Despite Missing Cut, Blades Brown Pro Debut Memorable For His Family

Blades Brown entered this week at The American Express in LaQuinta, Calif. with a positive attitude. In making his debut on the PGA Tour as a professional, the 17-year-old Nashville resident knew that this week was more about the journey than the destination.

The competitor inside him still demanded excellence, but the whirlwind experience was more about creating a new normal in his weekly regimen. He was learning how to balance the demands of media obligations, participating in three days of pro-am distractions, preparing to compete on three different golf courses and….oh yeah….taking on the best golfers on the PGA Tour.

Sounds like a simple assignment, huh?

Despite stumbling late in Saturday’s third round on the Pete Dye Stadium Course at PGA West to miss the cut by three shots, Brown should walk away from this week full of hope and encouraged by his performance.

After shooting 8-under 64 on Friday following an opening round 72, Brown was making this professional golfing gig look ridiculously easy. Six consecutive birdies as part of a stretch of eight birdies over nine holes at the Nicklaus Tournament Course was ample evidence that Brown’s decision to forgo college in pursuit of his professional dreams was a proper choice. His epic round was the lowest score in a PGA Tour round by a player under the age of 18 in the last 40 years.

He was 16 of 18 in greens hit in regulation, and his 1.38 putts per green hit was tied for 4^th best in the field on Friday. Standing in 40^th place at 8-under with Saturday’s 54-hole cut expected to land at 9-under, Brown appeared to be a shoo-in to be playing in Sunday’s final round.

But if he didn’t know this already from his stellar amateur career, Brown learned a valuable lesson on Saturday about the fickle nature of golf. Birdies on his opening two holes and another at the 5^th dropped him to 11-under par, and surely his ambitions began to wander beyond simply making it to Sunday.

But as effortless as his six-birdie string appeared on Friday, the final five holes on Saturday will surely provide lessons on battling adversity that will serve Brown well down the road. His ball-striking was just a smidge off, and his putter cooled resulting in a bogey at No. 7 followed by pars on holes 8 thru 12 with birdie looks on all of them.

A clutch five-footer to salvage par on No. 13 kept him at 10-under, but misfires on the next two holes to save par from inside eight feet dropped Brown back to 8-under. Needing to birdie one of the final three holes to finish inside the projected cut line, he parred the par-5 16^th and rinsed his tee shot on the par-3 17^th which led to an untimely double bogey.

Surely disappointed with his setback of going 4-over in his last three holes, Brown never lost his composure. He poised himself on the 18^th to split the fairway and nestle his approach to 16 feet, but his final try at birdie to salvage his week slid past the hole for a round of 74.

He finished his week in the California desert at 6-under 210, but finished ahead of major champions Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman and Lucas Glover. Not too shabby for his first week on the job.

With no status on the Tour, Brown must now await other sponsor exemptions and Monday qualifiers to secure his future playing dates. Recording a top 10 finish will also garner other opportunities.

But for now, I’d say it has been mission accomplished for Brown in his debut. He proved that he has plenty of abilities to more than hold his own among the game’s elite, and he learned some valuable lessons of failure that will prepare him for his bright future.

But regardless of Brown’s ultimate career path, this week took on even more significance for the Brown family.

In 2022, Parke Brown – Blade’s father – was given a somber diagnosis of bone cancer that carried with it a life expectancy of only a few months. After undergoing more tests, doctors instead determined Parke had Hairy Cell Leukemia—a rare form of the disease that can’t be cured but is treatable with chemotherapy and frequent blood monitoring.

Now more than two years later, Parke Brown’s health is stable. But the fallout from the original diagnosis has caused the family to take nothing for granted. Their faith is strong and instrumental in their decisions, making this week even more special.

Ever the learner, Blades gleaned life lessons about the fragility of life and had a front-row seat to witness the courage of his father enduring 20 rounds of chemotherapy. He gained strength from his father’s battle, something that offers a mature perspective beyond his years as he embarks upon his professional golf journey.

“It was super difficult,” Blades told Golf Digest this week. “When the doctor says your dad only has six months to live, it hit me for a second. But I knew that God had everything under control, and I could trust Him.

“My dad looked leukemia in the face and said ‘no.’ He beat it, and it just put a whole new perspective on golf. I’m not just playing for the benefit of me; I’m playing for the benefit of watching him watch me on the PGA Tour.”

When asked about what this week meant to him seeing his son compete on a stage he could only dream about when he first began golfing, Parke Brown was succinct in his response.

“This week has been terrific and beyond,” Parke Brown said.

That’s what makes this week one that Blades Brown will never forget. Not because of the birdie streak that punctuated Friday’s round, but because his father who taught him to love golf was there to share the moment with him.

Paul Payne can be emailed at paulpayne6249@gmail.com