18-Year-Old Blades Brown Sets Course Record at The American Express Championship Following Historic Score of 60

Blades Brown fired a 12-under par score at the Nicklaus Tournament Course on Friday at The American Championship.

18-Year-Old Blades Brown Sets Course Record at The American Express Championship Following Historic Score of 60

Blades Brown (Image via Golf)

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On Friday, The American Championship was hit by a storm named Blades Brown. The 18-year-old torched the playing field and set a course record following a historic score of 60 in the second round.

The American Express is a unique tournament. Unlike other events, this tournament is played on three different courses over three days. They are Pete Dye Stadium Course, La Quinta Country Club and Nicklaus Tournament. The final round is then played on the Pete Dye Stadium Course.

After finishing his final round in the Bahamas on the Korn Ferry Tour on Wednesday, Brown teed up at the La Quinta Country Club on Thursday. In the opening round, he shot a 5-under 67 score with 5 birdies.

In Round 2 at the Nicklaus Tournament course, he exploded. While playing the back nine first, he shot an 8-under par score with six birdies and one eagle on his first seven holes. He ended his first nine holes with a score of 28.

He continued his impressive streak and made four more birdies on the next six holes. This saw him go 12-under par for the round and was staring at history for shooting a score of 60 under.

Following two pars, he arrived on the final hole needing a birdie to shoot 59. He would miss a close-range putt that saw him miss the chance of creating history by carding a sub-60 round.

The par on the final hole saw him finish with a course record score of 60. This is the lowest score by an 18-year-old in PGA Tour history since 1983.

In the long history of the PGA Tour, only 15 times has a player recorded a sub-60 score. Last year, Jake Knapp joined this list following his score of 59 at the Cognizant Classic.

The record for the lowest single-round score ever at a PGA Tour-sanctioned event belongs to Cristobal Del Solar. During a Korn Ferry Tour event in 2024, the Chilean golfer shot a score of 57. He made nine birdies, seven pars and two eagles. He missed a close-range putt at the end. Had he made that, he would have shot a score of 56.

Blades Brown epic performance earns him praise from Skip Bayless

Blades Brown stunned the golf world with an epic performance in the second round of The American Express Championship. Sports commentator Skip Bayless would laud him on social media after this performance.

Blades Brown and Skip Bayless
Blades Brown and Skip Bayless (Image via Golf Monthly/Deadline)

Like many young golfers, Brown had the chance to go to college. However, in December 2024, he announced that he would skip this and become a full-time professional golfer. Last year, he made his debut at this very event on sponsor’ exempt.

Following his score of 60, Bayless took to his X account and expressed that perhaps his decision to skip college was the right one.

Blades Brown, 18, from Nashville, is tied for the lead with Scottie Scheffler in Palm Springs after two rounds at -17. I badly wanted him to go to Vandy. He skipped college golf. I guess he made the right choice.

Skip Bayless said regarding Blades Brown on X

Blades Brown’s historic 60 sees him tied at top along with World No.1 Scottie Scheffler

Blades Brown put the PGA Tour professionals on notice on Friday after shooting a historic score of 60 in the second round. His 12-under par score at the Nicklaus Tournament course saw him end the day being tied at the top of the leaderboard alongside World No.1 Scottie Scheffler.

Blades Brown and Scottie Scheffler
Blades Brown and Scottie Scheffler (Image via PGA Tour)

After skipping the Sony Open in Hawaii last week, Scheffler kicked off his 2026 campaign this week at The American Express Championship. The No.1 player in the world fired a 9-under 63 score on Thursday with 9 birdies.

He shot another bogey-free round on Friday. With 8 birdies this time, he fired a score of 64 in the second round and ended the day top of the standings with a 17-under par score.

While Scheffler jumped up two spots in the rankings on Friday, Blades made an even larger leap. The teenager jumped 50 places in the rankings and was tied with the 4-time major champion at 17-under par score after 36 holes.

With him set to play over the weekend, this would mark 8 straight rounds of golf for him. Before coming to The American Express, he took part in a Korn Ferry Tour event in The Bahamas where he finished T17.

Brown has now attracted several people’s attention. It will be interesting to see how the young golfer performs in the next two rounds and whether he could dethrone Scheffler and cause a massive upset.

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