Latest news with #BladesBrown
Reuters
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Neal Shipley grateful for unique exemption into Charles Schwab Challenge
May 20 - Colonial Country Club has a special tradition regarding its annual PGA Tour stop, known these days as the Charles Schwab Challenge. It's called the Champions' Choice: Past tournament champions select two players for a special invitation into the field each year. This week, the Champions' Choices were Neal Shipley and Blades Brown. Brown is the 17-year-old who turned pro over the winter, and the good-natured Shipley captured golf fans' imagination in 2024 by finishing as the low amateur at both the Masters and the U.S. Open before he turned pro. "It's been massive knowing that I can compete at those biggest stages so when I come out here, I know that I can beat most of the guys out here," Shipley told reporters Tuesday. "I think that's something that a lot of young pros don't get out of college, so really grateful for those two experiences." After being featured on the Netflix docuseries "Full Swing," as well, Shipley is chipping away at his professional dreams and is grateful for the opportunity in Fort Worth, Texas. "I'm really honored that some of my peers chose to give me that exemption and really excited to have a great week," he said. "The golf course is in phenomenal shape, and the membership here at Colonial has just done an awesome job welcoming us to their course." Shipley is getting just his second PGA Tour start of the season as he works toward earning his card via the Korn Ferry Tour. He made the cut and tied for 47th at the Valspar Championship in March. In the time since, Shipley notched his first professional title by winning a playoff at the LECOM Suncoast Classic on the Korn Ferry Tour in April. "A lot of our focus this year is on the Korn Ferry Tour, getting into one of those top 20 spots" to qualify for a PGA Tour card, Shipley said. .".. There's been great opportunities, and I'm able to play tour events. I want to be out here. This is where I want to play." Shipley was in the Dallas-Fort Worth area earlier this month to play in the Korn Ferry Tour event there, and it's safe to say he's glad to be back. "I love being in Texas. If I didn't live in Florida, I would probably live here," Shipley said. "Yeah, super excited. Barbecue food here is just pretty elite, so can't beat it." --Field Level Media
USA Today
02-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Myrtle Beach Classic announces field for opposite-field event played a week before PGA
Myrtle Beach Classic announces field for opposite-field event played a week before PGA In the lead up to the second men's major of 2025, there are two PGA Tour events next week. The Truist Championship, formerly the Wells Fargo Championship, is a 72-man, no-cut, signature event near Philadelphia. Next week will also be the Oneflight Myrtle Beach Classic at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Chris Gotterup, the tournament's defending champion, returns in a quest for a repeat. He's one of 132 players in the field. This is the second year of the event on the PGA Tour's schedule. What does the winner of the Myrtle Beach Classic get? In addition to the $720,000 first-place prize, the winner earns a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and, if not already eligible, a spot in the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club in two weeks. Who's in the field for the 2025 Myrtle Beach Classic? Also in the field: Blades Brown, who will be 13 days shy of his 18th birthday when the first round starts Thursday, as well as the Hojgaard twins (Nicolai and Rasmus), Tom Kim, Kevin Kisner and Jake Knapp.
Washington Post
29-04-2025
- Sport
- Washington Post
Blades Brown is 17 and already facing a fork in the road of his pro golf career
Blades Brown is still three weeks away from his 18th birthday and already facing another fork in the road. The first big turn came in December when Brown decided to skip college and turn professional without status on any tour. He has played four PGA Tour events on sponsor exemptions and made one cut, a tie for 34th in the Mexico Open. He took two sponsor exemptions on the Korn Ferry Tour and made the cut without cracking the top 40.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Blades Brown is 17 and already facing a fork in the road of his pro golf career
FILE - New York Liberty's Rhonda Blades, right, cuts past Utah Starzz' Kim Williams, left, during the first half at New York's Madison Square Garden in New York Tuesday evening, July 22, 1997. (AP Photo/Emile Wamsteker, File) In this image provided by the American Junior Golf Association, Blades Brown of Nashville, Tennessee, tees off in the Junior Presidents Cup at Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac in Montreal, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/American Junior Golf Association) In this image provided by the American Junior Golf Association, Blades Brown leans on his putter during a practice round for the Junior Presidents Cup at Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac in Montreal, Sept. 21, 2024. (American Junior Golf Association via AP) In this image provided by the American Junior Golf Association, Blades Brown leans on his putter during a practice round for the Junior Presidents Cup at Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac in Montreal, Sept. 21, 2024. (American Junior Golf Association via AP) FILE - New York Liberty's Rhonda Blades, right, cuts past Utah Starzz' Kim Williams, left, during the first half at New York's Madison Square Garden in New York Tuesday evening, July 22, 1997. (AP Photo/Emile Wamsteker, File) In this image provided by the American Junior Golf Association, Blades Brown of Nashville, Tennessee, tees off in the Junior Presidents Cup at Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac in Montreal, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/American Junior Golf Association) In this image provided by the American Junior Golf Association, Blades Brown leans on his putter during a practice round for the Junior Presidents Cup at Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac in Montreal, Sept. 21, 2024. (American Junior Golf Association via AP) Blades Brown is still three weeks away from his 18th birthday and already facing another fork in the road. The first big turn came in December when Brown decided to skip college and turn professional without status on any tour. Advertisement He has played four PGA Tour events on sponsor exemptions and made one cut, a tie for 34th in the Mexico Open. He took two sponsor exemptions on the Korn Ferry Tour and made the cut without cracking the top 40. And then one week changed everything. Brown used the third of his maximum four exemptions on the Korn Ferry Tour last week at the Veritex Bank Championship in Arlington, Texas. He opened with a 61 and finished in a five-way tie for second place, three shots behind Johnny Keefer. The next stop was supposed to be a 45-minute drive north of Dallas for the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on the PGA Tour with a $9.9 million purse. Instead, Brown chose to fly to Mexico for another Korn Ferry Tour start. Advertisement It would appear to be the right turn. That runner-up finish was worth 167 points and moved Brown to No. 44 on the Korn Ferry Tour points list. That leaves him just 53 points away from special temporary membership, which is crucial to someone in his position. He earned his way into the Tulum Championship at PGA Riviera Maya this week by finishing among the top 25. To play the CJ Cup Byron Nelson would have meant giving up a free start on the Korn Ferry Tour, leaving him only one more exemption the rest of the season. And if he plays well enough in Mexico — a top 15 should do the trick — Brown could get enough points for special temporary membership. He would not be able to accept it until May 21 when he turns 18. Advertisement But that would give him unlimited exemptions and make him eligible to improve his category ranking, effectively giving him a full Korn Ferry schedule for the rest of the year. The top 20 in points at the end of the season earn PGA Tour cards. At worse, he has a place to play. 'I say this to my caddie all the time, like every single event that I play in I feel like I'm exponentially better, more relaxed,' Brown said after the second round last week. 'I think that comes with just experience. Like anything you do for a while, you're going to get more acclimated and comfortable. 'Yeah, I'm really excited for what's to come.' His decision to skip the PGA Tour and stay on the minor league circuit is reminiscent of the decision Jordan Spieth faced as a 19-year-old in 2013. He turned pro after one full year at Texas and one failure at Q-school when he didn't get out of the second stage. Advertisement Spieth missed the cut at Torrey Pines and tied for 22nd at Pebble Beach. And then he headed south of the border for what now is the Korn Ferry Tour. He tied for seventh in Panama. He tied for fourth in Colombia. And then came a fork in the road. Spieth had a sponsor exemption the following week in the Puerto Rico Open. Status was based on money back then, and Spieth was about $4,000 short of earning full status on the Korn Ferry Tour. He wanted to give back the Puerto Rico Open exemption and head to Chile to lock up his status. Part of him felt compelled to honor his commitment to Puerto Rico. 'We sat there for 30 minutes trying to figure it out,' Spieth said at the time. Advertisement He chose Puerto Rico, which proved to be the right move. Spieth tied for second, which got him into the next PGA Tour stop at Innisbrook for the Tampa Bay Championship. He chipped in for birdie (a sign of big moments to come) on the 17th hole and finished with a 7-foot par putt to tie for seventh, giving him enough money for special temporary membership on the PGA Tour. Four months later, Spieth won the John Deere Classic. By the end of the season, he was the youngest American to play in the Presidents Cup. Spieth was special. He was a two-time U.S. Junior Amateur champion, the No. 1 player in the American Junior Golf Association ranking. His athletic genes came from a father who played college baseball and a mother who played college basketball (his younger brother, Steven, played basketball for Brown and later in Europe). Advertisement Brown is a different player cutting a different path, though he also has golf history and athletic stock worth noting. His mother, Rhonda Blades, played basketball at Vanderbilt and spent four years in the WNBA, where she has the distinction of making the first 3-pointer in WNBA history (her only points that game for the New York Liberty). Brown also was No. 1 in the AJGA ranking and earned a measure of fame at the 2023 U.S. Amateur when at 16 he became the youngest player to share medalist honors, breaking a century-old record held by 18-year-old Bobby Jones. That led to making his PGA Tour debut last year at the Myrtle Beach Classic, where Brown made the cut a week before his 17th birthday. Two weeks later, Brown and Jackson Herrington were runner-up in the U.S. Amateur Four-ball. Advertisement He is making moments and he's not even 18, traveling with his father, unable to rent a car but already curious where the road leads. Brown is not the first teenager in a hurry. Akshay Bhatia turned pro at 17 in 2019. He went through some lean times and spent two years on the Korn Ferry Tour before finding his way. Now at 23, he has two PGA Tour titles and is No. 26 in the world. Brown still has a long way to go. This trip to Mexico might not be the first detour. ___ On The Fringe analyzes the biggest topics in golf during the season. AP golf:
NBC Sports
28-04-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Why 17-year-old Blades Brown is passing up PGA Tour exemption this week
Turn down a PGA Tour invite? That's exactly what 17-year-old pro Blades Brown did this week in passing up his offer to compete in the PGA Tour's CJ Cup Byron Nelson outside of Dallas. There's a perfectly reasonable explanation, too, as Brown has his eyes locked on earning a PGA Tour card through the Korn Ferry Tour. And so, Brown, who received a boatload of points for his T-2 finish on Sunday at the KFT's Veritex Bank Championship, will take his talents across the border for the KFT's event in Tulum, Mexico. Brown has made three KFT starts this season, all on sponsor exemptions, and has earned enough points (approximately 185) to slot No. 44 on the KFT points list. Though he has only one sponsor invite left before he reaches his maximum, he won't have to burn it in Mexico since he will instead use an exemption afforded to players who finished in the top 25 the previous week. Unlimited sponsor exemptions will be allotted to Brown should he earn 53 more points and receive special temporary membership, which he won't be able to accept until he turns 18 on May 21. However, once a special temporary member, he will have an open runway to earning one of the 20 available PGA Tour cards given to the top KFT finishers at season's end. Brown has made four PGA Tour starts this year, missing three of four cuts and tying for 34th at the Mexico Open. With Brown out of the Nelson field, the extra sponsor exemption was given to Chesson Hadley. Chez Reavie also received a late invite after Zach Johnson got in on his number.
