Blades Brown, 19, wins in Los Cabos after 63 and playoff

Blades Brown birdied El Cardonal’s par-5 18th three times on Sunday, the last of them at the second hole of a playoff, to beat Ben James and win the World Wide Technology Championship. At 19 years, five months and 18 days, he is the youngest PGA TOUR winner since 1931. He won $1,080,000 and 500 FedExCup points.

Only Charles Kocsis and Ralph Guldahl in 1931 and Harry Cooper in 1923 won on tour at a younger age, according to Golf Channel. Brown is almost six months younger than Jordan Spieth was when he won the 2013 John Deere Classic.

Brown started the day seven behind James, tied ninth on −14. He birdied nine of his first 15 holes. Denny McCarthy, one group ahead, three-putted from 42 feet at the 15th and double-bogeyed the 17th, so Brown reached the 18th alone in front on −22. Brown’s second shot, from 241 yards, finished just short of the green; he pitched to six feet and holed the putt for a 63, his 10th birdie of the round.

James, a rookie who led by four overnight, bogeyed three of his first eight holes and the 13th. He lost more than four strokes on the greens over the weekend, according to Golf Channel. Needing an eagle at the last to tie, he hit a 3-wood 289 yards to 20 feet and holed the putt for a 70.

Both birdied the first playoff hole. On the second, both missed the green short and right. James chipped six feet past and missed the return; Brown chipped close and made birdie.

“I’ve known Ben since we were amateur golfers and he’s just such a great player. He’s lights out with the putter,” Brown said.

Michael Kim shot 64 and finished third, one shot outside the playoff. “I feel like he might be the best out of all the younger guys that I played with,” Kim said of Brown. James took $534,000 for second, his fifth top-five finish since turning professional in the summer.

Final leaderboard

Pos	Player	To par	R4	Total	Earnings
1	Blades Brown	−23	63	265	$1,080,000
2	Ben James	−23	70	265	$534,000
3	Michael Kim	−22	64	266	$414,000
4	Kensei Hirata	−21	66	267	$294,000
5	David Ford	−20	66	268	$246,000
T6	Denny McCarthy	−19	69	269	$202,500
T6	Alvaro Ortiz	−19	68	269	$202,500
T8	Jordan Smith	−18	63	270	$169,500
T8	Seamus Power	−18	66	270	$169,500
T8	Keith Mitchell	−18	69	270	$169,500
T8	Ryan Gerard	−18	71	270	$169,500

Brown won at the second extra hole.

Brown turned professional at 17 instead of going to college. In 2023, aged 16, he became the youngest medallist in stroke-play qualifying at the U.S. Amateur, two years younger than Bobby Jones had been. He and Bobby Clampett are the only players to have been medallist at both the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Junior Amateur. This season he finished ninth on the Korn Ferry Tour points list, which had already earned him a 2027 PGA TOUR card. Before Los Cabos he had played 13 PGA TOUR events as a special temporary member, with eight top-25 finishes. One of them was a tie for 18th at the American Express in January, where he shot 60 in the second round.

Sources

• Golf Channel: Blades Brown becomes Tour’s youngest champ in 95 years, taking down another budding star in Cabo playoff
• Golf Channel: World Wide Technology Championship 2026 prize money
• Golf Monthly: Blades Brown beats Ben James in playoff to claim maiden PGA Tour title
• Golf Channel: Ben James sinks eagle putt on 18 to force playoff with Brown
• Wikipedia: Blades Brown
• PGA TOUR: World Wide Technology Championship leaderboard