{"id":429775,"date":"2026-01-24T07:34:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T07:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/429775\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T07:34:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T07:34:16","slug":"this-teen-hes-a-pro-he-flew-private-and-hes-leading-on-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/429775\/","title":{"rendered":"This teen? He’s a pro, he flew private and he’s leading on Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome! Where are you, you ask. I\u2019m calling this the Weekend 9. Think of it as a spot to warm up for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We\u2019ll have thoughts. We\u2019ll have tips. We\u2019ll have tweets. But just nine in all, though sometimes maybe more and sometimes maybe less. As for who I am? The paragraphs below tell some of the story. I can be reached at nick.piastowski@golf.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re reading this report, you\u2019re probably being encircled by snow, or the cold, or by pics from your pals in much calmer climates, so let\u2019s start with something warm and bright, such as this:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I love what I do. I love to play golf.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s good. That was from Blades Brown<\/a>, who\u2019s now three-fourths of the way through a\u00a0 maybe-never-been-done-before playing attempt \u2014 and halfway home to something even more incredible. Here are your facts: On Sunday, he teed off at the the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic on the Korn Ferry Tour, where he\u2019s a member, then he played Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday \u2014 before heading to the PGA Tour\u2019s American Express<\/a>, a tournament that runs Thursday through Sunday and invited Brown to play on a sponsor exemption. Add that all up, and you get this:<\/p>\n

Brown could play eight consecutive days of PGA Tour-level golf, and as far as anyone can tell, he\u2019d be the first to do so.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Which, come Sunday night, might be just a cute trivia answer, because dude might win the thing. Please stay with us here.<\/p>\n

The story starts 18 years ago, which is also when Brown did. Eighteen is Brown age, making him one of professional golf\u2019s youngest players \u2014 and there was natural curiosity when, a year ago, he started his pro career at the American Express on a sponsor exemption. How would the then-17-year-old play? How would he look away from the play? The first sentence of a story from Larry Bohannan, a writer from the nearby Palm Springs Desert Sun, summed it up this way<\/a>:<\/p>\n

For three days, Blades Brown was the story of The American Express, with the 17-year-old making birdies and thrilling galleries in his professional debut.<\/p>\n

Brown was personable. Ahead of the AmEx, he talked about dad and mom, who played in the WNBA<\/a> and hit the league\u2019s first 3-pointer. He talked about wanting to dunk. Brown then opened with a 72, then shot a 64, which, according to GOLF.com contributor Justin Ray<\/a>, was the lowest score in a PGA Tour round by a player under the age of 18 in the last 40 years. On his third day at the American Express \u2014 the event plays three rounds \u2014\u00a0Brown stumbled to a 74 and he missed the cut, but he hung around for interviews, including the one below<\/a>, which was shown live on Golf Channel:<\/p>\n

After all that, the folks at American Express invited him back. And the eight-day plan became a possibility. Brown earned the Korn Ferry spot through his full-time status on the tour (gained by finishing in the top 75 last year on the circuit\u2019s season-long points standings). He also picked up a ride between the Bahamas and the West Coast. Last May, he played in the PGA Tour\u2019s Myrtle Beach Classic, where he was given five hours of flight time by event sponsor and private jet company ONEFlight by finishing in the top 50 \u2014 and he\u2019s cashed it in. His schedule between the tournaments looked like this:<\/p>\n

\u2013 Finished the final round at the Abaco Club on Wednesday afternoon\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2013 Showered\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2013 Drove from the course to Thompson International Airport in the Bahamas, where the private jet took off at 4 p.m. Eastern (\u201cIt was awesome,\u201d Brown said Thursday. \u201cMy second time ever flying private. It was beautiful.\u201d)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2013 Landed at 6:30 p.m. Pacific at Palm Springs International Airport\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2013 Ate Panda Express\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2013 Bought some groceries\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2013 Went to sleep at 10\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2013 Woke up at 5 on Thursday\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2013 Got out to PGA West to warm up and roll some putts. (\u201cI mean, it was blowing 30 the entire way,\u201d Brown said, \u201dand then you get here and then it\u2019s perfect.\u201d)\u00a0<\/p>\n

But could he, you know, play eight straight days? He\u2019d have to make a pair of cuts, too \u2014 and he most certainly will, barring the unforeseen, after a Friday at the AmEx few saw coming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brown birdied his first hole (the 10th at the Nicklaus Tournament Course). And eagled the second. And birdied the third. And the fourth. And the fifth. And the sixth. And the seventh. He was eight-under \u2014 through seven. After a pair of pars, he finished his first nine with a 28. Folks start whispering then. And Brown kept balling. He birdied his 11th hole. And 13th. And 14th. And 15th. He was 12-under on the par-72 \u2014 with three holes left to shoot 59. Or 58. Or 57.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Or 60.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brown parred out. On 18, after a wedge that dropped to within a few feet of the hole, his birdie attempt slid past its right side. \u201cI was thinking, OK, maybe just a little outside right edge,\u201d he said. \u201cUnfortunately, it didn\u2019t break.\u201d Still, a 60 is a 60. That tied for the day\u2019s best score.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And, through two rounds, Brown is tied for the lead with someone who\u2019s seemingly always around the top: world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler<\/a>. Much can happen from here to Sunday, of course, then again, much already has, and here Brown is. Should he win, he\u2019d be the second-youngest ever to do so on the PGA Tour, according to the PGA Tour record books. (The youngest was Charles Kocsis, who, at 18 years, 6 months, 9 days, won the 1931 Michigan Open; Brown turns 19 in May.) \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But again, that\u2019s getting ahead of things.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And Friday night, Brown was thinking of other things.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to go take a nap after this,\u201d he said, \u201cand probably get some food.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see if we can find eight more items for the Weekend 9.\u00a0<\/p>\n

2. The PGA Tour social media team captured Brown\u2019s trip from the Bahamas to California, and you can watch it below<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

3. Golf Channel\u2019s Brentley Romine also shared this<\/a>:<\/p>\n

If Blades Brown makes the cut Saturday at The American Express, he\u2019s believed to be the first player, at least in modern history, to play eight competitive rounds between the PGA and Korn Ferry tours in as many days.<\/p>\n

However, I was mistaken in thinking that no other player has\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/S6jM9D44NB<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Brentley Romine (@BrentleyGC) January 23, 2026<\/a>
\nOne takeaway from the week that was\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

4. This week, I talked to University of Mississippi golf coach Chris Malloy, whose star player, Michael La Sasso, left the Rebels in order to sign a deal from LIV Golf<\/a>, backed by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund. In doing so, La Sasso gave up a shot at PGA Tour-level golf through the Tour\u2019s university program, a chance to defend the NCAA title he won a year ago, and a tee time at this year\u2019s Masters, which was given to him through the NCAA victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I asked Malloy about the Masters invite and how much that played into his decision, and he said this, which I\u2019ve been thinking about:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, not as much as you would think. Mike was pretty good about thinking long term and not being as short-sighted. Certainly that hurt. I don\u2019t think he ever imagined himself saying, \u2018No, no, I\u2019m not going to go play the Masters this year,\u2019 But I\u2019ll give him a lot of credit in that regard. Somebody his age going through all this, he really did a good job of thinking long term.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot to consider here, obviously\u00a0 \u2014 and I\u2019m curious about what you would do. Feel free to email me at nick.piastowski@golf.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

5. The tweet below<\/a>, from LIV\u2019s Graeme McDowell, was also interesting, as were the responses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hot take but LIV is a legitimate pathway for young potential superstars who can get paid to be mentored in their young careers by Tour greats and play a guaranteed schedule. The road to the PGA Tour is increasingly perilous and littered with great talent that never made it.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Graeme McDowell (@Graeme_McDowell) January 20, 2026<\/a>
\nOne takeaway for next week\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

6. Brooks Koepka<\/a> returns to the PGA Tour next week, after four seasons with LIV. I think he\u2019ll be asked about his decision to leave.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An instruction tip for the weekend\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

7. This week, GOLF\u2019s Sean Zak profiled Tommy Fleetwood, and it\u2019s here where you must \u2014 must \u2014 read the entire story (which you can do here<\/a>) and watch the entire YouTube video (which you can do here<\/a>). Because there are nuggets like this:<\/p>\n

The rep he was earning \u201cwas impossible to ignore,\u201d he says. Doubts crept in during the tensest moments, an affliction that never plagues the player in 40th place. But rather than coalesce into some unbeatable boogeyman, the close calls somehow reduced Fleetwood\u2019s fear of falling short \u2014 so long as he forced himself through a sick form of therapy. When it would have been natural to retreat and discreetly lick his wounds, he went straight to the media and rewired his perception of those negative experiences.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re gonna take the highs, you have to take the hits as well,\u201d he says now. \u201cI\u2019m talking to myself when I\u2019m doing those interviews. I knew that if I spoke straight away and said the right things \u2014 the things I wanna hear as well \u2014 that it was a really important part of the process for me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fleetwood\u2019s fearless vulnerability struck such a chord with PGA Tour staffers that, at their annual orientation for rookie players in November, they used his post-Travelers presser as a peak example of media relations. If some of Fleetwood\u2019s maxims \u2014 \u201cThoughts and feelings are the most natural things we have; you can\u2019t fight them\u201d \u2014 seem straight out of a self-help manual, they very well might be. He works with sports psychologist Bob Rotella and rereads his books often.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Again, here<\/a> is the story link, and here<\/a> is the video link.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another instruction tip for the weekend\u00a0<\/p>\n

8. With snow storms approaching parts of the country, I thought that the tweet below<\/a> was worth sharing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\ud835\uddda\ud835\udde2\ud835\udddf\ud835\uddd9 \ud835\udddc\ud835\udde1 \ud835\udde7\ud835\udddb\ud835\uddd8 \ud835\udde6\ud835\udde1\ud835\udde2\ud835\uddea? \ud835\uddec\ud835\udde2\ud835\udde8 \ud835\udde6\ud835\udde7\ud835\udddc\ud835\udddf\ud835\udddf \ud835\uddd6\ud835\uddd4\ud835\udde1! \u26c4\ufe0f<\/p>\n

These are your options when there is snow or ice on the ground:<\/p>\n

1. Treat the snow\/ice as a loose impediment, which means you can physically move it just like you would move leaves or twigs. Just be careful not to cause\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/28xfJ1gTv7<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 USGA (@USGA) January 5, 2026<\/a>
\nA golf story that interests me\u00a0<\/p>\n

9. This story here<\/a> is good. Written by Bill Smith of techblog.com, it describes a mini-golf putter that straightens the face as you putt, should you need it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wrote Smith:<\/p>\n

He wanted a putter that\u2019d give him a break from those frustrating times when he just can\u2019t quite put the ball in the hole despite his best efforts. From the surface, it appears to be a standard-looking club with a machined head and a lengthy shaft, but within it houses a beast of a high-torque brushless motor coupled via a driving shaft to a worm gearbox that allows it to rotate the head around a vertical axis. This configuration maintains the head steady at impact while allowing for extremely quick modifications mid-swing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What golf is on TV this weekend?<\/p>\n

10. Let\u2019s do 10 items! Here\u2019s a rundown of golf on TV this weekend:<\/p>\n

\u2013 Saturday\u00a0<\/p>\n

2 a.m.-8 a.m. ET: Hero Dubai Desert Classic third round, Golf Channel\u00a0<\/p>\n

4 p.m.-7 p.m. ET: The American Express third round, Golf Channel\u00a0<\/p>\n

7 p.m.-10 p.m. ET: Mitsubishi Electric Championship final round, Golf Channel\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2013 Sunday\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

2 a.m.-8 a.m. ET: Hero Dubai Desert Classic final round, Golf Channel\u00a0<\/p>\n

4 p.m.-7 p.m. ET: The American Express final round, Golf Channel\u00a0<\/p>\n

A video that made me laugh\u00a0<\/p>\n

11. Let\u2019s do 11 items! The video below<\/a>, from Bridgestone Golf, was good.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another video that made me laugh\u00a0<\/p>\n

12. Let\u2019s do 12 items. The video below<\/a>, from the DP World Tour, was good.\u00a0<\/p>\n