Blades Brown is turning down a PGA Tour invite this week, opting instead to continue his path toward earning a Tour card through the Korn Ferry Tour.
The 17-year-old pro declined his offer to compete in the PGA Tour’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson outside Dallas. It’s a strategic move that makes perfect sense – Brown is riding momentum after his T-2 finish at the KFT’s Veritex Bank Championship last Sunday, which earned him a substantial points boost.
Instead of teeing it up in Texas, Brown will head to the KFT event in Tulum, Mexico. His runner-up finish last week means he won’t need to use one of his valuable sponsor exemptions for the Mexico event, as he qualifies through the top-25 exemption from the previous tournament.
Brown has made three KFT starts this season, all on sponsor exemptions, and has accumulated approximately 185 points. That’s good enough to place him 44th on the KFT points list. He’s got just one sponsor invite remaining before hitting his maximum.
What makes this situation interesting is that Brown needs only 53 more points to earn special temporary membership, which would grant him unlimited sponsor exemptions. The catch? He can’t accept that status until he turns 18 on May 21. Once he becomes a special temporary member, though, he’ll have a clear path toward earning one of the 20 PGA Tour cards awarded to top KFT finishers at season’s end.
Brown’s PGA Tour experience so far has been a learning curve. He’s made four starts this year, missing three cuts while tying for 34th at the Mexico Open.
With Brown’s decision to skip the Nelson, his sponsor exemption went to Chesson Hadley. Chez Reavie also received a late invite after Zach Johnson got in on his number.
