At the 2024 U.S. Junior Amateur, Blades Brown finished as the No. 1 seed, while Charlie Woods missed the cut by a wide margin. Since then, Brown turned pro, skipped college, and now sits one strong finish away from earning a PGA Tour card at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.

Brown is teeing it up this week at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson (May 21-24) at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas, where a single result could change the trajectory of his early professional career. If he finishes solo 21st or better at the $10.3 million event, he earns Special Temporary Membership on the PGA Tour, unlocking unlimited sponsor exemptions for the rest of the season.

With just two sponsor exemptions left, Brown’s stakes are real — he needs 196 FedExCup points. Without the Special Temporary Membership, he has just two more chances to accumulate the FedExCup points he needs. The target is 196 points, the same total Garrick Higgo had when he finished 150th on the FedExCup points list in 2024. Brown has made just one cut in four PGA Tour starts this season, a T34 at the Mexico Open, earning $35,159.

That said, Brown has not arrived here without credentials. At the 2024 U.S. Junior Amateur, he shot 66-68 to finish as the No. 1 seed at 6-under, while Woods missed the cut at +22. Before turning pro, he had already become the youngest stroke play co-medalist in U.S. Amateur history in 2023, breaking a 103-year-old record held by Bobby Jones.

His recent Korn Ferry Tour form, however, tells a different story. In four starts this season, he already has a runner-up finish and sits 51st on the points list with 185.167 points. He needs roughly 53 more points, equivalent to a top-16 finish, to earn Korn Ferry Special Temporary Membership as a fallback. Brown turned down a sponsor exemption to last week’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson to play the Korn Ferry’s Tulum Championship, where he missed the cut.

The broader picture for Brown is one of a teenager navigating his options carefully. “Ideally that would be on the PGA Tour, but I’m really close to getting Korn Ferry Tour status,” Brown said. “I think that would be a great place to start. It’s just having a place to play.”

His recent PGA Tour form backs that belief. Over his last five starts, Brown averaged 0.355 Strokes Gained: Total, including a third-place finish at the Puerto Rico Open at 14-under and a T9 finish at the Myrtle Beach Classic two weeks ago, where he averaged 0.341 Strokes Gained: Putting.

Meanwhile, the junior rival Brown, once outplayed, continues to find it tough.

Charlie Woods’ struggles continue

At the 2026 Terra Cotta Invitational, Charlie Woods carded rounds of 79-71-69 to finish T42 in a 72-player field. The opening 79 set the tone, with five bogeys in his first nine holes alone, before he steadied himself across the next two rounds.

The pattern has repeated itself all season. At the Junior Invitational, Charlie Woods finished last in a 36-player field at 26-over, finishing 10 strokes behind the second-to-last placed golfer. At the AJGA Simplify Boys Championship, he finished 68th, and at the Junior Orange Bowl, 19th.

His last genuine highlight came at the Boys’ Junior PGA Championship 2025, where rounds of 70-66-66-74 gave him a T9. He was in contention heading into the final round before falling away, and he has not finished inside the top 10 since.

Blades Brown left the junior circuit behind entirely after outpacing Woods at the 2024 U.S. Junior Amateur. While Brown is now chasing a PGA Tour card at a $10.3 million event, Woods is still working through the junior ranks, trying to find the consistency he once showed.