It’s been quite the journey for Sudarshan Yellamaraju from India to a golf dome in Winnipeg to turning pro as a teenager to the PGA Tour, but if there was anything that the young Canadian has taken away from this week at The Players Championship, it’s that he belongs amongst the game’s best – no matter how he started. 

Yellamaraju, who shot 101 in his first-ever round of golf as a nine-year-old and then never shot over 100 again, was much better than that Sunday at TPC Sawgrass, recording a 4-under 68. He finished at 9 under for the week and tied for fifth, four shots back of winner Cam Young.  

It was the best result at The Players by a PGA Tour rookie in almost a decade-and-a-half (David Lingmerth finished tied for second in 2013) and Yellamaraju’s first career top-10 result on the PGA Tour. It is also the best result by a Canadian at The Players since Stephen Ames’ win in 2006. 

With his tie for fifth, Yellamaraju earned US$925,000, about $100,000 higher than his career total earnings between the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour. 

“It was a long week. I’m pretty happy with… how it went. Obviously to kind of grind to make the cut, and then I just kind of wanted to play the best golf I could on the weekend. I think I kind of exceeded what I thought I could do,” Yellamaraju said. 

The 24-year-old had a dream-like start to his Sunday, making three birdies in his first four holes. He added another on the par-5 9th to make the turn in a 4-under 32. 

Yellamaraju gave one back on the short par-4 12th after putting his tee ball in the fairway bunker (his first bogey in 36 holes) before making back-to-back birdies on Nos. 15 and 16. He closed with an unfortunate bogey on No. 18 – playing as the second-toughest hole of the week – but he remained positive with his strong weekend effort. 

“I just wanted to play one shot at a time and play the best golf I could because this course is so tough and you’ve just got to stay patient and just keep grinding,” Yellamaraju said. 

The crowd was getting louder and fuller as the afternoon went on Sunday, especially through the gauntlet of Nos. 16-18. The young Canadian doesn’t drink, but even he was feeling the weekend buzz. Through Saturday, when he made four birdies in a row on the front nine, he said he could hear the crowd cheering him on and that kept him motivated. When his tee ball on the island green par-3 17th found land in the final round, he ended up walking up the rope-line and gave the assembled masses high fives. 

There have been just three golfers in the tournament’s half-century history to win in their first attempt (including Jack Nicklaus in the first Players Championship), so while Yellamaraju knew tilting the trophy would be unlikely, he was still as committed as ever to notching a great result. 

“I kind of just wanted to enjoy the moment,” Yellamaraju said of his long walk on 17. “I never thought I was going to have a chance to win, to be honest. I would have to do something miraculous, and I almost did.” 

Yellamaraju ended his week as the low Canadian at TPC Sawgrass, with Corey Conners – who was in the fourth-to-last pairing Sunday – struggled to a 2-over 74 after making bogey on four of his first six holes in the final round. Still, Conners finished tied for 13th, his third straight top-15 result at The Players. 

Nick Taylor finished tied for 42nd after a 1-over 73 on Sunday, while Taylor Pendrith also shot a 1-over 73 and finished tied for 46th.