Blades Brown has made PGA Tour history, breaking a record previously held by Australian great Jason Day.
The American teenager has become the youngest player to earn his PGA Tour card through the Korn Ferry Tour.
At just 19 years, four months and 20 days old, Brown has surpassed Day’s record of 19 years, 11 months and 23 days, which had stood since 2007.
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Brown secured his place on the PGA Tour after finishing second at the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship, climbing to ninth in the overall standings.
With the top 20 players on the season-long points list earning their tour card, Brown made sure he was among them after a brilliant performance in the final tournament.
The Tennessee teenager finished at 18-under-par, just two shots behind winner Austin Hitt.
But it was his incredible second round that really put him in contention.
Brown fired a stunning 10-under 61 to take the halfway lead, with his round featuring back-to-back eagles on the ninth and 10th holes before finishing with five consecutive birdies.
A 68 on Saturday then saw him take a one-shot lead into the final round, putting him in a brilliant position to claim his first professional victory.
However, it wasn’t to be.
With rainy conditions making things difficult on Sunday, Brown couldn’t hold onto his advantage as Hitt went on to claim the title.
But while Brown missed out on lifting the trophy, he walked away with something that could prove even more important for his career.
And for those who have followed the teenager’s rise through the golfing ranks, breaking records is nothing new.
Back in 2023, at just 16 years old, Brown broke a record that had stood for an incredible 103 years at the US Amateur Championship.
Golf legend Bobby Jones had become the youngest stroke-play medallist at the tournament in 1920, aged 18.
And more than a century later, Brown went one better.
The teenager fired a course-record eight-under 64 at Colorado Golf Club in the second round of stroke play, finishing tied at seven-under 136 to claim co-medallist honours.
It was another remarkable achievement for Brown, who was still in high school at the time.
But his rise through the golfing ranks has been far from ordinary.
At just 17 years old, the American made the bold decision to skip college golf altogether and turn professional in December 2024.
Brown had attracted interest from some of America’s biggest college programs, including Stanford and Vanderbilt, but decided to take a different path.
Instead, the teenager backed himself to compete against the world’s best, believing it would help take his game to another level.
It was a massive gamble for Brown, who wasn’t even old enough to become a PGA Tour member at the time.
“Turning professional was a very difficult decision, but it was the best decision that I believe was for me,” Brown said in January 2025.
“I’m probably not going to be going to school in college, but I am going to be going to school on the PGA TOUR, so that sounds pretty good to me.”
And while there were no guarantees that decision would pay off, Brown continued to work his way through the professional ranks before finding his feet on the Korn Ferry Tour.
From 2027, Brown will get his chance on the PGA Tour, going up against some of the biggest names in world golf on a regular basis.
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