Bud Cauley won the 2026 RBC Canadian Open for his first career win. He defeated Matt Fitzpatrick by two strokes to earn the victory.
In 2018, Cauley was in a car accident at the Memorial Tournament that derailed his career. He tried to play through the injuries for two years before stepping away from the game in 2020. He returned to the tour in 2024 and finished 47th in last year’s FedExCup Rankings.
Cauley started the final round one stroke behind leader Jackson Suber. The shot of the day came when Cauley chipped in for birdie from thick rough on the 12th hole. This was the second of three consecutive birdies that gave him the lead. His par on 18 gave him a final round score of 5-under 65 for his first win in his 239rd career start.
With this win, Cauley moved into the top 60 players in the Official World Golf Rankings and earned his way into next week’s U.S. Open. He also secured one of the qualifying spots for The Open Championship, with the other two spots going to Suber (T4) and Jesper Svensson (T4).
Fitzpatrick earned a runner-up finish after a closing round of 64 (-6). He moves up to first in the FedExCup Rankings, overtaking Scottie Scheffler. Sudarshan Yellamaraju from Ontario, Canada, earned the Rivermead Cup as the lowest Canadian in the field. His T8 finish is his third top-10 finish of the year as a PGA Tour rookie.
Ben James, who just graduated from Virginia and earned his PGA Tour card through PGA Tour University, made his professional debut at this event and led it after the second round after shooting a 63 (-7). With a tough third round, he ultimately finished T4 at 3-under.
Cauley was asked about his accident and how all he went through helped lead to this victory.
“Yeah, once I got the opportunity to start playing again I just told myself that I was going to try to just do everything the right way and give myself the best chance. I put my wife through so much during those dark times, and it’s just nice to have a little success as kind of a thank you.”
The 126th U.S. Open Championship at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club is upon us. Last year’s champion J.J. Spaun will look to defend his title against a field that includes Rory McIlroy, Aaron Rai and Brooks Koepka, who won the U.S. Open in 2018 at this golf course.
