PONTE VEDRA BEACH | Sudarshan Yellamaraju followed the road along the Island Green, and each step seemed to draw a little more cheering from an assembly of thousands at The Players Championship.
There he was, exchanging high fives with fans who likely didn’t know — and perhaps couldn’t pronounce — his name until last week.
“It was awesome,” Yellamaraju said. “Kind of starting yesterday when I had that run of birdies, the crowd kind of cheering me on, keeping me motivated even when I was kind of feeling a little tired or losing energy. And then today, same thing.
“Just on 17, that was pretty cool and I kind of just wanted to enjoy the moment.”
The roars on 17 highlighted the out-of-nowhere story of Yellamaraju, born in India but raised in Canada, listed No. 216 in the Official World Golf Ranking, and now among the top five finishers in the PGA Tour’s flagship event.
While other contenders spun off course one by one, Yellamaraju vaulted the leaderboard with a final-round 68 to enter the clubhouse at 9 under. He finished tied for fifth, four strokes behind winner Cameron Young.
“This course is so tough, everything has to be really good,” Yellamaraju said. “You’ve got to drive it well. You’ve got to hit good approach shots, chip it well, putt it well. Everything was pretty good.”
Yellamaraju’s highest-ever finish on Tour before was a tie for 13th at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He does own a professional win on the Korn Ferry Tour at the Bahamas Great Abaco, but there’s a giant water hazard between the Bahamas and The Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.
ROAD TO THE PLAYERS
Whether in his introduction to golf or his path to the top 10, Yellamaraju’s story is far from the usual.
He said he learned about golf through YouTube videos, especially Tiger Woods, and played his first 18 holes at age 9 with a score of 101.
Yellamaraju almost didn’t make the weekend in his introduction to The Players. He barely made the cut by one stroke, surviving with birdies on three of his final four holes Friday.
“Obviously as a rookie, you think, OK, you just see what you can do,” he said.
But he’s found a new level over the weekend. On Sunday, he built momentum with birdies at Nos. 1, 2 and 4, and sank long-range putts on No. 15 (17 feet) and No. 16 (24 feet).
Based on his results against the Tour’s best in Northeast Florida, his days outside the top 200 are about to end.
“I’m pretty happy with the way, how it went,” he said. “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.”
(This story has been updated to add new information.)
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Sudarshan Yellamaraju surges to top 10 at Players Championship
Reporting by Clayton Freeman, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
