Bud Cauley began the final round of The PLAYERS Championship in a share of second place at 11-under. The World No. 251 and currently 128th in the FedEx Cup standings, has never won in his 206-tournament PGA Tour career.But life is rarely black and white, it is usually nuanced, and that is the case with Cauley. No wonder a star like Justin Thomas, a two-time major champion and 15-time winner on the PGA Tour, said he would do almost anything to see one of his best friends win."Yeah, I would do some really, really weird things for Bud to win today," Thomas told the media after completing his final round. "Yeah, I probably wanted it too bad. I was telling Jill last night, I was like a nervous parent.""I just want him to play well so bad, because I know how bad he wants it. And it's a huge stage, it's a big, big moment. There's a lot of golf left, he hasn't gotten off to the start he's wanted, I'm sure, but he's right there."As Thomas said, Cauley did not get off to a good start in the final round of The PLAYERS Championship. By the time the day was provisionally suspended due to inclement weather, the 35-year-old had dropped four places on the leaderboard due to four bogeys and a birdie through the 11th hole. He was four shots behind temporary leader Rory McIlroy.Bud Cauley was in such a serious car accident seven years ago that after attempting a comeback on the PGA Tour the following year, he decided to take no less than four years off to deal with the effects on his health.Thomas, Cauley's former teammate at the University of Alabama and his roommate for several years after graduation, did not abandon him during his time away from professional golf:"Yeah, we lived together for, I don't know what it was, four, five years, something like that," Thomas said. "Three or four. I don't know. Something like that.""Yeah, we've both been down in Jupiter and yeah, when he was going through everything [referring to the car accident], just trying to be a friend, just like I would to anybody, let alone just a peer out here.""Yeah, we just tried to keep his spirits up as much as possible because it's pretty hard to do that."Cauley has played 21 events on the PGA Tour since returning in 2024. He has made 13 cuts and has one top-10 finish (T5, 2024 Sanderson Farms Championship).The 2025 edition is Cauley's sixth appearance at The PLAYERS Championship. In five previous starts at TPC Sawgrass, he missed three cuts (the 2020 edition was suspended) and his only finish was a tie for 47th in 2019.More Golf: Scottie Scheffler Vents 'Frustration' Amid Tumbling Down The PLAYERS