2026 commits

[TroyB123]

11 minutes ago, wegobomber31 said:

His agency Sportfive runs the Amex event and a number of the oppo field events (Myrtle Beach, Puerto Rico and I think ISCO) as well as the KFT Veritex. He’ll get those starts for sure. 

Yeah, he's made enough of a name for himself that he'll get his 7 max sponsors exemptions like guys like Shipley and Clanton.   Still that's just 7 tournaments to match top 150 fedex points.  

[TroyB123]

29 minutes ago, leezer99 said:

For perspective you’d need to put his junior career up against Akshay. 
 

And fwiw, I think it’s going to happen a lot more where high schoolers just turn pro instead of wasting time in college. 

Akshay had quite the grind to get where he is.  There wouldn't have been the pga tour pathways available at Akshay's time, that Blades is giving up.   An approach like Luke Clanton's seems like a lot better bet.  He's just a couple more made cuts from being able to drop out of school and start with a 2 year PGA tour exemption.

Edited December 17, 2024 by TroyB123

[Tugu]

It seems a big decision for Americans, but Europeans, Koreans, Japanese and to a greater degree, Australians have been taking this path for quite some time.

 

Asian American parents would have a knipshit if their kid even said they wanna goto a school like Bama or Auburn to focus on golf, much less skip college altogether.

 

Good for him. 

[TroyB123]

4 minutes ago, Tugu said:

It seems a big decision for Americans, but Europeans, Koreans, Japanese and to a greater degree, Australians have been taking this path for quite some time.

 

 

Good for him. 

Are those guys able to start out with some status to play on a tour regularly from WAGR or other things?   

[wegobomber31]

20 minutes ago, TroyB123 said:

Yeah, he's made enough of a name for himself that he'll get his 7 max sponsors exemptions like guys like Shipley and Clanton.   Still that's just 7 tournaments to match top 150 fedex points.  

Not the end of the world if he doesn’t get there this year. He can still go to Q school next fall. Maybe he ends up being on KFT for a couple years like Akshay before making it on the tour full time.

 

I’m fairly certain my kid is the only one with a winning record against Blades this year (15-8-2) so I have some perspective on being at the level where going pro vs college is the part of the decision making process. While most would choose the college path, who’s to say this isn’t the best decision for him and his family, especially given his Dad’s recent health concerns?

 

As I recall, the old Akshay thread was pretty toxic with people openly and actively rooting against a young man, I guess just to be able to say they were right all along. 
 

Blades is a good kid, has a high degree of self belief and I think is one of the best junior golfers in the last 15+ years. He’s obviously giving up a lot with this decision but seems to be going into it eyes wide open. I wish him nothing but the best and will be rooting for him each step of the way. I’m definitely taking the over. 

Edited December 17, 2024 by wegobomber31

[Tugu]

11 minutes ago, TroyB123 said:

Are those guys able to start out with some status to play on a tour regularly from WAGR or other things?   

There are reasonably vibrant tours in various parts of Asia, especially Japan and to a lesser degree Australasia.

 

Cam Smith, Marc Leishman, Jason Day, See Woo Kim, Sungjae Im, Hojgaard twins, Rory, Tom Kim, Sung Moon Bae, bunch of South Africans and Japanese...

 

Alot of good junior golfers didn't go the college route.

 

Edited December 17, 2024 by Tugu

[TroyB123]

4 minutes ago, wegobomber31 said:

Not the end of the world if he doesn’t get there this year. He can still go to Q school next fall. Maybe he ends up being on KFT for a couple years like Akshay before making it on the tour full time.

 

I’m fairly certain my kid is the only one with a winning record against Blades this year (15-8-2) so I have some perspective on being at the level where going pro vs college is the part of the decision making process. While most would choose the college path, who’s to say this isn’t the best decision for him and his family, especially given his Dad’s recent health concerns?

 

As I recall, the old Akshay thread was pretty toxic with people openly and actively rooting against a young man, I guess just to be able to say they were right all along. 
 

Blades is a good kid, has a high degree of self belief and I think is one of the best junior golfers in the last 15+ years. He’s obviously giving up a lot with this decision but seems to be going into it eyes wide open. I wish him nothing but the best and will be rooting for him each step of the way. I’m definitely taking the over. 

I'm definitely not rooting against him or judging or anything.  I cheer for all these guys to make it.   I'm just surprised he wouldn't take advantage of the University paths even if school wasn't a priority.

[Tugu]

4 minutes ago, TroyB123 said:

I'm definitely not rooting against him or judging or anything.  I cheer for all these guys to make it.   I'm just surprised he wouldn't take advantage of the University paths even if school wasn't a priority.

Wouldn't he have to wait 2 more years and then somehow win enough to get on the accelerated path to the PGA tour that Gordon Sargent managed?

 

 

[wegobomber31]

9 minutes ago, TroyB123 said:

I'm definitely not rooting against him or judging or anything.  I cheer for all these guys to make it.   I'm just surprised he wouldn't take advantage of the University paths even if school wasn't a priority.

Yeah I wasn’t implying that you were rooting against him. And I agree that the incentives to go to college and earn status are strong, stronger than they’ve ever been. Especially for someone like Blades (who was going to start next year in the spring and reclass

as a ‘25 had he decided to go to school) to earn accelerated points. 
 

I do think the fact that a lot of international guys have been doing this for years and end up fine is lost on many (myself included at times). It’s just so counter to the traditional path in the U.S.

Edited December 17, 2024 by wegobomber31

[happygolucky]

Kudos to him! To some extent it’s nice to let kids be kids and enjoy college. Why the rush to grow up? I’m all for the Luke Clanton pathway. 
 

I don’t know BB but maybe he would have chosen college if a school was offering the money he was looking for (heard it was $250-400k). 

[BallsBreakFast]

16 minutes ago, Tugu said:

There are reasonably vibrant tours in various parts of Asia, especially Japan and to a lesser degree Australasia.

 

Cam Smith, Marc Leishman, Jason Day, See Woo Kim, Sungjae Im, Hojgaard twins, Rory, Tom Kim, Sung Moon Bae, bunch of South Africans and Japanese...

 

Alot of good junior golfers didn't go the college route.

 

Tom Kim is good recent example...he was killing all the am events as a 15-16 year old and was too many years away from college. So made sense from him to turn pro and get his reps on the Phillipine and Asian Tour before getting onto PGA. Guy is 22 years old and has been a pro for 6 years.

[leezer99]

22 minutes ago, TroyB123 said:

take advantage of the University paths even if school wasn't a priority.

I see you got the ASU admissions packet. 

[Tugu]

I think it really comes down to the individual. Some kids want and need the commeraderie, others just...don't. Take Ding Wen Yi for example, he lived with his dad when he went to ASU from what I heard. On the other side, Matthew Wolff needed to be that big man on campus feel to thrive.

 

Pro golf is such a crap shoot. Who would have thought Norman Xiong would still be grinding or that Braden Thornberry would have just got his card in the most dramatic way after all these years?

 

I am betting that zero people thought Vijay would be anything in golf if you saw him and his bro Krishna back in the day. He was THAT bad. The only similarity to what the world later saw was he has always been the first to arrive and last to leave the range, 100%. Everyone says it, but noone beat more balls than him.

 

Good luck to BB.

Edited December 17, 2024 by Tugu

[jdl]

2 hours ago, happygolucky said:

Kudos to him! To some extent it’s nice to let kids be kids and enjoy college. Why the rush to grow up? I’m all for the Luke Clanton pathway. 
 

I don’t know BB but maybe he would have chosen college if a school was offering the money he was looking for (heard it was $250-400k). 

Yeah interesting time to be making this choice. Certainly it's tougher now to get to the big Tour regardless of which path you choose. NIL shifting over to revenue sharing in college. Tour/LIV "merger" still in flux. Good luck to him.

[leezer99]

3 hours ago, wegobomber31 said:

Yeah I wasn’t implying that you were rooting against him. And I agree that the incentives to go to college and earn status are strong, stronger than they’ve ever been. Especially for someone like Blades (who was going to start next year in the spring and reclass

as a ‘25 had he decided to go to school) to earn accelerated points. 
 

I do think the fact that a lot of international guys have been doing this for years and end up fine is lost on many (myself included at times). It’s just so counter to the traditional path in the U.S.

Doesn’t that push your son to the number 1 2026 junior? Might need to renegotiate that nil deal. 

[golferdad8]

On 12/17/2024 at 11:45 AM, leezer99 said:

Doesn’t that push your son to the number 1 2026 junior? Might need to renegotiate that nil deal. 

#1 junior in the 2024 class before entering college was from CA & went to Princeton (no scholarships).
 

I don’t think Ivy players get NIL $ (there’s a good basketball player there) but I could be wrong. 

[Guest RobS]

6 minutes ago, golferdad8 said:

#1 junior in the 2024 class before entering college was from CA & went to Princeton (no scholarships).
 

I don’t think Ivy players get NIL $ (there’s a good basketball player there) but I could be wrong. 

No NIL Collectives for the IVY's but the players can go off on their own and get NIL $.

[golfdad1]

8 hours ago, golferdad8 said:

#1 junior in the 2024 class before entering college was from CA & went to Princeton (no scholarships).
 

I don’t think Ivy players get NIL $ (there’s a good basketball player there) but I could be wrong. 

Yun was definitely not the #1 player.

[golferdad8]

3 hours ago, golfdad1 said:

Yun was definitely not the #1 player.

If he is not #1 2024 player (before entering college), who do you think is? 

 

[LawGenius305]

17 hours ago, RobS said:

No NIL Collectives for the IVY's but the players can go off on their own and get NIL $.

Which is the way it should be for all university's.

[golfdad1]

6 hours ago, golferdad8 said:

If he is not #1 2024 player (before entering college), who do you think is? 

 

You can't ever go by JGS rankings the summer before entering college. Most of the top kids are playing amateur heavier schedules and JGS is not indicative of the best players. Granted, he caught a hot streak, but he was up there for a hot minute.

[Guest RobS]

31 minutes ago, LawGenius305 said:

Which is the way it should be for all university's.

I agree.  This whole situation is a complicated mess.  I don't see it happening but they should do a reboot and simplify the regulations before it ends up like the 6,871 page tax code.

[golferdad8]

3 hours ago, golfdad1 said:

You can't ever go by JGS rankings the summer before entering college. Most of the top kids are playing amateur heavier schedules and JGS is not indicative of the best players. Granted, he caught a hot streak, but he was up there for a hot minute.

Although JGS is not the end all, I'm curious who you think is #1 for the 2024 class?
 

[Tugu]

7 minutes ago, golferdad8 said:

Although JGS is not the end all, I'm curious who you think is #1 for the 2024 class?
 

This may be a controversial opinion and I know not all share it. But in my humble opinion, the abovementioned recruit, who paid his way back into the invitational events so as to have access to opportunities which enable such low differentials cannot possibly be legitimately regarded as the #1 recruit.

 

We both know that a -8 differential is mathematically impossible in Norcal only golf, even for a prolific local winner who repeatedly goes low such as Asterisk Talley.

 

For the "payment for access" to invitationals part alone, I'd advocate an asterisk next to his name and ranking.

 

Finally, the #1 player for a year cannot possibly 1/ barely have made his school line up and 2/ didn't seem to break par in a single round. 

 

Something seems awry at JGS...

[LOB-Dwight]

48 minutes ago, Tugu said:

This may be a controversial opinion and I know not all share it. But in my humble opinion, the abovementioned recruit, who paid his way back into the invitational events so as to have access to opportunities which enable such low differentials cannot possibly be legitimately regarded as the #1 recruit.

 

We both know that a -8 differential is mathematically impossible in Norcal only golf, even for a prolific local winner who repeatedly goes low such as Asterisk Talley.

 

For the "payment for access" to invitationals part alone, I'd advocate an asterisk next to his name and ranking.

 

Finally, the #1 player for a year cannot possibly 1/ barely have made his school line up and 2/ didn't seem to break par in a single round. 

 

Something seems awry at JGS...

I do think JGS has a heavy bias based on strength of field and CCA, and it perpetuates itself.  

[happygolucky]

1 hour ago, Tugu said:

This may be a controversial opinion and I know not all share it. But in my humble opinion, the abovementioned recruit, who paid his way back into the invitational events so as to have access to opportunities which enable such low differentials cannot possibly be legitimately regarded as the #1 recruit.

 

We both know that a -8 differential is mathematically impossible in Norcal only golf, even for a prolific local winner who repeatedly goes low such as Asterisk Talley.

 

For the "payment for access" to invitationals part alone, I'd advocate an asterisk next to his name and ranking.

 

Finally, the #1 player for a year cannot possibly 1/ barely have made his school line up and 2/ didn't seem to break par in a single round. 

 

Something seems awry at JGS...

I’ve heard of people paying their way into invitationals. I’m curious, how do they do that? Also, how do people find out? I’m guessing the player wouldn’t admit to doing such a thing. 

[Tugu]

24 minutes ago, happygolucky said:

I’ve heard of people paying their way into invitationals. I’m curious, how do they do that? Also, how do people find out? I’m guessing the player wouldn’t admit to doing such a thing. 

Donations and I'm surprised to what people admit to all the time. Being in touch with the mood or being able to gauge the temperature is not always hardwired into some people. I myself have many blind spots in life, just not about this apparently.

[wegobomber31]

3 hours ago, Tugu said:

This may be a controversial opinion and I know not all share it. But in my humble opinion, the abovementioned recruit, who paid his way back into the invitational events so as to have access to opportunities which enable such low differentials cannot possibly be legitimately regarded as the #1 recruit.

 

We both know that a -8 differential is mathematically impossible in Norcal only golf, even for a prolific local winner who repeatedly goes low such as Asterisk Talley.

 

For the "payment for access" to invitationals part alone, I'd advocate an asterisk next to his name and ranking.

 

Finally, the #1 player for a year cannot possibly 1/ barely have made his school line up and 2/ didn't seem to break par in a single round. 

 

Something seems awry at JGS...

 

Maybe he paid his way into the 2023 Jackie Burke, his first invitational, but he certainly didn't have to.  His Rolex coming into the week was about middle of the pack for that tournament.  He got 4th there so I'm assuming he more than earned his way into the remaining invitationals he played in 2024.

 

 

Rk	Name	Rolex
1	Jay Leng Jr	77.611
2	Aaron Pounds	44.909
3	Joshua Kim	41.907
4	Henry Guan	41.477
5	Rex Hargrove	31.228
6	Smith Summerlin	28.536
7	Coltrane Mittag	25.044
8	Brooks Simmons	25.024
9	Michael Riebe	24.712
10	Tyler Mawhinney	24.098
11	Carson Bertagnole	23.282
12	Supapon Amornchaichan	22.163
13	Sterling Hurd	20.603
14	Ryan Downes	20.457
15	Andrew Hinson	20.056
16	Jason Shwartz	19.786
17	Nathan Miller	18.596
18	Eduardo Derbez Torres	18.540
19	Dylan Bingwen Ma	18.083
20	Jon Ed Steed	18.028
21	Asher Whitaker	17.444
22	Edan Cui	16.374
23	John Hiller	16.088
24	Zhengqian Li	16.064
25	Sahish Reddy	15.947
26	Liam Pasternak	15.778
27	Ethan Lien	15.227
28	Zach Huang	15.027
29	William Ma	14.983
30	John Daniel Culbreth	14.979
31	Christian Pardue	14.887
32	Brady Rapp	13.745
33	Matthew Diehl	13.524
34	Clark Van Gaalen	13.472
35	Eric Yun	13.416
36	Charles Nelson	13.302
37	Michael Lugiano	13.299
38	Willie Gordon	13.162
39	Jake Albert	13.042
40	Charles Cauthen	12.933
41	Mason Howell	12.931
42	Baron Nguyen	12.906
43	Charles David Beeson	12.870
44	Patricio Gonzalez	12.770
45	Nicholas Logis	12.675
46	Parker Sands	11.952
47	Reese Knox	11.552
48	Charlie Wylie	11.174
49	Davis Gochenouer	10.918
50	Giuseppe Puebla	10.828
51	Lance Smith	10.481
52	Kai Hirayama	10.446
53	Austin Hofferkamp	10.359
54	Davis Wotnosky	10.287
55	Rawson Hardy	10.250
56	Daniel Zou	10.150
57	Ieuan Jones	10.149
58	Mykhailo Golod	9.653
59	Bradford Lacefield	9.021
60	Mitchell Maier	8.838
61	Bowen Ballis	8.223
62	Logan Kim	7.051
63	Tyler Loree	6.800
64	Matthew Lin	6.658
65	Aidan Dortch	6.475
66	Francisco Solorza Gutierrez	3.854
67	Braeden Hoyt	3.496
68	Bradley O'Donnell	1.852
69	Joshua McGown	1.081
70	Ford Montgomery	0.615
71	Stephen Liu	0.215

[Tugu]

9 minutes ago, wegobomber31 said:

 

Maybe he paid his way into the 2023 Jackie Burke, his first invitational, but he certainly didn't have to.  His Rolex coming into the week was about middle of the pack for that tournament.  He got 4th there so I'm assuming he more than earned his way into the remaining invitationals he played in 2024.

 

 

 

Rk	Name	Rolex
1	Jay Leng Jr	77.611
2	Aaron Pounds	44.909
3	Joshua Kim	41.907
4	Henry Guan	41.477
5	Rex Hargrove	31.228
6	Smith Summerlin	28.536
7	Coltrane Mittag	25.044
8	Brooks Simmons	25.024
9	Michael Riebe	24.712
10	Tyler Mawhinney	24.098
11	Carson Bertagnole	23.282
12	Supapon Amornchaichan	22.163
13	Sterling Hurd	20.603
14	Ryan Downes	20.457
15	Andrew Hinson	20.056
16	Jason Shwartz	19.786
17	Nathan Miller	18.596
18	Eduardo Derbez Torres	18.540
19	Dylan Bingwen Ma	18.083
20	Jon Ed Steed	18.028
21	Asher Whitaker	17.444
22	Edan Cui	16.374
23	John Hiller	16.088
24	Zhengqian Li	16.064
25	Sahish Reddy	15.947
26	Liam Pasternak	15.778
27	Ethan Lien	15.227
28	Zach Huang	15.027
29	William Ma	14.983
30	John Daniel Culbreth	14.979
31	Christian Pardue	14.887
32	Brady Rapp	13.745
33	Matthew Diehl	13.524
34	Clark Van Gaalen	13.472
35	Eric Yun	13.416
36	Charles Nelson	13.302
37	Michael Lugiano	13.299
38	Willie Gordon	13.162
39	Jake Albert	13.042
40	Charles Cauthen	12.933
41	Mason Howell	12.931
42	Baron Nguyen	12.906
43	Charles David Beeson	12.870
44	Patricio Gonzalez	12.770
45	Nicholas Logis	12.675
46	Parker Sands	11.952
47	Reese Knox	11.552
48	Charlie Wylie	11.174
49	Davis Gochenouer	10.918
50	Giuseppe Puebla	10.828
51	Lance Smith	10.481
52	Kai Hirayama	10.446
53	Austin Hofferkamp	10.359
54	Davis Wotnosky	10.287
55	Rawson Hardy	10.250
56	Daniel Zou	10.150
57	Ieuan Jones	10.149
58	Mykhailo Golod	9.653
59	Bradford Lacefield	9.021
60	Mitchell Maier	8.838
61	Bowen Ballis	8.223
62	Logan Kim	7.051
63	Tyler Loree	6.800
64	Matthew Lin	6.658
65	Aidan Dortch	6.475
66	Francisco Solorza Gutierrez	3.854
67	Braeden Hoyt	3.496
68	Bradley O'Donnell	1.852
69	Joshua McGown	1.081
70	Ford Montgomery	0.615
71	Stephen Liu	0.215

He had it, lost it. Paid his way back into it was the sequence of events. One doesn't get to see where they are the week of the event. The fields are decided quite some time prior to actual event week. Hence the beed to pay to ensure participation. But then I'm sure you already know this.

Edited December 20, 2024 by Tugu

[wegobomber31]

Just now, Tugu said:

He had it, lost it. Paid his way back into it was the sequence of events.

 

How would that have worked?  You mean he was invited (earned his way) to the tournament originally but didn't accept, then later got added to the field magically?