Blades Brown continues the junior golfer surge in professional golf
May 12, 2024 | by Justin Golba of AmateurGolf.com
see also: Blades Brown
Brown finished T26 at the Myrtle Beach Classic, joining Miles Russell and Kris Kim as amateurs to impress in their pro golf debuts
Add Blades Brown to the list of 16-year-olds who can compete at the highest level of golf.
Brown finished T26 in his pro gold debut at the inaugural Myrtle Beach Classic at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Brown shot rounds of 72-67-66-69 to get to 10-under, finishing only six shots back of second place.
The Nashville native and high school sophomore joins 16-year-old Kris Kim and 15-year-old Miles Russell as the most recent junior golfers to show promise in their professional golf debuts.
Kim debuted at The CJ Cup Byron Nelson last week and made the cut, while Russell finished T20 at the Lecom Suncoast Classic on the Korn Ferry Tour. Brown made 18 birdies and eight bogeys throughout the four rounds, with his third round 5-under 66 being bogey-free. He was most impressive off the tee, hitting 38 of 56 fairways, which was ranked T6 in the field.
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16-year-old amateur Kris Kim impresses in PGA Tour debut
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Brown embraced his celebrity status for the weekend, signing autographs and remembering when he was younger and got a chance to talk to Jordan Spieth at a tournament.
A cool story from Blades Brown about meeting @JordanSpieth:
— Brentley Romine (@BrentleyGC) May 11, 2024
"He bent down, talked to me, asked my name, made me feel like I was his friend. ... For him, that was just saying hi to a little kid, but to me, for a person of his caliber and his decoration, it meant the world." pic.twitter.com/1xolkBxl6L
Last year, Brown was the youngest stroke play co-medalist in U.S. Amateur history, breaking Bobby Jones's 103-year-old record. He was also named the 2023 Tennessee Boys’ Junior and Men’s Player of the Year, the first to achieve this double accomplishment. He also broke the competitive course record in the second round of the U.S. Amateur.
He currently stands at No. 4 on the Rolex AJGA Rankings. Brown won back-to-back AJGA titles last summer and finished in the top 10 at this year’s Jones Cup Junior and Terra Cotta Junior Invitational, two of the top junior events on the schedule.
He won last year’s Tennessee Junior by 12 strokes. After completing the local qualifying, he will tee it up next at the U.S. Open final qualifying.
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