Teenager Blades Brown comes agonizingly close to 59 and legendary place in PGA Tour history
Jed Jacobsohn
It was a Friday afternoon that had golf fans, reporters and historians scrambling for their record books. Or googling as fast as their fingers could fly. Blades Brown, the 18-year-old who made his professional debut at this time last year in The American Express, got off to an incredible start in the second round on the PGA West Nicklaus Tournament Course in La Quinta, Calif. Playing on a sponsor’s invite in the immediate aftermath of a Korn Ferry Tour event, Brown started on the 10th hole and made an eagle and six birdies over his first seven holes to be eight under for the round.
The math was this: He’d need “only” five more birdies over the next 11 holes to become the youngest player among 15 men who have shot a sub-60 score on the PGA Tour, and Brown would ultimately have a short birdie putt for a chance to make history.
There also happened to be a little side drama playing out at La Quinta Country Club, only five miles away, where veteran Andrew Putnam, just minutes ahead of Brown, also had a putt for 59. Little time was needed to research two 59s scored on the tour in one day. It had never happened.
Alas, the game becomes slightly more challenging with that kind of pressure on the line, and the tense buildup produced a huge letdown when neither Putnam nor Brown could pull off a sub-60. Putnam, who shot 70 on Thursday, missed by about a foot wide on his lengthy putt, while Brown, after watching playing partner David Ford roll in a birdie on nearly the same line at the Nicklaus Course’s ninth hole, saw his six-foot putt flirt with the right edge of the cup and trickle by.
Brown put his right hand to his mouth, tapped in for a Nicklaus Course record of 60 and produced what is becoming a familiar smile by the precocious young man from Nashville. In his head, he probably was already lamenting the pars he made on the last three holes, including at the par-5 seventh when he flew the green with his second shot by 20 yards.
Asked in the aftermath if he’d felt nerves, Brown said, “Absolutely. Of course I did. I stuck to my game plan and said I’m going to execute shots that I can control. And, unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get the job done this time, but I am stoked to have shot 60 on the PGA Tour.”
Brown’s feat sets up what could be must-watch stuff on the weekend in the tour’s first mainland event of the season. At 17 under, he is tied for the lead with World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who shot 64 on the Nicklaus after a first-round 63. On every other week on the PGA Tour, megastar and rising star would be paired together on Saturday on the event’s hardest course, PGA West Stadium. But with a three-course rotation in this pro-am tournament, they’d have to keep these positions for a Sunday showdown.
Scheffler, 29, would be seeking a milestone 20th tour win in his 151st start, while Brown, in only his 10th tour appearance, might have a shot at becoming the youngest champion in the circuit’s history. The California desert has delivered youthful magic before, with Nick Dunlap capturing the 2024 American Express to be the first amateur to win on tour in 33 years.
What a week it’s already been for Brown, who recently graduated from high school. On Wednesday, he played the last of four rounds in the Korn Ferry Tour’s Great Exuma Classic in the Bahamas and that night flew 2,500 miles to Palm Springs. Brown said he grabbed a dinner of Panda Express, went to bed and got up in the morning for his tee time at La Quinta. Showing no signs of fatigue, he hit 17 greens in regulation for a 67.
Brown had a bunch of confidence heading over to the Nicklaus Course, where he made six straight birdies at one point last year. Starting on 10, he bested that, opening birdie-eagle before reeling off five more birdies en route to a first-nine 28. So dialed in with his irons that he hit 16 more greens in Round 2, Brown made four more birdies on his back, including three straight from 4-6.
That put him into position to need only one birdie over the last three for only the fifth 13-under 59 in tour history, and it would be at the par-5 seventh that he missed a big opportunity. Brown had 217 yards to the hole on his second shot, chose a 5-iron and “tugged it.” Left with a tricky downhill chip, Brown’s shot came up short of the green. His deftly hit fourth shot just missed the hole and he settled for par.
Brown hit a nice 8-iron into the difficult par-3 eighth, but missed the birdie. Then, after bombing a drive of 320-plus at 9, he had only a 50-degree wedge from 132 yards. Brown rifled the approach to birdie range and seemingly got a fortuitous read from Ford.
But Brown simply misfired. Was it a bad read or nervous stroke?
“I stroked it on the line that I wanted to put on it,” Brown said. “And I may have made it in my mind, but the putt did not go in. But I made it in my mind, so really happy about it.”
There are reasons for Brown to be all smiles. He’s contending with the greatest player in the world into the weekend for his first win, and he’s probably got decades ahead to avenge his agonizing close call with history.
Late on Friday, those thoughts were for another day. Brown admitted he was just plain worn out after his sixth competitive round in as many days.
“I’m going to get something to eat," he said, "and take a nap.”