LOS CABOS, Mexico (AP) — Blades Brown became the youngest PGA Tour winner in 95 years Sunday when the 19-year-old rallied from a seven-shot deficit with a 9-under 63 and beat Ben James with a birdie on the second playoff hole in the World Wide Technology Championship.
Brown became the youngest winner since Charles Kocsis won the Michigan Open in 1931 when he was 18, a tournament that was considered a regional event in the early years of the PGA.
James
lost a four-shot lead going into the final round at El Cardonal at Diamante and then showed his moxie by smoking a 285-yard shot into 20 feet on the par-5 18th and making eagle to salvage a 70 and force the playoff.
But he missed an 8-foot putt on the second playoff hole, and Brown made his 3-footer.
“I’m so obsessed with this game. It tests you in so many ways,” said Brown, who graduated high school in January. “I love golf, all the stuff that goes into it and I can’t wait for what’s next.”
For a sleepy FedEx Cup Fall event on the southern tip of Baja California, this was pure theater between two players from the next generation. James was the No. 1 player in the PGA Tour University ranking last season. Brown make a surprising choice to turn pro two years ago while a junior in high school.
Brown was tested even more by going through two bags of golf balls on the range waiting to see if the two-shot lead he had over James would hold, and then going back out to the 18th to decide it.
On the first extra hole, their approach shots were side-by-side, separated by about 3 feet, and both narrowly missed eagle chances. They returned to the 18th tee and their drives were next to each other. Both came up just short of the green.
James nearly holed his pitch and saw it run out 8 feet. Brown, who had a similar pitch in regulation that he hit to 6 feet for a closing birdie, this time came up 3 feet short. James' birdie putt grazed the right edge, and Brown poured in the winner.
They have known each since their junior days and Brown figures this is the start.
“I got him this time, but I'm sure we'll be battling it out for years to come,” he said.
With eight players separated by two shots on the back nine, Brown ran off three straight birdies to share the lead and then left the mistakes to everyone else. He hit a superb pitch for birdie on the final hole to post at 23-under 265.
That put him one shot ahead of Michael Kim, who played with the Tennessee teen and made birdie from 12 feet for 64 right before Brown made his putt.
Brown earned his PGA Tour card for 2027 by finishing among the top 20 on the Korn Ferry Tour points list. Now he has a two-year exemption, which puts him in the elite Championship Series when the PGA Tour's new model begins in 2028.
The victory also assures Brown of his first major next year at the PGA Championship.
It was another setback for James, who in 13 starts since turning pro has five finishes in the top five, and two runner-up finishes.
Denny McCarthy, winless in nine years in 240 starts on the PGA Tour, made a 30-foot birdie putt on the 13th hole to take the lead. But he hit a pedestrian pitch to the par-5 14th and had to settle for par. With a wedge in hand from the 15th fairway, he came up some 40 feet short and three-putted for a bogey.
McCarthy's tee shot on the 17th was right of the 18th tee box, he put his next shot off a dirt path into a hazard and made double bogey. He shot 69.
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