The tour pro everyone is rooting for this week

There’s plenty on the line at the PGA Tour’s inaugural Biltmore Championship, where players will be jockeying for job security next year. But the first event of the FedEx Cup Fall series also features one golfer who is truly happy to just be playing again.

That would be Brendan Valdes, whose golf plans were put on hold with a cancer diagnosis in January. The 23-year-old Auburn product was coming off a promising start to his pro career that included a third-place finish on the Korn Ferry Tour last July and three made cuts in three PGA Tour starts. But faster than you can say “War Eagle,” earning weekend tee times became the least of his worries.

Thankfully, after six months of chemotherapy and treatment in which he didn’t touch a golf club, Valdes was declared cancer-free. And now just a few months later he’s returning to competitive golf on a sponsor's exemption. There’s supposed to be no cheering from the pressbox, but it’s safe to say we’re breaking that rule in this case. Here’s more on Valdes’ comeback story, a battle brewing on the DP World Tour and a Rory McIlroy superfan.

Cancer blindsided him. Now, 9 months later, Brendan Valdes gets his new start

The 23-year-old is anxious to have fun and see what he can do as he attempts to resume his pro career

By Jay Coffin

What You Need to Know

Alex Myers

Ryan Fox is still living it up with the claret jug. The New Zealander possibly produced the greatest finish in Open Championship history and now he's possibly enjoying golf's oldest trophy more than anyone. And so are his friends. Fox shared a quick, funny story on Wednesday ahead of this week's BMW PGA Championship.

Love how he drops in at the end that his mate who was handed the jug filled with red wine, "proceeded to drink the whole thing." Sounds like Ryan Fox's house parties are the place to be.

Ryan Herrington

The landscape of college athletics is ever changing these days. That would be the case again if a bill introduced this week in Congress becomes law. Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) and Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) have authored what they’re calling the Training and Education for Americans Members in University Sports and Athletics (TEAM USA) Act (H.R. 10351). The proposed legislation would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 by limiting the number of international student-athletes on a college roster to a maximum of 20 percent. “American colleges and universities should first and foremost provide opportunities for American students,” said Walberg, chair of the House Committee on Education & Workforce, in a press release. Division I college golf rosters are set at around eight or nine players, meaning teams could carry essentially one international player if the bill were to become law. According to Walberg, since 2001, the number of international student-athletes receiving scholarships has nearly tripled, from approximately 8,945 to roughly 25,000. It’s unclear how much support this bill, which would look to go into effect during the 2029-30 academic year, has as Congress also wrestles with the Protect College Sports Act.

Luke Kerr-Dineen

What's the rough vs. fairway tradeoff? It was a good question I got in my recent Golf IQ mailbag.

Assuming normal-ish rough, missing the fairway is less of a penalty the further away you are from the green. It's also less of a penalty for higher handicaps.

But all things equal, assuming the rough is a 20-yard penalty is a good rule of thumb. So, a drive that goes 250 yards into the rough is the same as one that goes 230 yards into the fairway. If your drive goes 260 yards into the rough, you're coming out ahead.

The chart below from a recent Game Plan video that unpacks it in some more detail.

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