Nineteen-year-old Blades Brown secured Special Temporary Membership on the PGA Tour following his standout performance at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. The teenager now faces an immediate scheduling decision as he navigates his newly acquired status this summer.
Brown entered the final round paired with the world number one. “Getting to play with Scottie Scheffler in the final group at 18 years old is — I had to pinch myself couple of times just to make sure this was real,” Brown said.
Observing elite course management firsthand, Brown noted the technical proficiency required. “I would say one of the coolest things that I learned today was how underrated Scottie Scheffler’s short game is. To see it in person and just to look at kind of the trajectory and the spin, and just the control that he has with his wedges and short game. Obviously, his putting is insane, too. It was really cool to watch. So I’m definitely going to go work on that.”
Despite the spotlight, Brown relies on internal metrics. “I try to set my own goals and standards,” he explained. “Good golf takes care of everything,”
His aggressive scoring stems from developmental circuits. “The Korn Ferry Tour is awesome. For me, what it’s done for me is it’s provided me a pathway to the PGA TOUR. The cool thing that I think it’s done is it’s taught me to go low. I can’t thank the Korn Ferry Tour enough for teaching me those valuable lessons, because everybody out on the PGA TOUR, they can go low. Look at Wyndham [Clark], look at Scottie [Scheffler], look at Si Woo [Kim]. Twenty-eight-under, 27-under is not a joke. Without the Korn Ferry Tour, I would not have had that strength.”
Earning this status guarantees unlimited sponsor exemptions. “It’s a pretty cool spot to be in. Saying that I now have Special Temporary status on the PGA Tour, younger Blades would be like , ‘You have what?’ For me to be able to say that I’m a Special Temporary Member on the PGA Tour is pretty sick.”
Brown is weighing his next entries carefully. “I’m excited for the next couple of weeks and see what’s going to happen.”
However, his immediate calendar remains undecided. “I’m unsure of where I want to go as of right now,” Brown admitted. “I don’t know what I’m going to do right now. We will have to see.”
