Blades Brown shot an impressive 60 on day 2 at AmEx and is “stoked.” After all, at 18, he became the youngest in the PGA Tour history to do so. The mark, earlier, was held by Patrick Cantlay, who did it at 19 back in the 2011 Travelers Championship. Today, Cantlay is playing in the same field. The sight is almost poetic, drawing a reaction from many, including Rickie Fowler.
“Soak it up, have fun,” Fowler advised the teen during his presser on Friday. “It goes by pretty quickly. He had a quick turnaround from the Bahamas. I love seeing good golf, especially from someone like him, young.”
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This same week, Clanton finished T17 at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Bahamas Great Abaco Classic, took a 22-hour flight, and reached California for the American Express. He had zero time for practice, but presently he’s tied against Scottie Schefflerfor the lead at 17-under. That sight has gone unnoticed by Fowler.
Fowler, who turned pro in 2009 at the age of 20, is in his 17th year on the PGA Tour. The last couple of years had been tough, with Fowler now scrambling in the rosters through sponsors’ invites, infuriating many. But he was once there, where today Brown stands. He carded his own career-low 60 three years ago at the Travelers Championship.
“This game’s not getting any older,” Fowler further added. “To see from when I came out, what the kind of average age on Tour was, to what that is now.”
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Rickie Fowler’s competitive years stretched from roughly 2010 to 2015. During his time, there were early arrivals with the likes of Rory McIlroy and the wave of shift that Jordan Spieth brought with his back-to-back major wins. But the Tour remained dominated by veterans in their late 20s and 30s. Phil Mickelson won his Masters in 2010, and Jim Furyk was the Player of the Year the same year.
The results are visible now, but it had started back in 2004 when new young talent jolted golf. While the field remains dominated by players in their 30s, accounting for about 51% of exempt players, the younger ones are not far behind. Around 43% of players in their 20s make the list. At the bottom sit the 40+, who make up a tiny 6%.
Fowler notices this. When a 20-year-old Jackson Koivun can rival Scheffler in the Procore Championship, and just 5 months later, Brown does the same, it becomes a sign. When Fowler went into the prime of his game, the age kept shifting. And that might still make him feel that he’s in his prime, but that is not really the truth for a player surviving on exemptions.
Hence, he knows the importance of great momentum from an early age, and that’s what he advises Blades Brown, especially when the PGA Tour’s reality is shifting.
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Rickie Fowler and the new age PGA Tour paradox
Peak performance in pro golf now starts from the age of 25, and in some exceptional cases, even before that.
Aldrich Potgieter became the youngest PGA Tour winner of 2025, winning the Rocket Classic at the age of 20 years, 9 months, and 16 days. Then there are Tom Kim and Nick Dunlap. While Dunlap became the first amateur to win a 2024 PGA Tour event since Mickelson in 1991, Kim won two PGA Tour events before his 21st birthday, a feat matched only by Tiger Woods.
There can be reasons for this, like advances in equipment and sports sciences, and a good recovery period. Naturally, this has helped players like Fowler, too, who, in their late 30s, continue to participate. By stats, he is not past his best. He himself was the youngest Ryder Cup player once (2010). But the environment on the Tour has fundamentally changed. It’s a paradox.
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Various factors shape the paradox. Today, golfers get many advantages that didn’t exist during Fowler’s time. Junior golf infrastructure has become far more sophisticated, with organizations like the AJGA and PGA Tour University helping these youngsters to jump from junior tournaments to Tour events.
“Blades is only going to keep getting better,” said Fowler. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see guys with plenty of capability at 15 and 16 years old. I just feel like at 17 or 18, it starts to become a little bit more of a reality.”
The Tour ecosystem is now increasingly shaped by youth, with players like Rickie Fowler turning into nothing but mere spectators.
The post Rickie Fowler Cautions 18-Year-Old Pro as He Scripts PGA Tour History: ‘It Goes by Quickly’ appeared first on EssentiallySports.
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