{"id":732742,"date":"2026-06-12T20:51:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T20:51:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/732742\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T20:51:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T20:51:26","slug":"pga-tour-rookie-sudarshan-yellamaraju-enjoys-his-rbc-open-homecoming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/732742\/","title":{"rendered":"PGA Tour rookie Sudarshan Yellamaraju enjoys his RBC Open homecoming"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Mississauga, Ont.’s Sudarshan Yellamaraju said he enjoyed the support he got on Thursday at the opening day of the RBC Open in nearby Caledon.Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Watching Canada\u2019s Sudarshan Yellamaraju birdie holes at the RBC Canadian Open, it\u2019s hard to remember the PGA rookie learned to play golf by watching YouTube videos.<\/p>\n

The self-taught 24-year-old lefty has taken an improbable path to the highest level of professional golf. Born in India and raised in Canada, he didn\u2019t learn the game with formal swing instruction or hone his talents in college golf, like many of his competitors on the Tour. He took up golf as a boy, by watching pros on video \u2013 like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy \u2013 then trying his hand at a sport his family knew nothing about.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watched just whatever I could and just tried to see what worked,\u201d said Yellamaraju after firing a one under par 69 in Thursday\u2019s opening round at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley. \u201cI still have a lot of my own characteristics or my own feels in the way I\u2019m playing. It may not be the most conventional way, but I kind of figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yellamaraju is among the most fascinating of the 21 Canadians in the field in Caledon, Ont. this week. He\u2019s had a breakout debut season on the PGA Tour, including six top 25 finishes. The most memorable was his tie for fifth at The Players Championship in March at TPC Sawgrass, followed immediately by a tie for sixth at the Texas Children\u2019s Houston Open.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s cooled a little since, missing some two cuts in May, then finishing tied for 40th at the Memorial at Muirfield Village Golf Club. <\/p>\n

I played the Canadian Open’s golf course to see what separates the pros from the joes<\/a><\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t his first RBC Canadian Open, but he\u2019s better known this time owing to his hot start to the 2026 season. He played last year but missed the cut following rounds of 71 and 72. He\u2019ll battle to stay above the cutline on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cScore-wise obviously a lot better. Shot two-over last year. It was a little bit inconsistent. I hit a lot of good shots, but I also hit some not good shots,\u201d was how Yellamaraju critiqued himself Thursday. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of how it\u2019s been for the last few weeks \u2026 just need to be just a little more consistent.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s playing in a group with major champion Matt Fitzpatrick and FedEx Cup champion Viktor Hovland. The three had a sizable gallery watching them on the first day.<\/p>\n

The quiet Canadian didn\u2019t want to take credit for that, and chalked it up to his playing mates, but admitted it was nice to have some hometown support. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Yellamaraju, on the 17th green at TPC Toronto Osprey Valley on Thursday, studied YouTube videos of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy to learn the game as a child.Vaughn Ridley\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people saying, \u2018Go Mississauga\u2019 and all that,\u201d said Yellamaraju. \u201cSo that was pretty cool, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite hailing from nearby, Yellamaraju\u2019s family did not attend his round in person on Thursday in Caledon.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, they said they didn\u2019t really want to be in the whole hustle and bustle,\u201d said the young golfer.<\/p>\n

He was born in Visakhapatnam, India, with his family moving to Winnipeg when he was a pre-schooler. That\u2019s where he first took up golf, at first hitting range balls with rental clubs at an indoor golf dome. <\/p>\n

His father Suresh played cricket and saw some similarities in swinging between the two sports. They watched golf videos together.<\/p>\n

Ryan Fox looks back at last year’s RBC Open success and hopes for more<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe both learned the game together, because he doesn\u2019t play golf. He had really no interest in golf, to be honest,\u201d recalled Yellamaraju. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously there\u2019s still a lot of things that you can\u2019t do the same way when you\u2019re playing cricket to golf \u2026 he also would watch and try to see what people would do \u2026 like I said, a lot of trial and error.\u201d<\/p>\n

The boy eventually attended a 10-day Future Links camp after receiving a junior set of clubs. The family later moved to Mississauga when he was 11. <\/p>\n

The homeschooled kid who competed in mini-tour events mostly within driving distance of their home turned down offers to play college golf and turned professional at 19 years old.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Yellamaraju shot a one-under par 69 on the opening day of the RBC Open. He\u2019ll battle to stay above the cutline on Friday.Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Yellamaraju eventually spent two years on PGA Tour Canada (2022-23), then two years on the Korn Ferry Tour, punctuated by a huge win in the Bahamas at the Great Abaco Classic in January 2025. There he set a record with the lowest 72-hole score for the tournament, finishing with 52 consecutive bogey-free holes.<\/p>\n

He secured his PGA Tour status at the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour Championship, finishing 19th on the points list for the year, earning the 19th of 20 PGA Tour cards.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been trying to make his mark since, in his first season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played a lot of tough golf courses in the meantime and a lot more PGA Tour events,\u201d said Yellamaraju. \u201cI\u2019ve played with a lot of good players \u2026 and just learned a lot of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yellamaraju tees off again Friday with Fitzpatrick and Hovland at 1:10 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Mississauga, Ont.’s Sudarshan Yellamaraju said he enjoyed the support he got on Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":732743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82,8023],"class_list":["post-732742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-topstory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=732742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/732743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=732742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=732742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}