17-year-old PGA Tour rookie dubs Tiger Woods an ‘inspiration’ for his equipment

Blades Brown is gearing up for his second PGA Tour start at the 2025's The American Express. Brown recently said that he drew inspiration from the legendary Tiger Woods for his equipment.

In a recent "What's in the Bag?" interview with PGATOUR.com, Brown talked about his Callaway clubs. In his bag, he had Callaway Apex MB '21 blade irons, talking about it, he said (via PGA Tour):

"I love all the clubs in my bag, but especially with my irons, I’m working on the wear mark. I know Tiger, he has some pretty, pretty good wear marks on his clubs, and I've taken inspiration off that. I’m working on, with my irons, hitting it off the center of the face."

Tiger Woods's iron clubs are known for having wear marks because of his phenomenal ball-striking consistency. Some of the equipment Blades Brown mentioned in the interview are as follows:

• Irons: Callaway Apex MB '21 blade irons
• Driving Iron: Callaway Apex 2-iron (used situationally)
• 5-Wood: Callaway Elyte Triple Diamond 5-wood (used situationally)
• Putter: Odyssey Ai-One Double Wide (center-shafted)

He earlier competed at the Myrtle Beach Classic last year and tied for 26th. Talking about his appearance at the tournament, Brown said (via PGA Tour):

"I'm just thankful and grateful. I'm so pumped. When I was playing (last year’s) Myrtle Beach Classic for my first (TOUR) event, I cannot put into words how I was feeling on that first tee, and ever since then I've been itching to get back out there. So I'm really pumped to be able to play The American Express this week."

Brown will tee off at 1:42 p.m. ET with Isaiah Salinda at La Quinta Country Club on Thursday, January 17.

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A look at PGA Tour rookie Blades Brown's amateur career

Blades Brown recently turned professional choosing an unconventional path to the PGA Tour by skipping the traditional college golf route. He had a tremendous amateur career, achieving a career high ranking of 71st in the WAGR.

In his amateur career, he competed in 32 events and won five of them. He also had 15 top-10 finishes. He won the 2023 The Elite Invitational, the 2023 Tennessee Junior Amateur, the 2023 Wyndham Invitational presented by Odyssey, the 2023 Huntsville.org Junior Championship and the 2023 AJGA Junior at Canebrake presented by Piedmont Bank.

Let's take a look at Blades Brown's performances in his amateur career:

• 2024 Rolex Tournament of Champions: 15
• 2024 Junior Presidents Cup: Participant
• 2024 The Junior PLAYERS Championship presented by Rolex: 2
• 2024 U.S. Amateur Championship: 137
• 2024 The Western Amateur Championship: 9
• 2024 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship: 17
• 2024 Wyndham Cup: Participant
• 2024 USA vs. Australia Team Match: Participant
• 2024 RLX Ralph Lauren Junior Classic: 3
• 2024 Northeast Amateur Invitational: 15
• 2024 Sunnehanna Amateur: 51
• 2024 Myrtle Beach Classic: 26
• 2024 Terra Cotta Invitational: 9
• 2024 Junior Invitational at Sage Valley: 19
• 2024 Dustin Johnson World Junior: 4
• 2024 AJGA Simplify Boys Championship at Carlton Woods: 3
• 2024 Jones Cup Invitational: 5
• 2023 South Beach International Amateur: 89
• 2023 Rolex Tournament of Champions: 16
• 2023 The Elite Invitational: 1
• 2023 The Junior PLAYERS Championship presented by Rolex: 13
• 2023 U.S. Amateur Championship: 17
• 2023 Boy's Junior PGA Championship: 12
• 2023 U.S. Junior Amateur Championship: 102
• 2023 North and South Junior Amateur: 3
• 2023 Tennessee Junior Amateur: 1
• 2023 The Western Junior Championship: 9
• 2023 Wyndham Invitational presented by Odyssey: 1
• 2023 Tennessee State Open: 5
• 2023 Huntsville.org Junior Championship: 1
• 2023 AJGA Junior at Canebrake presented by Piedmont Bank: 1
• 2023 SPOT X Hotel Junior Championship: 30