These Kids Are Good
16-year-old Blades Brown backed up an all-time cocky line to his caddie by chipping in during PGA Tour debut
Tracy Wilcox
Stop us if you've heard this one before: There's a teenager playing in a PGA Tour sanctioned event. And he's holding his own against some of the best players in the world.
In the last month we've seen 15-year-old Miles Russell become the youngest golfer to make the cut on the Korn Ferry Tour and 16-year-old Kris Kim make the cut in his PGA Tour debut at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. Now another 16-year-old, Blades Brown, who is making his PGA Tour debut at this week's Myrtle Beach Classic. And he's already displaying the type of advanced showmanship that would impress even Phil Mickelson.
First, the tour posted this fun walk-and-talk during a practice round in which Blades makes jokes about his mom, who played in the WNBA, and notes that his caddie, Jack Bethmann "has got flow." (He really does.)
Then there was an interaction between Blades and Jack during Thursday's first round. After Brown's approach shot went long on the par-4 eighth hole, he got to take a drop for a temporary immovable obstruction (TIO), and then chipped in for birdie.
"I got really lucky on that because my wedge shot, it was really close, but I was able to get relief, and then I dropped it right where I wanted to," Brown said after. "I told Jack, 'You're about to see some sauce right here,' and then it went in, and my eardrum is still ringing from the guy that was going, 'Blades!' It was electric."
You're about to see some sauce right here. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a clip of the shot so we can't see that "sauce," but that's amazing. Then again, we'd expect nothing less from a dude with a name as cool as Blades Brown.
For the day, Brown, who broke Bobby Jones' record as the youngest medalist at a U.S. Amateur ever last year, shot a one-over-par 72. Hopefully, a little more sauce will get him a weekend tee time.
