Brendan Valdes was already a familiar name to me from Orlando golf. After 30 years working in the area, I knew of the left-hander through the local game. Monday’s news gave me a far better reason to write about him.
Valdes will return to PGA Tour competition this week, nine months after learning that a 9-centimeter mass was pressing against his heart and lung. The 23-year-old received a sponsor exemption into the inaugural Biltmore Championship Asheville, played Sept. 17-20 at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove in Arden, North Carolina.
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Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine first reported the details of Valdes’ return Monday after speaking with him. It will be his first Tour-sanctioned start since PGA Tour Q-School in mid-December. The route back to that tee time is the story.
A New Year’s Day Trip Changed His Season
Valdes entered 2026 preparing for another Korn Ferry Tour season. He had also become engaged to Rachel Gourley a few days before Christmas and had returned from visiting her family in England. What seemed like a cold grew worse, and coughing up small amounts of blood sent him to an Orlando emergency room on New Year’s Day.
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Doctors initially suspected bronchitis. The diagnosis became primary mediastinal lymphoma, a cancer that forced him to leave professional golf and begin chemotherapy. Valdes went to Houston to develop a treatment plan at MD Anderson, then received chemotherapy in Auburn, Alabama, where he had played college golf.
The first treatment brought another problem. An untreated case of pneumonia led to a lung infection, a partial lung collapse and another week in the hospital, Romine reported. Valdes finished chemotherapy May 15. A PET scan a few weeks later showed he was cancer-free, and his port was removed that morning.
There is no useful golf comparison for that sequence. A missed cut can be studied, and a poor round offers another starting time. Valdes spent the first five months of his season trying to get healthy enough to have a golf problem again.
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Valdes Started With a Wedge
The driver stayed in the bag. Valdes began with wedge shots, then worked his way into the irons. Fairway woods came later. He did not try the driver until he had already spent time with the shorter clubs. After more than six months away from golf, each practice session helped determine what he could add next.
By late June, Valdes was willing to play a match against his friend and caddie, Tiago Barni, at Isleworth Golf and Country Club outside Orlando. From the Tiger tees, he shot 3-under 69 after more than six months without touching a club. Barni had joked that the layoff represented his best chance to beat him. It did not.
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A private match still leaves unanswered questions. Tournament golf adds a scorecard, a field and the discomfort of finding out which parts of practice survive. Valdes received that answer Sept. 1-3 at a G-Pro Tour event in Huntsville, Alabama. He shot a second-round 62, finished 12 under for 54 holes and placed third, three strokes behind winner Beck Burnette.
The 62 will draw attention. Holding his form over 54 holes gave Valdes the better measure. He handled the opening nerves, returned the next day and remained in the tournament through the finish. That is a competitive test, not a range report.
His Professional Path Is Still Open
Valdes finished second in the 2025 PGA Tour University ranking after a decorated Auburn career that included helping the Tigers win the 2024 NCAA championship. He made four of 11 Korn Ferry Tour cuts after turning professional, with a tie for third at the Price Cutter Charity Championship and a tie for 13th at the Wichita Open.
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He also made the cut in all three of his 2025 PGA Tour starts, including a tie for 20th at the 3M Open and a tie for 41st at the John Deere Classic. A medical extension will provide some Korn Ferry Tour status in 2027. He can also return to Q-School later this year and pursue better status.
Brendan Valdes putts on the ninth green during the second round of the 3M Open 2025 at TPC Twin Cities on July 25th, 2025, in Blaine, Minnesota. Steven Garcia-CSM/Alamy Live News.
Valdes has played 54 tournament holes since treatment, all at the G-Pro Tour event in Huntsville. The second-round 62 was encouraging, but Asheville brings a PGA Tour field and a four-day test. He made the cut in all three Tour starts last season. This will be his first chance since December to measure his game against that level of competition.
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Orange Tree Gives the Return Another Meaning
Valdes’ cancer work began before his own diagnosis. For the past several years, he has organized a charity scramble at Orange Tree Country Club, the Orlando club where he grew up playing. The event benefits the Ian Supra Memorial Foundation, which assists Central Florida children with cancer and their families.
Ian Supra was a friend of Valdes and his older sister, Bailey. He died of esophageal cancer in 2015 while still in high school. Valdes has also volunteered at the foundation’s Christmas in July program at Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital. The sixth Brendan Valdes Charity Golf Scramble is scheduled for Dec. 14 at Orange Tree.
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That history keeps the return from becoming a simple sports comeback. Valdes was already using golf to help children whose treatment he could support but could not fully understand. Now he knows the hospital days, the uncertainty and the physical cost from inside them.
The Biltmore score will matter to him. So will the Korn Ferry Tour status and whatever comes next at Q-School. But his most revealing comment to Golf Channel concerned the children who will never see his name on a leaderboard.
“I hope that with what I went through, I can make their days just a little bit better,” Valdes said.
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PGA of America Golf Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer who serves as Athlon Sports Senior Golf Writer. Read his recent “The Starter” on RG.org, where he is their Lead Golf Writer. To stay updated on all of his latest work, sign up for his newsletter or visit his MuckRack Profile.
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This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Sep 14, 2026, where it first appeared in the Golf section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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