One day after signing his National Letter of Intent with Florida State, Miles Russell went out and played like a guy with nothing left to prove — and everything still to gain.
The 17-year-old from Jacksonville Beach, Fla., the only amateur in the field at the inaugural Austin Championship, opened with a 5-under 67 on Thursday at the Fazio Canyons Course at Omni Barton Creek. On a sponsor's exemption, in his 16th career start on the PGA Tour or Korn Ferry Tour, Russell sits tied for ninth, five shots behind leader Trace Crowe, whose bogey-free 62 was a career best.
Darkness suspended the first round with 25 players still on the course. Play resumes Friday morning, with the second round starting as scheduled — and for Russell, Friday is the round that matters. A made cut in Austin would be his second straight on the PGA Tour, after he made the cut on the number in Bermuda last month and finished T-64 in his 15th pro start.
A signing class with a headline act
Wednesday was signing day, and Russell — who verbally committed to Florida State back in June 2025 — made it official as the headliner of a Seminoles class that also includes Charlie Woods. He won't play a college event until next fall. In the meantime, the résumé keeps growing: No. 6 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, a made cut and T-39 finish at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, a Walker Cup appearance at Lahinch in September, two Junior Players Championship titles and two AJGA Boys Player of the Year awards.
His one stumble this summer came at the U.S. Amateur, where Ryder Cowan knocked him out in the Round of 64 at Merion. Weeks like this one are the rebuttal.
Youth movement at the top
Russell wasn't even the lowest teenager on Thursday. Blades Brown, 19, shot a 7-under 65 — nine birdies — just four days after winning the World Wide Technology Championship in Mexico to become the PGA Tour's youngest winner in 95 years. Brown trails Crowe by three.
Crowe, No. 117 in the FedExCup Fall standings and fighting to keep his card, leads the field by two. But for the amateur golf audience, the number that jumps off the board is the 67 with an (a) next to it. One more round like it on Friday, and Russell spends another PGA Tour weekend exactly where he keeps insisting he belongs.