«This is not a decision I take lightly, I have spent the last few months weighing all possible options before deciding what I know is best for me. Although I am proud of my amateur career achievements, I am focused on the future and on starting my professional career strongly,» announced the very young Blades Brown, who will make the leap to professionalism next January.
At 17, the Nashville native is forgoing college to turn professional. Not only that, he will skip the last year and a half of high school. The American is currently the highest-ranked player of the 2026 class according to the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) rankings and one of the young talents in golf.
The Nashville high school student has also announced when he will debut as a professional on the PGA Tour. He will do so in California at the American Express in January. From the United States, they assure that he already has several invitations lined up, hence he has decided to take the step. Brown already knows what it’s like to play on the American circuit. He debuted last May at the Myrtle Beach Classic, finishing in a more than commendable 26th place.
The great milestone in Brown’s young career took place in 2023, when he was 16, as he became the youngest medallist in the history of the U.S. Amateur, that is, leader after the stroke play phase. He thus broke a 103-year-old record set by Bobby Jones. In 2024, Blades was also a medallist at the U.S. Junior, joining Tiger Woods and Bobby Clampett as players to achieve that double. This year he has won three AJGA titles.
Blades Brown shares an agent with Akshay Bhatia, the already two-time PGA Tour winner who turned professional instead of going to college, and he is going to follow the same path.
Brown’s mother, Rhonda, was a standout basketball player at Vanderbilt before playing in the WNBA and scoring the first three-pointer in league history.
