Brendan Valdes Earns Sponsor Exemption Into Biltmore Championship

Brendan Valdes is competing in this week's inaugural Biltmore Championship Asheville on a sponsor exemption, roughly eight months after being diagnosed with cancer.

Valdes, coming off a rookie season in which he made all three of his PGA Tour starts on sponsor invites, said the diagnosis came on New Year's Day, after what he thought was a routine lung infection. Doctors instead found a nine-centimeter tumor in his chest. Complications followed, including a collapsed lung, pneumonia and a hole in his lung, plus mouth sores that required hospitalization. He underwent six rounds of chemotherapy before being declared cancer-free, according to a PGA Tour social media video.

How did Valdes get back to competitive golf?

Valdes said he didn't play a round of golf for about six months during treatment. "Golf definitely went secondary at that point," he said. He said it took several months of training after treatment before he could walk 18 holes without feeling winded, and that rebuilding his stamina, swing speed and wrist strength required additional work once he returned to the course. Before the diagnosis, his senior season at Auburn had made him No. 2 in the PGA Tour University rankings, which earned him Korn Ferry Tour starts.

Golf definitely went secondary at that point.

Who has supported his comeback?

J.M. Butler, a former Auburn teammate and Valdes's closest friend, said in a Korn Ferry Tour video that Valdes stayed upbeat through treatment, often asking about other people's lives during hospital visits rather than dwelling on his own recovery.

Valdes opened his Biltmore Championship start on hole 10, making par there before a bogey at 11 and a birdie at 13.