Blades Brown Wins World Wide Technology Championship to Become Youngest PGA Tour Winner in 95 Years

• Blades Brown, 19, won the World Wide Technology Championship on the second playoff hole.
• Brown closed with a 9-under 63 to post 23-under 265.
• He is the youngest PGA Tour winner since Charles Kocsis won the 1931 Michigan Open aged 18.

Blades Brown began Sunday at El Cardonal at Diamante seven shots behind the leader. He ended it as the youngest winner on the PGA Tour in 95 years, holing a 3-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole after Ben James missed from 8 feet.

The 19-year-old from Tennessee graduated high school in January and turned professional two years ago while still a junior. The last younger winner was Charles Kocsis, who was 18 when he won the Michigan Open in 1931. The event was considered a regional tournament in the early years of the PGA Tour.

“I’m so obsessed with this game. It tests you in so many ways,” said Brown. “I love golf, all the stuff that goes into it and I can’t wait for what’s next.”

With eight players separated by two shots on the back nine, Brown ran off three straight birdies to share the lead. At the par-5 18th he pitched to 6 feet and holed for a closing birdie. Michael Kim, his playing partner, had just made a 12-footer for a 64, and Brown’s putt left Kim one shot behind.

Denny McCarthy, winless in 240 starts across nine years on Tour, briefly led after a 30-foot birdie at the 13th. A poor pitch at the par-5 14th left him settling for par. With a wedge in hand at the 15th, he came up some 40 feet short and three-putted for bogey. At the 17th he hit his tee shot right of the 18th tee box, then played off a dirt path into a hazard and made double bogey. He signed for 69.

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James answers back

James had taken a four-shot lead into the final round but could not hold it. Needing something at the last, he hit a 285-yard shot to 20 feet at the 18th and holed the eagle putt for a 70 to tie Brown.

Brown had spent that time on the range, getting through two bags of balls while he waited to see whether his two-shot lead would survive.

On the first extra hole their approaches finished about 3 feet apart, and both narrowly missed eagle chances. Back on the tee, their drives again finished next to each other and both came up just short of the green. James nearly holed his pitch before it ran out to 8 feet. Brown left his 3 feet short. James’s birdie putt grazed the right edge, and Brown holed his.

The pair have known each other since their junior days.

“I got him this time, but I’m sure we’ll be battling it out for years to come,” Brown said.

The defeat extends a frustrating run for James, the No. 1 player in last season’s PGA Tour University ranking. In 13 starts since turning professional he has five top-five finishes, two of them runner-up places, but no win.

What the win means for Brown

Brown had already secured his 2027 PGA Tour card by finishing inside the top 20 on the Korn Ferry Tour points list. His season there included second place at the Tulum Championship, six shots behind Dylan Menante.

The victory brings a two-year exemption, which places him in the Championship Series when the PGA Tour’s new two-series structure begins in 2028. The prize also carries an invitation to The Players Championship and a place in the PGA Championship next year, which will be his first major.

Related: Jean Hugo Wins European Senior Masters for Third Legends Tour Title in Four Starts

A bogey-free 65 at La Manga Club carried the South African past Van Phillips, who missed a six-foot eagle putt on the 18th that would have forced a play-off.

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