Blades Brown, 16, will make TOUR debut at Myrtle Beach Classic

Teenagers have taken pro golf by storm in recent weeks. Blades Brown could be next.

Brown, 16, will make his PGA TOUR debut at next week’s inaugural Myrtle Beach Classic on a sponsor exemption, he announced Thursday on Instagram.

Last year, Brown was the youngest stroke play co-medalist in U.S. Amateur history, breaking a 103-year-old record previously held by Bobby Jones. He was named the 2023 Tennessee Boys’ Junior and Men’s Player of the Year – the first to achieve this double – and he currently stands No. 4 on the Rolex AJGA Rankings. The Nashville native, a high school sophomore, won back-to-back AJGA titles last summer and finished top-10 at this year’s Jones Cup and Terra Cotta Invitational, amateur events of prestige. He also won last year’s Tennessee Junior by 12 strokes.

“Excited, honored, blessed to announce that I will be making my @pgatour debut next week in the @myrtlebeachcl. Thank you to everyone who has made it possible for me to compete at the highest stage,” Brown wrote on Instagram.

Brown’s athletic genes are robust – his mom Rhonda Brown was an acclaimed basketball player, starting at point guard for Vanderbilt and playing in the WNBA. His first name is derived from his mom’s maiden name, Blades.

Brown’s exemption means that a 16-year-old will compete on TOUR for the second straight week, as England’s Kris Kim debuted at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson on Thursday. Kim did so in style with an opening-round, 3-under 68 that included a chip-in eagle on his final hole. This came on the heels of Miles Russell, 15, finishing T20 at the Korn Ferry Tour’s LECOM Suncoast Classic two weeks ago – becoming the youngest player to finish inside the top 25 on the PGA TOUR or Korn Ferry Tour, on record (since 1983).

That finish earned Russell a spot in the following week’s Korn Ferry Tour event, the Veritex Bank Championship, where he shed further light on the game’s youth movement.

“Everybody has access to a ton of stuff, if it's a launch monitor, just some of the best coaches, you know?” Russell said. “The equipment, too, like TaylorMade, like all these companies are starting to help younger kids out with gloves, balls, like all the stuff. I think that's a big part of it, and having the right clubs to fit into. I mean, everybody's just so talented. There's so many ways to be good, and everybody's finding like every little detail to be good at it or to try to be the best.”

Russell, the reigning AJGA Player of the Year, proved his game stacks up quite well against the pros. Next week, Brown will look to follow suit.