Why this 17-year-old smartly passed on PGA Tour invite

Sponsor exemptions on the PGA Tour aren’t easy to come by, even for the game’s biggest stars: free passes into events to face some (or all) of the world’s best, which, with four rounds of good play, can serve as springboards to more opportunities.

Seventeen-year-old phenom Blades Brown already has accepted four exemptions this year and had another into this week’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson — but he passed.

That might seem like a curious decision on the surface, but Brown’s decision could very well be a sensible one for the rising star.

This past week, Brown made the third Korn Ferry Tour start of his career at the Veritex Bank Championship. He shot rounds of 61, 66, 67 and 63 to finish in a tie for second, three shots behind winner Johnny Keefer. That T2 finish vaulted Brown from 140 to 44 on the Korn Ferry Tour points list. As Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine noted, Brown is now just 53 points away from earning special temporary status on the KFT. The finish also gave Brown a spot in this week’s Tulum Championship in Mexico.

Earning the KFT start in Mexico is important for Brown, who already has used three KFT exemptions this year. Non-members are allowed only four, so Brown giving up a spot in the Nelson to play in the Tulum Championship guarantees him at least two more KFT starts this season instead of just one via exemption.

Brown is hopeful that with those two starts he will be able to earn the 53 points needed to gain special temporary status and can then make a run at finishing the season in the top 20 of the KFT points list, which would earn him a PGA Tour card.

Brown made his first PGA Tour start as a professional at the American Express in January. He missed the cut in heartbreaking fashion but did shoot a second-round 64, which was the lowest score in a PGA Tour round by someone under the age of 18 in the last 40 years.

After failing to make the cut in Palm Springs, Calif., Brown displayed perspective rarely seen from kids who should be focusing on their prom and not grinding to make cuts at the highest level.

“Golf is a weird, funny game,” Brown told Golf Channel after his third round. “You’ll have good breaks from bad shots and bad breaks from good shots. But I’m going to keep my head up. This is going to sting a little bit, but I’m looking forward to what’s next.”

Brown was in line to make the cut midway through the round, but a costly water ball on 17 — the product of being “mentally drained” — sealed his fate that day and served as an early lesson about the type of mental focus needed to play consistent high-level golf on the PGA Tour.

“It was a blast competing on the PGA Tour,” Brown said. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to convert coming down the stretch, but, I mean, a lot of practice. I’m glad I’m doing it right now; that way I can learn. My dad always says, ‘You win and you learn,’ and I’m definitely going to learn from this experience.”

Brown responded by making the cut in his next start at the 2025 Mexico Open at VidantaWorld. He missed his next two cuts at the Puerto Rico Open and Valspar Championship.

It would have been easy for Brown to take the exemption into the CJ Cup Byron Nelson and tee it up against Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth. However, the 17-year-old’s ultimate goal is to become a full-time PGA Tour player, and he believes this is the best way to achieve that dream.

In passing on the Byron Nelson to play in the KFT event in Mexico, Brown is playing the long game and deciding to take the path that he believes gives him the best chance to reach the PGA Tour. The case can also be made that teeing it up at the Byron Nelson and playing well will open doors faster than the KFT grind.

In 2013, Jordan Spieth faced a similar dilemma. Fresh off a T7 at the then-Web.com Tour’s season-opening event and a fourth-place finish in Colombia, Spieth was just $4,000 short of earning Web.com Tour status for the rest of the season. That fourth-place finish in Colombia earned Spieth a start in Chile for the following week. But Spieth already had a sponsor exemption into the Puerto Rico Open. Spieth opted to play in Puerto Rico and finished in second place. That earned him a spot in the Valspar Championship, where he finished in seventh place, thanks to a Spiethian par on 18 to earn special temporary status on the PGA Tour. He went on to win the John Deere Classic later that year and never looked back.

There’s no right answer.

Brown has chosen to chase KFT status, where Spieth opted to use his exemption, got hot, and the rest is history.

Given Brown’s age and immense talent, he likely feels destined to punch his PGA Tour ticket regardless of the path he takes.