CALEDON, Ontario (AP) — Bud 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 in his 239th tour start — just over two years after he finally returned to the PGA 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 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.”
Cauley started his back-nine birdie run with a shot to 4 feet on the 206-yard 11th. He added the hole-out from 93 feet on 12, then made a 13 1/2-footer on 13 and a 15-footer on 15 — both par 4s. After a bogey on the par-4 17th, he parred the par-5 18th.
“It was obviously playing difficult with the rain and the wind,” Cauley said. “The conditions were so much different today than they were the first three days. I feel like my game was in a pretty good spot, I was hitting some pretty good shots.”
Fitzpatrick was second to take the FedEx Cup lead into the U.S. Open. He eagled the 18th in a 64.
“I would have taken it at the start of the week,” Fitzpatrick said. “I felt like there was a lot of good stuff in there, just needed to have it come out. My putting was a little bit of a struggle last week and I feel like I got a bit of a better process for what I’m working on this week, and that showed today, I putted really solid.”
Viktor Hovland was third at 14 under after a 65. Suber (70), Jesper Svensson (68), Jimmy Stanger (67) and Brice Garnett (68) were another stroke back.
