Miles Russell’s rocket-like trajectory leads to PGA TOUR debut at 15

It took one chip for Miles Russell to turn Ramon Bescansa into a believer. 

Russell was just 6 years old, and Bescansa, who also works as a putting coach for PGA TOUR players like Chris Kirk and Harris English, wasn’t looking to add a kindergartener to his stable of students. But that one shot convinced Bescansa that this kid was different. Russell’s technique was sound, the contact crisp, as he cleanly picked the ball from the turf.  

“I can work with this,” Bescansa said. 

Catching others by surprise has become a theme with Russell. He has seemingly skipped years and steps with every passing accomplishment. He broke par for the first time at age 6, and finished second in the Drive, Chip and Putt finals at Augusta National Golf Club when he was 9. He played from the tips before he was a teenager and made his high school golf team in sixth grade. He won both the Junior PGA Championship and Junior PLAYERS at 14, then won the AJGA’s Player of the Year Award a day after turning 15, supplanting Tiger Woods as the youngest to win AJGA Player of the Year.

Many kids become dominant juniors because of early growth spurts that leave them looming over their peers, hitting drives that sail well past those of their competitors. This is not the case for Russell. He looks like your average high-school sophomore, standing 5-foot-7 and weighing 135 pounds, but he has separated himself with a skill set that includes the same elite short game that impressed Bescansa years ago.

Russell has proven adept against the pros, as well. In April, he became the youngest player ever to make a cut on the Korn Ferry Tour. He finished T20 to become the youngest to finish in the top 25 of a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event, as well.

Now he’s making his PGA TOUR debut at this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic after receiving a sponsor exemption into the field.

“Korn Ferry was pretty cool,” said Russell. “So I can only imagine what a PGA TOUR event is.”

Russell is the latest in a run of phenoms on the PGA TOUR this year. Kris Kim and Blades Brown, both 16, made the cut at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson and Myrtle Beach Classic, respectively.

Russell’s debut is more anticipated, given his stature as the No. 1-ranked junior in the world before becoming an upperclassman in high school. He is the youngest winner of both the Junior PGA Championship and the Junior PLAYERS. He won the former by seven with a score of 18-under par, then shot 70-66-71 to win by three at TPC Sawgrass.

He already has signed name, image and likeness deals with TaylorMade and Nike, relationships that led to him walking inside the ropes with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler at this year’s PLAYERS Championship.

Russell’s travel schedule already imitates that of a TOUR pro, as well. He took a scouting trip to Michigan earlier this month to see Detroit Golf Club, the site of the Rocket Mortgage, and Oakland Hills, which will host the U.S. Junior Amateur, a tournament where he first made match play as a 13-year-old (making him the third-youngest player ever to do so). A few weeks ago, he traveled to the Northeast to play Pine Valley and Baltusrol. 

A native of Jacksonville Beach, Florida, Russell rubs elbows with TOUR players who call northeast Florida home. He plays with PGA TOUR player Raul Pereda, another of Bescansa’s students, and LPGA winner Mel Reid, who admits that she gets short-game tips from the teenager.

“I don’t think he needs any tips from me,” Reid, a former Solheim Cup participant, said. “He’s so good. I ask him for tips.”

Pereda called him “a top-notch player” and said, “We’re looking at a young Tiger Woods right here.”

It’s a lofty, and likely unreachable target, but such pronouncements are the result of such incredible achievements. There’s more talent left to see, especially as Russell grows bigger and stronger. He already possesses a TOUR-level short game, according to Pereda.

Russell’s gifts are preternatural, Bescansa said. He points to a moment early in their partnership, when Bescansa was showing Russell how to hit a flop shot. Bescansa, a former All-American at North Carolina, did well to leave himself a 10-foot putt. Without taking a practice swing, Russell opened the blade, threw his hands at the ball, and produced a high-arched pitch that landed softly, 2 feet from the hole. 

“He's got the nippers,” Pereda said, “the big flop shots. He's got the high-and-soft shot, the perfect sound out of the bunker shots. The bump-and-runs, the one-hop-stop. I've seen it all with him.”

Pereda sheepishly admits Russell has outdriven him, as well. Once, upon Pereda demonstrating his 116-mph swing speed, Russell delivered this retort: “Oh Raul, that’s my cruising speed right there.”

It was less of a flex from the younger player than good-natured ribbing amongst friends.

“And I’ve been working out so hard,” Pereda said with a laugh. “He turns around and gives me some crap. I wish I could give him some back.”

There are obvious concerns when an athlete shines so bright this soon. Pereda has considered this with Russell, but he doesn’t see the warning signs of burnout.

Russell’s drive is intrinsic. He’s always been the one insisting on going to the course, always asking to hit just a few more putts as his parents patiently waited in the car. They have never intervened in a lesson, Bescansa said. They drop him off at the course and pick him up when he’s done without comment or critique, a rare trait from parents of prodigiously talented juniors.

Russell doesn’t idolize athletes in other sports. He never played anything seriously other than golf. Asked what he does when it’s raining outside and practice isn’t possible, Russell said, “I just hope it doesn’t rain.” But when it does, Bescansa says, Russell uses it as an opportunity to test rain gloves, see how his swing holds up in the wet weather and get accustomed to playing in the elements. 

Russell is home-schooled and his golf schedule determines his school schedule. If it’s nicer in the morning, he will start with golf. If the weather is poor, he’ll work on school before heading to the course later. His life revolves around golf. It’s helped him become the best 15-year-old in the world. He’s acutely aware that doesn’t mean he’ll be the best at 16, 26 or 36, so he isn’t interested in doing much else while the good golf is flowing.

“I don't think it would feel like a job because I love it so much,” Russell said. 

He is still developing his personality and place in the world, as befitting a 15-year-old. He’s got some humor, Pereda said, but it never crosses into cockiness. Russell has every reason to feel himself as the next phenom but never goes there. Although Pereda argued that a touch more bravado may be beneficial as Russell grows, why change? His startling modesty and maturity is partly why Pereda is so confident in his prospects.

Pereda, a rookie on TOUR, has tried to “mentor” Russell as best he can, though he’s unsure how much Russell needs it, given how acclimated he already is to top-level golf. And it was Russell who sent Pereda an encouraging text after the latter endured a recent string of missed cuts. They plan to play a practice round in Detroit this week, and rest assured Pereda will be there for anything Russell needs in the Motor City. 

“That kid is a prodigy,” Pereda said. “How he's developed as an athlete in such a short period of time that I've gotten to know him, I'm amazed. I want to be around his life for a long time, not because of what he’s going to do, but how he’s going to carry himself as he does it.”