miss the FedEx Cup Playoffs next season.

The hype surrounding Cauley was massive when he first entered the PGA Tour in 2012, but after yet another lackluster season, it might be time to just accept him for what he is - a good golfer, who is never going to be elite. Cauley has played on the PGA Tour for the better part of the past seven seasons and he's yet to post a win or a runner-up finish. Cauley simply doesn't have the upside that it looked like he had some seven or eight years ago. He's pretty reliable, which is fine for formats outside of salary caps, but obviously he's not an option in salary cap leagues.

Cauley is among the group of "young guns" that hasn't quite hit their stride yet. Coincidently, another member of that group, Harris English, finished right behind Cauley on the FedEx points list last season. There's no doubt that both guys would rather be more accomplished at this point in their careers, but there's a lot of competition out there and there's no room to let up. Cauley has flashed a few times in PGA Tour career, most notably in 2012 when he posted six top-10s, but he's yet to win or even finish runner-up on the PGA Tour. The potential is there, but there are plenty of guys with potential on the PGA Tour and many of them actually live up to it. Cauley has enough upside to double his number from last season, but odds are, he'll be fighting to stay inside the top-125 again a year from now.

Entering the 2012 season, the hype surrounding Cauley was much like the hype surrounding Rahm and DeChambeau entering last season. Cauley didn't disappoint either as he posted six top-10s on his way to more than $1.7 million in earnings. What happened after that season though is a mystery. Over the next three seasons, Cauley missed 27 of 57 cuts and the jury was again out on his skills. He put some of those questions to rest last season and he again resembled the guy who played so well in 2012, but his ceiling is still unclear. With that in mind, Cauley carries a little too much risk and not quite enough reward this season.

After earning nearly $100k per start in an abbreviated 2011 season, Cauley quickly became a hot prospect. That momentum continued through the following season as he pulled-in over $1.7 million in earnings, but somewhere between that season on the following season, Cauley lost his game. Cauley spent the following two seasons just trying to crack the top-125 in earnings (failing both times) and it wasn't until last season that he finally started to put his game back together. It remains to be seen if Cauley can get back to his 2012 level, but the way he finished last season is promising; all of which makes Cauley an intriguing option in salary cap leagues this season. In draft leagues, Cauley should be drafted near round 10.

Cauley is a rarity among the top 50: He’s played the last three seasons on the PGA Tour, this past season finishing 143rd in the point standings, and regained his card by winning the Web.com Tour finals opener. But after missing the cut the next week, he underwent surgery to repair the labrum in his left shoulder. So even though he’s among the most-tested of the new grads – 38th in the FEC point standings in 2012 -- he will miss 4-6 months. He starts out fourth in the priority rankings, but it’s hard to miss that much time and succeed.

Four made cuts to end his 2013 PGA Tour season weren't enough to spare Cauley a trip to The Finals to save card.

After a late-season surge as a non-member in 2011, a lot was expected of Cauley in 2012, and he delivered. Cauley missed his fare share of cuts (seven of 28 events played), but for the most part, he remained pretty steady the entire year. While Cauley isn't a must at this price, he's pretty darn close. There's no reason to think he'll regress this season, and his upside is tremendous, so he's as good a pick as you'll find in this range. Cauley might go a little early in draft leagues because he was highly touted last season, but the fourth round is probably where he should be slotted.

How's this for exclusive company, last season Cauley became the sixth player in PGA Tour history to earn his card in summer and fall after leaving college and turning pro. The other five are Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Gary Hallberg, Justin Leonard and Ryan Moore. As a non-member, Cauley earned more than the 125th person on the money list, which means starting in January, he's a member of the PGA Tour. We've seen situations similar to this before and it doesn't always play out like you'd expect, but the future sure looks bright for Cauley.

21-year old Cauley, a rookie non-PGA Tour member, earned enough money through the McGladrey Classic, October 16, 2011, to safely project his position would be 112th on the final PGA Tour money list thus earning a 2012 PGA Tour playing card. He is the sixth player to do so.

More Fantasy News

Third in FIR at AT&T Pro-Am

February 16, 2026

Cauley closed with a two-under 70 on Sunday at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am to finish 11-under and tied for 37th.