LA QUINTA, Calif. — In the end, Blades Brown was as much a Scottie Scheffler fan as he was a competitor.
The 18-year-old played remarkably well in getting into the Sunday final grouping with the World No. 1 and third-round leader Si Wood Kim in The American Express. But between the understandable fatigue that Brown felt in playing eight consecutive days of top-level pro golf, and the brilliance of Scheffler showing why he’s the best player in the world, the recent high school graduate was left simply marveling at the champion and the road ahead after shooting two-over 74 on the PGA West Stadium Course to tie for 18th.
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Brown was trying to become the second-youngest player to ever win on the PGA Tour.
“I have so much to take away from this week,” he said. “Getting to play with Scottie Scheffler in the final group at 18 years old—I had to pinch myself couple of times just to make sure … this was real. Not the Sunday that I would have liked, but I overall had so much fun playing The American Express this week.
Tied with Scheffler, one stroke behind Kim at the day’s outset, Brown hung in early and was one under through four holes. But at the par-5 fifth, he hit his drive into the water on the left and took five shots to get on the green before eventually making a double-bogey 7.
Brown would shoot one under over the next nine holes, but Scheffler stormed away by shooting five under in the same stretch.
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“I was feeling really good throughout the entire round,” Brown said. “I would say one of the coolest things that I learned today was how underrated Scottie Scheffler’s short game is. … To see it in person and just to look at kind of the trajectory and the spin, and just the control that he has with his wedges and short game. Obviously, his putting is insane too. It was really cool to watch. So I’m definitely going to go work on that.”
The stakes for Brown late in the round were high, considering that at least a tie for 10th would qualify him for next week’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. But he bogeyed two of his last four, including a three-putt on 18. Reaching a second straight tour event would have been quite a feat, considering Brown played four rounds on the Korn Ferry Tour in the Bahamas before flying directly to Palm Springs to start the AmEx.
The Nashville native, who skipped college to turn pro at 17, was disappointed, but seemed upbeat.
With a laugh, Brown said, “I could probably write a book about what I’ve learned these past couple of days. Just knowing that I can compete out here. It was so cool watching Scottie win in person and getting to play with him. He’s such an unbelievable guy. He talked to me numerous times throughout the round and was giving me a lot of encouragement, so it was awesome.”
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Later, he said, “Everyone’s got their own path and I’m running my race. But I think that there’s a lot of really good junior and amateur talent coming up, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw another amateur make a run.”
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