PREVIEW

A month after announcing his decision to turn pro, 17-year-old Blades Brown will make his debut as a professional golfer this week at the American Express.

It’s not an event that’s close to home. Brown is from Tennessee and was named The Tennessean’s High School Sportsperson of the Year last year. Brown's management team, SportFive, runs the American Express.

The new professional made his mark as an amateur. In 2023, he became the youngest medalist in U.S. Amateur history at 16, breaking Bobby Jones' 103-year-old record. Incredibly, Brown was nearly two years younger than Jones, who was 18 when he set the record in 1920. Brown shot a course-record 64 at Colorado Golf Club en route to that accomplishment.

A year later, he was the medalist in the U.S. Junior Amateur. Joining Tiger Woods and Bobby Clampett as the only golfer to earn medalist honors in both the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Junior Amateur. To have your name in the record books with Bobby Clampett, Bobby Jones, and Tiger Woods is a good harbinger.

While Brown never broke through to win a USGA event or a major amateur event, he took home three AJGA events, won the Tennessee Jr. by a whopping 12 shots, and made the cut in the only PGA Tour event he played in as an amateur in the 2024 Myrtle Beach Classic. He also recorded a runner-up finish in the U.S. Four-Ball with Jackson Herrington, along with seven other top-ten finishes in events like the Jones Cup in 2024 (5th place), the Junior Players Championship (2nd), and the Western Amateur (9th).

Following his first round at the TPC Myrtle Beach, Brown said, "This course has some teeth to it. I'm not 100 percent used to that yet, but I feel like the experience I'm getting this week is -- like you can't pay for this."

Over this PGA Tour season, Brown will likely gain more experience because SportFive runs more than just the AmEx; it is likely Brown will tee it up in the Puerto Rico Open, Myrtle Beach Classic, and ISCO Championship. The PGA Tour allows seven sponsor exemptions for the year. This gives Brown a good opportunity to gain some momentum. Any top-ten finishes will also grant him a spot in the following week's event. This is how Luke Clanton played in extra PGA Tour events last summer. 

Brown will tee off in the final group on Thursday at 1:42 pm at La Quinta with Isaiah Salinda.

A year after Nick Dunlap won the event as an amateur, Blades Brown is currently 8-under through 15 holes of his second round and has jumped all the way to T38. He birdied holes No. 12 to 17 (he started on No. 10) of the Nicklaus Tournament Course.