Quick Answer
Cameron Champ withdrew from the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on Friday, May 22, 2026, before his scheduled second round tee time alongside Tom Kim and Mark Hubbard at TPC Craig Ranch. The PGA Tour announced the withdrawal on its official channels without citing a specific reason. The most likely driver is a flare up of his long-running lower back and left wrist issues, after he opened the tournament with a 3-over par 74 that left him near the bottom of the leaderboard. The timing is brutal for Champ, whose career is already squeezed by the new PGA Tour eligibility framework.
What Happened at TPC Craig Ranch
Champ teed off Thursday as an alternate trying to maximize a rare main tour start. His opening round was a struggle. He missed fairways with the driver, lost strokes around the redesigned greens at TPC Craig Ranch, and signed for a 3-over 74. That left him many shots outside the projected cut line.
By midday Friday, the PGA Tour posted a short note on X confirming the withdrawal. No medical update, no quote from Champ, no replacement player named in the same release. In professional golf, that combination usually means a physical issue that the player and his team decided not to elaborate on publicly.
The Injury History
Champ has been managing two physical issues for most of his career. Both of them are direct consequences of how he generates clubhead speed.
- Chronic lower back. Champ's swing is one of the most violent rotational moves on the PGA Tour. The amount of torque he loads into his lumbar spine has produced recurring spasms that have forced multiple mid-tournament withdrawals across the last several seasons.
- Left wrist. He has been in and out of physical therapy on a left wrist issue that affects his ability to release the club and square the face at impact. When the wrist is flared, his control over start line and curvature drops noticeably.
When both issues are present at the same time, the speed-based game that made him a three-time PGA Tour winner becomes very hard to execute. Friday's withdrawal fits that pattern.
The New PGA Tour Eligibility Squeeze
The withdrawal lands in the worst possible context for Champ's career. Beginning this season, the PGA Tour rolled out a structural overhaul that reduced the number of fully exempt cards available through the FedEx Cup points list at year end and tightened the promotion criteria from the Korn Ferry Tour. Champ's historical winner's exemption expired after the 2021 3M Open, so he is now relying on conditional status, sponsor invites, and Korn Ferry results to claw back a full card.
| Metric | Peak (2018 to 2021) | Current 2026 Status |
|---|---|---|
| PGA Tour titles | 3 wins | No win since 2021 3M Open |
| Official World Golf Ranking | Top 70 | Around 319th |
| Primary circuit | Full PGA Tour | Conditional, mostly Korn Ferry Tour |
| Korn Ferry standing | Not applicable | About 47th in points |
| 2026 main tour cuts made | Strong | Zero so far this season |
Sitting at 47th on the Korn Ferry list and outside the top 300 in the world rankings is not where a player with his talent ceiling expected to be at age 30. The new framework gives him fewer paths back than the previous version of the system did.
Contrast With the Leaderboard
The contrast at the top of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson made Friday especially painful. Jordan Spieth, playing in front of his home Dallas gallery, ran six straight birdies on the back nine and signed for a course record 9-under 62 to move to 12-under for the tournament. South Korea's Sungjae Im went one better, firing a 10-under 61 with a hole-in-one at the par 3 seventh and an eagle at the par 5 ninth to share the lead at 13-under with Japan's Kensei Hirata.
Soft conditions and preferred lies turned TPC Craig Ranch into a scoring shootout. Champ, whose speed advantage is supposed to be a major weapon at venues where the field can attack, watched it happen from off site.
What Comes Next for Champ
The realistic short term path is physical. He needs a clean health window to put together a string of made cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour, climb inside the top 30 on that points list, and earn his way back to a full PGA Tour card for next season. He is talented enough to do it. The question is whether his body will cooperate long enough to let him.
- A back and wrist diagnostic update from his medical team would clarify whether this withdrawal is a precaution or a setback.
- A couple of Korn Ferry top tens between now and the fall would meaningfully reset the conversation.
- Any signal that he is reworking the swing to reduce lumbar loading would be a longer term positive.
The Bottom Line
Cameron Champ's withdrawal from the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on May 22, 2026 was not surprising given his opening 74 and his chronic back and wrist history. The deeper story is the squeeze: a player with three PGA Tour wins is now ranked 319th in the world, sitting 47th on the Korn Ferry list, and trying to fight his way back through an eligibility system that gives him fewer chances than it used to. The talent is still there. The runway is shorter than it has ever been.
