Five Things to Know about PGA Tour Rookie Sudarshan Yellamaraju‍

The only time Sudarshan Yellamaraju would sit still as a kid was when his father turned European Tour golf on the television in their home in India. To Sudarshan’s father, golf was nothing more than something to fall asleep to. The high-rise office he worked in overlooked a golf course, which at the time was the family’s only exposure to the sport.

But when golf was on the television, a toddler Sudarshan would sit next to his father and take it all in. The ritual foreshadowed the next two decades of Sudarshan’s life: he and his father in front of a screen, learning the intricacies of a new sport entirely from scratch. 

“Me and my dad, we just kind of learned the game together,” Yellamaraju said in a phone interview with Fried Egg Golf last month. 

The Yellamaraju family moved from India to Canada when Sudarshan was four years old. A couple of years later, he began playing golf, kicking off a journey that would take him through the mini-tour ranks and ultimately to the PGA Tour and this week’s Players Championship. 

Yellamaraju represents the best of what a meritocratic professional golf system can offer: proof that the path less traveled isn’t an impossible one. If you can shoot the scores, there is no limit to how far you can take yourself in the game. 

Here are five things to know about the self-taught 24-year-old  rookie with one of the most improbable routes to the highest level of professional golf: 

1. His first full 18 holes were at a tournament when he was nine

He had hit plenty of range balls at the Golf Dome, a popular indoor facility in Winnipeg, but had never played a full 18-hole round. Sudarshan shot 101 in the first round of the tournament, followed by a 99 in the second. Those first 18 holes remain the only time he has ever shot over 100. 

2. He has never taken formal swing instruction

Sudarshan and his father learned the golf swing by watching players like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson on television. 

“We would take my video and put it side by side and try to see if we could do what they were doing…or my dad would sometimes send me videos and see what I think. It was a lot of trial and error, but I guess now we’re here,” Yellamaraju said. 

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He credits YouTube as being instrumental in his development. It gave him on-demand access to resources about the golf swing and allowed him to rewind and replay shots rather than trying to visualize movements he could only watch once on television. 

Even today, Yellamaraju still does not employ a swing coach. When he needs a second set of eyes on his swing, he continues to send videos to his dad.

3. He turned professional in 2021 at age 19

Yellamaraju had offers to play college golf, but he couldn’t afford to play at any of the schools that had offered him a spot. So he turned professional. 

“I was very confident and my parents believed in me,” he said. “I had come this far and really didn’t want to give it all up. The decision wasn’t easy and it’s not a traditional route, but it was something that made sense to me and my parents — and that’s all that mattered.” 

He had originally hoped to turn professional straight out of high school in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed those plans. Instead, he competed as an amateur in mini-tour events within driving distance of the family’s home in Ontario, where they had moved when he was 11. 

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Without sponsors and supported by his parents, Yellamaraju worked his way up through Canadian tours. 

“I needed to play well right away because my parents can’t do this forever. They don’t have that kind of money,” he said. 

He remembers the relief of finishing second in a Mackenzie Tour event. The payout was only a few thousand dollars, but it was enough that he felt like he could start funding some of his journey himself. 

Yellamaraju eventually spent two years on PGA Tour Canada (2022-23) and two years on the Korn Ferry Tour (2024-25). He secured his PGA Tour status at the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour Championship, finishing 19th on the points list for the season. 

4. He points to a Monday qualifier in 2022 as a pivotal inflection point in his career

Yellamaraju only had conditional status on PGA Tour Canada that year and skipped traveling to several Monday qualifiers early in the season to save money. As a result, he had just two chances before the status reshuffle. He successfully qualified for the first event but missed the cut, leaving him one final opportunity. He again got through the second Monday qualifier, making eagle in a playoff to secure his spot.

He then made the cut in the tournament, earning additional status, which he ultimately parlayed into full status on PGA Tour Canada and later the Korn Ferry Tour. 

Money tightened again at the beginning of 2025 after a difficult rookie season on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2024. Then, when he needed it most, Yellamaraju won the second KFT event of the year in the Bahamas, earning a $180,000 winner’s check and enough points to turn his dream of playing on the PGA Tour into a reality. 

“It was a little — actually I wouldn’t say a little. It was definitely stressful,” he reflected on his journey. “You try not to think about the stress and just play because if you think about the stress, it can overwhelm you.”  

5. He didn’t get a Trackman until March 2025

Though he uses the device, Yellamaraju still describes himself as much more of a feel-based player than many of his peers, and he doesn’t get too bogged down in technical elements of the swing or rely heavily on training devices. 

His best finish so far this season — a T-13 at the Sony Open — came in windy conditions. “I like to play in windy conditions because you have to work the ball a little bit more,” he said. “You have to be a little more creative. And I feel like that suited me a bit more. I felt like I could play my kind of game and didn't have to think about it too much.” 

In doing things his own way, Yellamaraju has managed to build a swing that creates an average ball speed of 183 mph, ranking 20th on the PGA Tour.

When asked how he generates his speed, he didn’t attribute his power to any one particular factor.

“I honestly don’t know. I just swing it. I was surprised to see how fast I’m swinging it, to be honest,” he said. “Adrenaline helps. I’m pretty pumped to be playing on the PGA Tour, so I guess that helps too.” 

Yellamaraju tees off at 2:30p.m. ET on Thursday afternoon alongside Zach Bauchou and A.J. Ewart.