Oh, to be young again.
The armor of youth is naivety that feels invincible – the sense that anything can go right WILL go right. The scar tissue that forms as you collect the scars of life hasn’t arrived yet. You can do anything and be anything because nothing has told you you can’t.
Enter Rickie Fowler on Friday at American Express talking about 18-year-old Blades Brown, who was inches away from a second-round 59, and wondering how things ARE for Blades Brown and the like were for Rickie Fowler – before big losses and winless droughts, before what it can be it was done what is and was.
“Yeah, soak it up, have fun,” Fowler said of Brown. “It goes by so fast.”
Brown, who graduated from high school two weeks ago and is a member of the Korn Ferry Tour, began his week in the Bahamas playing a Sunday-Wednesday event. He then hopped on a private jet and headed to the Southern California desert to play as a guest sponsor. A year ago, Brown lost the cut at American Express heartbreakingly. This time, he played himself into the competition and set up a final round match with him World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler A and Singer.
“I’m out there having fun. I’m 18 years old playing on the PGA Tour. How great is that?” Brown said Saturday.
He arrived Sunday at PGA West with a legitimate change of becomes the second youngest winner in PGA Tour history. However, he would have to beat Scheffler, Kim and a group of challengers that included Wyndham Clark, Jason Day and Fowler, all while playing his eighth competitive round in eight days.
Brown bogeyed the second, but things quickly unraveled at the par-5 fifth. His tip shot landed in the water, and his re-tip found just the right toughness. After his 32-foot bogey shot slipped past the hole, Brown chipped in for a double-par seven and watched as Scheffler waltzed off the field for a four-stroke victory.
Brown’s Sunday scoreboard will tell you that he played the final round in two over and finished in a tie for 18th, eight shots behind Scheffler. This is the surface-level view of an 18-year-old’s game with a rising legend.
But the truth is something deeper. Brown lost American Express, yes, but it didn’t seem like it.
“Playing with Scottie Scheffler in the last set at 18 is — I had to pinch myself a few times just to make sure it was real,” Brown said.
“I’d say one of the coolest things I learned today was how underrated Scottie Scheffler’s short game is. To see him in person and just see the kind of trajectory and spin, and just the control he has with his wedges and the short game. Obviously, his putting is crazy, too. It was really cool to watch. So I’ll definitely keep working on it.”
Blades Brown’s effort in Sunday’s PGA Tour cauldron could be a scar, the first chink in the armor of youth. Or it could be something else. Something worthwhile as Brown continues his unconventional path to the PGA Tour.
“I could probably write a book about what I’ve learned these past two days,” Brown said with a laugh. “Just knowing I can compete here. It was so cool to watch Scottie win in person and play with him.
“I was having so much fun. You’re telling me I got to play in a PGA Tour event and play Scottie Scheffler and see him win it, that was crazy.”
Blades Brown chose a different path. He decided not to pursue golf in college and turned pro instead. He chose to blaze his own trail, believing he was ready for the ups and downs, twists and turns of professional golf. He believed that what others saw as the irrational faith of youth was the opposite. Brown chose his path not because he believed he already had all the tools, but because he identified the professional path as the one that would give him everything he needed to reach his desired destination.
“I think a really big pillar for me was that I was going to get better (going pro),” Brown said of GOLF’s subparagraph last year. “I wish I would have gotten better in college, but I i know that I will get better by playing against the best in the world.”
There’s no one better than Scottie Scheffler, and through 18 holes on Sunday, Brown got exactly what he wanted.
Then comes the hard part. Putting lessons learned from a walk with Scheffler into action.
“Everybody has their own path,” Brown said Sunday. “I’m running my race.”
;)
