Blades Brown has earned the PGA Tour’s biggest prize. Now, the decision is near
The last time Blades Brown faced a choice, he took an unusual route. He was a 17-year-old budding golf star who chose to forgo college to become a champion and pursue his dream of playing on the PGA Tour rather than back down.
Brown’s entry into professional golf has not been a smooth ride. He made just three of eight cuts on the PGA Tour last year but managed to earn full-time status on the Korn Ferry Tour for 2026. He has played well so far this season in both tournaments. He was on the final team at American Express with Scottie Scheffler and Si Woo Kim. Brown stumbled on Sunday and lost the tournament, but going 18 holes with Scheffler on Sunday gave him something valuable.
“Playing with Scottie Scheffler in the finals when I was 18 years old — I had to pinch myself a few times to make sure this was real,” Brown said after finishing tied for 18th that week.
“I’d say one of the funnest things I learned today is how underrated Scottie Scheffler’s short game is. Seeing it in person and just watching the kind of trajectory and spin, and the control he has with his wedges and short game. Obviously, his putting is crazy, too. It was really fun to watch. So I’m going to keep working on that.”
When Brown left Palm Springs, he said he was “running his own race.” He would come to the PGA Tour with his schedule. When it came, it came. But for now, he was content to move on past the Korn Ferry Tour, learning a lot of lessons the tour would teach someone who just turned 19 three days ago.
But things move fast and plans can change, especially when you’re blessed with incredible talent.
Brown’s run led him to this week’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch, where he got to combine it with a sponsor’s invitation. Brown fired four rounds in the 60s, including a 4-under 67 on Sunday, to finish tied for 14th and earn enough FedEx Cup points to earn Temporary Exclusive Membership on the PGA Tour. He only needed to finish with 21 ties this week to claim that award. That means Brown can still receive unlimited sponsor exemptions throughout the PGA Tour season, including the fall slate. Players who do not have a special temporary membership are caught in seven sponsor invitations.
Brown admitted that he got the exclusive Interim Membership sooner than he expected, but that is the result of being patient with the process since he became champion. Blades Brown knew that everything wouldn’t happen overnight and he would have to focus on incremental progress before it would lead him to his desired destination.
“I try to set my own goals and standards,” Brown said after his final round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. “It just happens. Like I just try to take it one at a time, control the things I can’t control, and just try to let everything else happen.”
Now, Brown faces another decision. He can fully commit to the PGA Tour until the end of the season, which will allow him to try to play his way to full-time membership in 2027 and next year’s Signature Events. He can fully commit to the Korn Ferry Tour for the rest of the season and try to earn his PGA Tour card for the 2027 season through the Korn Ferry Tour points system. Brown is currently 13th on the Korn Ferry Tour’s season-long points list. The top 20 at the end of the season receive their 2027 PGA Tour cards. That might be a safe option, but it would mean he won’t be able to reach the Signing Events to start the 2027 season. A third option is for Brown to juggle both worlds and play in the tournaments he wants on both tours. That option could leave him without any travel in 2027 if he doesn’t play well.
Brown is not sure which path he will choose. He plans to play in next week’s Korn Ferry game in Raleigh, North Carolina, and then chooses the road he will take, knowing that dirt holds the key, no matter what he chooses.
“Good golf takes care of everything,” Brown said. “The Korn Ferry Tour is amazing. For me, what it did for me was give me a path to the PGA TOUR. The best thing I think it did was teach me to come down. I can’t thank the Korn Ferry Tour enough for teaching me those important lessons, because everybody who comes out of the PGA TOUR, can come down. Look at Wyndham. [Clark]looked at Scottie [Scheffler]looked at Si Woo [Kim]. Twenty-eight-under, 27-under is no joke. Without the Korn Ferry Tour, I wouldn’t have had that energy.
“I’m excited for the next few weeks and see what happens.”
No matter what Blades Brown chooses to do, he feels that having an exclusive Provisional Membership on the PGA Tour at age 19 validated his decision to go on to college and jump into the deep end of junior golf.
He has shown that he belongs to them. There’s still a lot to do, but Blades Brown is right where he needs to be after earning a rare PGA Tour award at TPC Craig Ranch this week. Whatever decision Brown makes, he has shown that he can handle the problems that this decision will bring.
“I’m not sure where I want to go right now,” Brown told CBS’s Amanda Balionis. “It’s a great place to be. When I say now that I have Temporary Special Status on the PGA Tour, little Blades would be the same, ‘What do you have?’ To be able to say I’m a Part-Time Exclusive Member on the PGA Tour is pretty sick.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do now, we’ll have to see.”
