Simon McLinden

24-year-old Sudarshan Yellamaraju, who learned to play golf via YouTube, has an outside chance at @THEPLAYERS title in his tournament debut. Who is he? Yellamaraju was born in India and moved with his family to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada as a pre-schooler, where he first started hitting range balls with his dad at a local golf dome. Yellamaraju was fascinated by the game and began watching YouTube videos and golf on TV with his dad, Suresh. As he became serious about improving as a golfer, he began analyzing videos of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy to develop his own ball-striking. When he was 11, Yellamaraju moved to the Toronto area with his family. He was a late bloomer and wasn't a sought-after college golf recruit, ultimately choosing to eschew college golf and turn pro at age 19 after a gap year. Yellamaraju earned his 2024 @KornFerryTour card via Q-School. After narrowly keeping conditional status as a rookie, he won the second event of the 2025 season and ultimately earned his first @PGATOUR card at No. 19 on the #KornFerryTour Points List, sweating out the bubble on the season's final day. Now in his seventh start as a PGA TOUR member, he's thriving at TPC Sawgrass.