The first thing Brendan Valdes remembers is the shock.
A nine-centimeter tumor sat right in the middle of his chest, pressing against his heart and lung.
For Valdes, 23, the diagnosis on Jan. 1 came as a devastating surprise. He had always considered himself healthy. Life, only weeks earlier, seemed to be moving exactly the way he had hoped. But as he put it, in a social media post, “Life, like golf, is often unpredictable.”
Brendan Valdes tees off on the fifth hole during the first round of the 2025 Albertsons Boise Open at Hillcrest Country Club.
He was preparing for a second season on the Korn Ferry Tour. A few days before Christmas, he had gotten engaged to his girlfriend, Rachel Gourley. Then a cold changed everything.
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What initially felt like a minor illness quickly worsened. Valdes began coughing up small amounts of blood, eventually sending him to an emergency room in Orlando on New Year’s Day.
At first, doctors thought he had a bad case of bronchitis. Further testing revealed that mass in the middle of his chest. Valdes was diagnosed with primary mediastinal lymphoma.
“We never would’ve found it without that,” said Valdes, speaking Tuesday ahead of the Biltmore Championship Asheville, of what seemed like a mild illness. “It might have been too late at that point in time, so I truthfully got a little bit lucky that we found it as early as we did.”
The months that followed had little to do with golf. Valdes underwent chemotherapy, and the treatment took a physical toll that went far beyond anything he had experienced on a golf course.
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“I actually gained about 30 pounds during the process,” he said. “None of it was muscle. That’s for sure.”
There were days when simply walking to the mailbox felt like an accomplishment. Then came one of the lowest points of the battle: a collapsed lung, pneumonia and a hole in his lung — all while he was still undergoing chemotherapy.
Golf became an afterthought. Valdes, a three-time All-American at Auburn who helped lead the Tigers to the 2024 NCAA Championship, went more than six months without touching a club. But even during the hardest days, the game was never completely out of sight. His caddie and friend, Tiago Barni, regularly checked in on him. As detailed on Golf Channel.com, Barni also made Valdes a promise. Once Valdes was healthy enough to return to the course, Barni wanted to be the first person to play him in a match.
“That is my best chance to beat you,” Barni told him.
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By May, Valdes was nearing the end of treatment. He received his final dose of chemotherapy on May 15. In early June, after a PET scan showed no evidence of cancer, Valdes was ringing the bell.
The next challenge was figuring out how to become a golfer again. He was cancer-free but recovery did not happen overnight. It took months before Valdes felt capable of walking 18 holes without getting winded. But eventually, he was ready to test himself. In late June, he and Barni finally played their match at Isleworth Golf and Country Club outside Orlando. Valdes had not touched a club in more than six months. From the tips, he shot 3-under 69.
“He did not beat me,” Valdes said.
It was more than a victory over his caddie. It was proof that Valdes was beginning to find his way back. His first competitive tournament came just a few weeks ago at a G-Pro Tour event in Huntsville, Alabama. He made quite the first impression that he means business with this comeback bid, firing a second-round 62 and finished the 54-hole tournament in third place.
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For someone who had spent much of the year fighting for his life, the result carried a significance that couldn’t be measured by a leaderboard. Valdes finished second in the 2024 PGA Tour University graduating class and has already shown that he belongs at the highest levels of professional golf. He made all three of his PGA Tour cuts last year, including a tie for 20th at the 3M Open and a tie for 41st at the John Deere Classic. His next chapter will begin with Korn Ferry Tour status through a medical extension. Q-School later this year could be a ticket to better status — perhaps even earn a PGA Tour card.
This season was supposed to be about advancing his golf career. Instead, it became about something much bigger. The nine-centimeter mass that once threatened to derail everything is gone. And Valdes has already shown that he isn’t simply returning to the game. He’s returning to compete.
“I feel like I’m sharp,” said Valdes, who is playing this week in the first of eight FedEx Cup Fall events. “It feels like there is some people out here that have a little bit of confidence in me, and honestly it means the world to have people backing you like that.”
Adam Schupak is a Golfweek senior writer covering the PGA Tour.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Brendan Valdes is back on the course after a grueling battle with cancer
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