These kids are good.
The PGA Tour shouldn’t bother with reviving its old marketing slogan these guys are good because pretty soon none of them will be old enough to celebrate their successes with an alcoholic beverage.
First, it was 15-year-old Miles Russell, the youngest AJGA Player of the Year (displacing Tiger Woods), making the cut at a Korn Ferry Tour event (he finished T-20 in the LECOM Suncoast Classic) and nearly doing it again the following week. The high school freshman already has secured a sponsor exemption to the PGA Tour’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship in November, and the invites should be rolling in.
Last week, Kris Kim, 16, did one better, receiving a sponsor exemption into the PGA Tour’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson and shooting a first-round 64. He became the fifth-youngest player in the history of the PGA Tour to make the cut and the youngest in tournament history. Younger, in fact, than the Golden Child, Jordan Spieth. (Kim finished 65th.) Asked what he is most excited about when he gets back home, Kim responded with this classic answer: “I’ve got my driving license this year, so I think that’s going to be pretty cool.”
This week, it smells like teen spirit in the play-for-pay ranks in the form of young Blades Brown. Having already become the youngest stroke play medalist in U.S. Amateur history in 2023 (he was co-medalist) and breaking a record set by Bobby Jones 103 years ago, the 16-year-old Brown teed it up on Thursday at the Tour’s Myrtle Beach Classic and opened with 1-over 72.
Man, so cool to see @BladesBrown2026 competing in his 1st @PGATOUR event. Blades is 16 and a So. in HS. Unreal bud. Like yesterday you, Chase, Hayes and all the boys were out there playin coach pitch. Happy for all your success-go gettem tomorrow and please give your Mom and Dad…
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) May 9, 2024
At this pace, the Tour’s going to need to expand its daycare with all these youngsters proving they have game.
And it’s not just the men – 15-year-old Asterisk Talley of Northern California just qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open later this month and another 15-year-old, Ashley Shaw, earned a two-stroke victory at the John Shippen Cognizant Cup on Monday to earn a spot in this week’s LPGA field in New Jersey.
Impressive accomplishments, for sure, but when young golfers are doing seemingly remarkable things with such regularity it does take some of the wow factor away from the feat. These stories begin…
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