High-School Junior Blades Brown Turning Pro After Opting To Skip College

17-year-old Blades Brown has announced he is leaving high school 18 months early and skipping college to turn pro with immediate effect ahead of his second-ever PGA Tour start in January.

The top-ranked high-school junior in the class of 2026 shot to prominence as a 16-year-old at the 2024 Myrtle Beach Classic, making the cut and finishing in a tie for 26th on his PGA Tour debut after receiving a sponsor exemption.

Since then, his highlights have included a third-place finish third at the RLX Ralph Lauren Junior Classic and a runner-up result at The Junior Players Championship - both amateur tournaments. In team play, the teenager from Nashville, Tennessee has also represented the USA at the Junior Presidents Cup.

At the start of December, Brown was the No. 1-ranked player in the American Junior Golf Association Rolex rankings and had reportedly been pursued by the nation's top colleges. In 2024, he won three AJGA titles and landed the Tennessee State Junior by 12 shots.

But, announcing his decision via Instagram on Tuesday, Brown confirmed he is moving on from junior and amateur golf in order to pursue his professional career, which will start at The American Express at La Quinta between January 16-19.

He said: "I am ready to begin the next chapter of my golf career and will be competing as a professional in 2025. This is not a decision that I take lightly, and I have spent the past months weighing all possible options before deciding on what I know is best for me.

"While I am proud of the accomplishments of my amateur career, I am focused on the future and getting off to a strong start in my professional career."

Before arriving on the PGA Tour scene, Brown won five amateur titles and became one of only three players to win a medal in both U.S. Amateur and U.S. Junior competitions - behind Bobby Clampett and Tiger Woods. He also broke Bobby Jones' record from 1920 as the youngest player to earn a US Amateur medal.

The former Brentwood Academy student has not had it all his own way in recent times, though, with Brown failing to make it through PGA Tour Q-School earlier this month.

Nevertheless, according to reports, the teenager has a number of sponsor exemptions lined up in 2025 to help launch his pro career. He will hope to follow in the footsteps of PGA Tour winner, Akshay Bhatia, who turned pro at 17 in 2019 before reaching the top US circuit as a 21-year-old.

Bhatia made it to the PGA Tour after finishing second at the 2023 Puerto Rico Open - earning him special temporary membership - before going on to win the 2023 Barracuda Championship, an opposite-field event.

The American enjoyed another breakthrough season in 2024 after beating Denny McCarthy in a playoff at the Valero Texas Open, consequently reaching the Tour Championship at East Lake.