05/25/2026
Oh Yeah! Golf's Youngest Star Celebrates PGA Tour Promotion
By Art Stricklin
MCKINNEY – In December 2024, Tennessee high school amateur golfer Blades Brown placed a large bet on himself, bypassing lucrative college offers to turn professional and attempt to earn his PGA Tour card.
After shooting a final round 67, good enough to tie for 14th place finish at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on Sunday and enough points to gain Special Temporary Membership status on the PGA Tour for the rest of 2026, a tidal wave of emotions poured out of his 19-year-old body.
“Oh Yeah!,” he exclaimed as his hugged his dad Parke and good friend Charles Willis walking off the 18th green to sign his scorecard, making his promotion to golf highest level official. He had already nearly lifted his caddy Brett Swedburg nearly off the ground with a celebration hug.
“I’m just relieved, vindicated. I know my route wasn’t the traditional one, but I did it the way I did because my parents support and many others,” Brown said. “I just need to hug my mom and go get something to eat.”
After a pair to top 10 finishes already this year, he needed only a solo 21st finish this week to be able to accept unlimited sponsor exemption for the rest of the year on the PGA Tour.
Brown put himself in excellent position with a third round 65, but said he tried to stay calm, declining media requests after the third round to focus on the ultimate prize.
“I really wanted to fist pump after my putt on 17 (Sunday), but I knew I could only control myself and just take it hole by hole, so that’s what I tried to do.”
Finally after a two-putt par on the par 4 18th hole, with a final score of 67, 18-under-par, 266, he could celebrate.
Brown enjoyed a stellar amateur career, including the youngest ever stroke play medalist in the U.S. Amateur, breaking a record held by Bobby Jones and being named Player of the Year by the American Junior Golf Association an honor held by Tiger Woods and others.
He dad attended and played golf at Baylor University, 90 miles south of PGA Tour site this week and the younger Brown could have named his college golf destination in America, but made a different choice
Going straight from high school to professional golf is a daring challenging that many have tried and failed, but Brown proved he had the right stuff for the challenge, never backing down against some of the best professional golfers in the world at the TPC Craig Ranch course,
“Playing on the Korn Ferry is so great and these players out here (PGA Tour) are the best of the best, but I’m glad I did what I did and I’m ready to see what’s next.”
He got his 2026 season off to a big start shooting a 60 at the American Express Championship in Palm Springs and setting a new course record for the Nicklaus golf course. He added his first top 10 a few weeks later at the Puerto Rico Open, finishing third.
At the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, where he tied for ninth place, which qualified him for the Byron Nelson tournament this week, Brown said he didn’t know how close he was to STM status.
But after an outburst of golf emotion on a sunny Sunday, the entire golf watching world knows now.
Oh. Yeah. Indeed.
