Bud Cauley cards opening 66 in Humana Challenge debut

LA QUINTA — Rookie Bud Cauley may have been playing just ahead of some of the most famous names at the Humana Challenge at La Quinta Country Club on Thursday, but he easily outshone his more well-known counterparts.

Cauley, whose best career finishes were a third-place showing at the Frys.com Open in the Fall Series and a tie for fourth in the Viking Classic, finished the first day of the Humana with a 6-under 66, tied for 14th place.

The Floridian was playing in the group just ahead of Phil Mickelson, who drew the biggest crowd of the day at La Quinta Country Club, and four groups ahead of Greg Norman, who hasn't played in the tournament since 1986 and needed a nudge from former President Bill Clinton to play this year.

While La Quinta Country Club is generally considered to be the toughest of the three courses in the tournament, he underplayed any advantage of shooting such a low score here in the first round.

“I think they're all about even. This one is a little narrower, but they're all difficult in their own way,” the 21-year-old former All-American out of Alabama said. “I like both (the Palmer Private at PGA West and the Nicklaus Private at PGA West). I just need to keep on hitting it off the tee the way I did today and just keep working on the irons.”

Cauley finished with identical scores of 33 in and out, but needed four birdies on the front nine — on holes one, four, six and seven — to compensate for his bogey on the par-four eighth hole.

The back nine featured Cauley's self-proclaimed shot of the day, which gave him a birdie on the par-three 12th.

“I made a bunker shot on 12. I hit it in there and holed it out of the bunker, which was nice,” Cauley said.

Tee shots were Cauley's strength Thursday, while the fairway shots were less predictable, a pattern he is hoping to correct today.

“I drove it pretty well, I got it in the fairway,” he said. “But I hit some good iron shots and I hit some terrible ones. I got up and down quite a bit today, and managed some good par saves, so that's what kept me in there.”

Cauley is one of just a handful of players to earn a PGA Tour card without attending Qualifying School. He joins the ranks of Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Gary Hallberg, Scott Verplank, Justin Leonard, and Ryan Moore, who also skipped Q-School.

Cauley did it after earning $735,000 in winnings last year.