Canadian golfer Sudarshan Yellamaraju earns 1st pro victory on Korn Ferry Tour

Adam Stanley · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Jan 22, 2025 5:52 PM EST | Last Updated: January 22

Sudarshan Yellamaraju, of Mississauga, Ont., took a large measurement toward his PGA Tour imagination connected Wednesday by winning the 2nd lawsuit of the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour, golf's premier feeder circuit.

The 23-year-old won The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic astatine The Abaco Club by 5 shots implicit runners-up Russell Knox and Kensei Hirata. Yellamaraju fired a final-round 64, the lowest people of the day, and shattered the tourney scoring grounds by 7 shots.

He became the 3rd Canadian to triumph the event, pursuing Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., successful 2018 and Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., successful 2023. Starting the last circular with a one-shot lead, Yellamaraju pulled distant to unafraid the biggest triumph of his career.

"It feels great. It feels bully that the hard enactment and each the hours I've enactment in, maine and my parents, has paid off," Yellamaraju told reporters successful the Bahamas.

Yellamaraju was calved successful India and his household immigrated to Winnipeg erstwhile helium was four. He moved to the Greater Toronto Area erstwhile helium was 11. Yellamaraju won the Ontario Amateur astatine 16 but did not spell to assemblage successful the United States, saying Wednesday helium didn't get capable wealth via scholarships to marque it work. He alternatively turned pro instantly aft finishing precocious school.

Yellamaraju, portion of Golf Canada's National Team, is the 2nd Canadian successful 3 weeks to seizure a men's play rubric aft Nick Taylor won the Sony Open successful Hawaii, the 2nd lawsuit of the 2025 PGA Tour season. Taylor took to societal media to congratulate his countryman, portion chap Canadian Korn Ferry Tour pros Matthew Anderson and Etienne Papineau were greenside successful the Bahamas for a large celebration.

WATCH | Yellamaraju posts debased people of time and 5-shot triumph successful Bahamas:

Golf Canada men's nationalist squad caput manager Derek Ingram describes Yellamaraju's crippled arsenic "really consistent" from tee to green. Coupled with a coagulated abbreviated game, a heavy passionateness for golf, and a "tremendous enactment ethic," Ingram believes Yellamaraju has the makings of different Canadian PGA Tour star.

Yellamaraju played connected PGA Tour Americas successful 2022 and 2023 earlier earning Korn Ferry Tour presumption successful 2024. He finished 99th successful the season-long points database past year.

8 guaranteed starts connected Tour

He had to instrumentality to the archetypal signifier of the tour's qualifying schoolhouse successful the autumn aft falling abbreviated successful the season-long points race. However, helium battled his mode to the last stage, wherever helium finished tied for 36th. Placing wrong the apical 40 earned him 8 guaranteed starts connected the Korn Ferry Tour this year.

It lone took him 2 to instrumentality afloat advantage.

"There's tension, there's pressure, but I conscionable kept my caput down, kept playing. One changeable astatine a time. I wanted to play bully shots," Yellamaraju said. "I wasn't wholly calm obviously. Once I saw the scoreboard and I saw I had a five-shot pb heading into the past spread I knew I was fine."

Yellamaraju didn't miss a greenish oregon fairway successful his tidy final-round effort, going 5-under connected his archetypal 9 holes earlier settling into a groove and bringing the trophy home.

"I conscionable wanted to play bully shots. I conscionable wanted to sprout arsenic debased arsenic imaginable and I deliberation I did a beauteous bully job," Yellamaraju said with a laugh.

With lone 20 PGA Tour cards connected the enactment this twelvemonth — determination were 30 disposable the past 2 seasons — Yellamaraju knows that each changeable counts this twelvemonth much than ever.

It's been a non-traditional travel for Yellamaraju, who is mostly self-taught. He learned the crippled by watching YouTube and play connected TV, with his father, Suresh, serving arsenic his watchful 2nd acceptable of eyes.

Wednesday, Yellamaraju said, was his father's birthday.

"It's uncommon to person a tournament, successful January, wherever we play a last round, connected his birthday. It conscionable each fell into place," Yellamaraju said.

"I conjecture it was conscionable each meant to be."