Blades Brown won the World Wide Technology Championship in a playoff against Ben James at El Cardonal at Diamante in Los Cabos, Mexico.
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Blades Brown became the youngest winner on the PGA Tour in 95 years, closing with a 9-under 63 and beating Ben James on the second playoff hole of the World Wide Technology Championship on Sunday.
Brown, 19, reached the milestone two years after turning pro as a junior in high school. He said the magnitude of the win “hasn’t set in just yet,” adding he thinks back to being “five-year-old Blades” watching Tiger Woods and other major champions before now being “in a similar spot” as a PGA Tour winner.
The victory came at El Cardonal at Diamante in Los Cabos, on the southern tip of Baja California. James entered the final round with a four-shot lead, but he later forced the playoff by making an eagle on the par-5 18th after hitting a 285-yard shot into 20 feet and saving for a 70.
James missed an eight-foot putt on the second playoff hole, while Brown made his three-footer to clinch the title. James said of his eagle that he “had a really good line on it,” calling the putt “a good putt,” noting it was the only putt he made all day longer than 15 feet.
In the final-order results, Sudarshan Yellamaraju of Mississauga, Ont., finished in a six-way tie for 12th at 17 under. Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., were in a nine-way tie for 33rd at 13 under, while Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., finished in a three-way tie for 68th at 6 under.
The tournament marked “pure theatre” between Brown and James, with Brown coming into the event after earning his PGA Tour card this year by finishing among the top 20 in Korn Ferry Tour points. The playoff began after Brown erased a seven-shot deficit in Sunday’s final round and then held a two-shot lead over James through the range and back to the par-5 18th.
On the first extra hole, their approaches were side-by-side and neither found an eagle opportunity; on the second, both came up just short of the green. Brown later said he is “so obsessed with this game,” describing how it tests him “in so many ways.”
Brown posted 23-under 265 after running off three straight birdies on the back nine, and the win gave him a two-year exemption and assurance of his first major next year at the PGA Championship. It was another setback for James, who has five top-five finishes and two runner-up results in 13 starts since turning pro.
Michael Kim finished one shot behind Brown after making birdie from 12 feet and shooting 64 right before Brown’s winning putt. Denny McCarthy, winless in nine years in 240 PGA Tour starts, had a 30-foot birdie on the 13th to take the lead but settled for par after later errors and finished with a 69.
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