Bud Cauley

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.