Meet Canada’s Players rookies AJ Ewart, Sudarshan Yellamaraju

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — A.J. Ewart and Sudarshan Yellamaraju once shared a house as they came up through the Golf Canada ranks, but this week the two Canadian PGA Tour rookies are sharing a tee-time at Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

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Ewart and Yellamaraju are in a group with American Zach Bauchou and scheduled to begin their Players Championship at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, barring a potential weather delay.

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Here’s what you need to know about these two representatives of the next generation of Canadian tour pros:

A.J. Ewart

It has been a nice start to a PGA Tour career in 2026 as the 26-year-old rookie from Coquitlam, B.C., has made five of six cuts, with his only miss coming at the season-opening Sony Open in Hawaii.

His best finish came two weeks ago, when he tied for 13th at the Cognizant Classic at PGA National. He entered the week 70th in the FedEx Cup standings, already racking up US$322,101 in earnings.

Ewart played four seasons at Barry University in Florida, the same Division II school attended by Canadian PGA Tour player Adam Svensson. He won 14 tournaments during his time there, including tying Svensson’s single-season school record with seven wins as a junior. He won the 2022 Division II Jack Nicklaus Award at season’s end, an award also won by Svensson.

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Ewart has had success here in Ponte Vedra Beach, earning his PGA Tour card by winning medalist honours at the final stage of 2025 PGA Tour Q-School, contested at Dye’s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass and Sawgrass Country Country Club.

Ewart and Yellamaraju lived together in Phoenix, Ariz., during their time in Golf Canada’s development program.

Sudarshan Yellamaraju

It has been an equally nice start to Yellamaraju’s PGA Tour career, as the 24-year-old also has made five cuts in six starts in 2026, with best finishes at the Sony Open (T13) and Cognizant Classic (T17). He entered the week 67th in the FedEx Cup standings, and has earned $366,201.

Born in India, Yellamaraju moved to Winnipeg with his family at age four where he took up the game largely by hitting balls at an indoor golf dome with rental clubs and watching YouTube videos of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

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The family moved to Mississauga when Sudarshan was 11. At age 16, he won the 2017 Ontario Men’s Amateur Championship at Ambassador Golf Club in Windsor, where he shot 11-under over four days, breaking 70 in every round.

Yellamaraju did not attend college, instead turning professional at 19 years old. He earned his PGA Tour card by finishing 19th on the Korn Ferry Tour’s order of merit in 2025.

Yellamaraju’s breakthrough was a win at The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club, which propelled him into the Korn Ferry top-20 needed for PGA Tour elevation.

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