MODERATOR: All right, we would like to welcome the champion of the 2026 Worldwide Technology Championship, Blades Brown.
Blades, youngest player since 1931 to win on the PGA Tour. Can you just talk us through your emotions, how you're feeling right now?
BLADES BROWN: It hasn't set in just yet, I guess, the magnitude of being a PGA Tour winner. Golf is one of the best games, is one of the greatest games in the world. It challenges you mentally, physically, spiritually. It challenges you in every aspect of us, right?
I mean, it still hasn't sunk in yet. I just go back to, you know, 5‑year‑old Blades that was watching the TV and watching Tiger Woods and all those great players win major championships, and to think that I'm now in a similar spot with having won a PGA Tour event is mind blowing.
MODERATOR: You entered the final round seven shots back from the leader. When you finished, you held the outright lead and then had to wait about an hour there. How much fight and resilience did it take today to come out with a win?
BLADES BROWN: I'm still learning how to I guess play match play. I saw that I was the clubhouse leader, I actually saw that coming down hole 18. I knew I needed to make birdie to have the clubhouse lead.
And then I made the putt and I was extremely excited over that putt. My hands were shaking, my mind was racing. I thought back to, I tried to just strip down the putt to what it was, which it was just a six‑footer up the hill breaking a little right to left. Then I said, hey, this is where I see it, this is the speed I want to put on it, and it just happened to go in.
Yeah, waiting around, I was prepared for going to a playoff. Ben James, he ‑‑ if you would have said any player had to make eagle on the last hole, I'd be like, man, we're obviously in the clear but Ben James, I knew that he had it in him. I actually didn't see the putt go in but I heard a big roar. When I heard that I was like, all right, it's go time. Yeah, the playoff was spectacular as well.
MODERATOR: Last one from me, your story's been told many times, but did you envision it happening this fast, getting your first win on the PGA Tour while still a teenager?
BLADES BROWN: No, I did not. I'm so thankful to be in this position. It's remarkable. It still hasn't set in yet that I'm officially a PGA Tour winner, but I'm sure it will tonight.
And it was so special seeing my dad here and giving him a big bear hug after we finished the tournament.
Q. Congratulations. What was it like to play El Cardonal at Diamante and your experience on the course?
BLADES BROWN: I love this place. When I first got here, I actually was telling Joe that this is one of my favorite golf courses just visually. I love how wide the fairways are, but it's either you're in the fairway or you're in the rocks.
Funny enough, my first tee shot at this tournament on hole No. 10, I hit it left into the rocks. I actually scraped my 9‑iron pretty good. Luckily, that was the only time we were in the stuff this week.
This place is awesome. The green complexes are immaculate. I can tell there's a lot of thought put into these greens, especially hole No. 15. I remember I was playing the practice round, I hit a shot up on the top and it rolled all the way down and then all the way down that little collection area. I was like, man, if the wind's blowing hard off the right ‑‑ yeah, this golf course, El Cardonal is special, it really is.
Q. Blades, just on the heels of that, just wanted to talk about kind of the conditions. Kind of windy and wet earlier in the week, definitely dried out. Just kind of talk about how the conditions changed of the course.
BLADES BROWN: Sorry, say that again?
Q. Talk about how the course conditions changed over the week. There was obviously a lot of rain, it did a lot of drying out, got the wind. Just talk about how you had to adjust based on those conditions.
BLADES BROWN: Yeah, I noticed the PGA Tour likes to firm it up coming down the stretch. That's probably by design if I were to think.
But it was awesome. I loved being able to be ‑‑ I love trying to handle adversity. When the greens are skipping 4, 5 or 6 depending on wind and back pins, you know, you've got to really think about it. I think that's what I love about this game is it really tests your mind, it really forces you to have full control of your golf ball.
Q. We sometimes don't understand, but how difficult is it to be a PGA Tour winner?
BLADES BROWN: How difficult?
Q. Yeah.
BLADES BROWN: I think it's awesome. It hasn't set in just yet. I'm just so excited to be here. Cabo has been phenomenal. I'm staying in a bungalow and I have a big pool out the back that I go out there and put my feet in or read a book or watch some YouTube. This place is awesome, it's pretty cool.
Q. What happened through your mind after the first playoff hole?
BLADES BROWN: After the first playoff hole?
I mean, so I hit ‑‑ we hit the fairway. Ben striped it right down the middle, I was a little left, and then we both hit it on the green. Ben hit it just past the hole and then I left mine just center cut right in the middle. I was like, man, I could have sealed the deal right there.
I think one thing that's very important is you have to be able to control your emotions. It's really easy for me especially in that situation to want to think about the future and what it can entail. I thought to myself that's irrelevant, what matters is this next shot right here, and luckily we were able to get it done this week.
Q. You said that you always dreamed of winning on the PGA Tour. The feeling that you're having right now, it matches your expectations when you were growing up? How could you describe this feeling of being a PGA Tour winner?
BLADES BROWN: That's a great question.
It hasn't fully set in yet that I am now a PGA Tour winner. I will say, though, tomorrow I'm going to wake up and I'm going to be the same person. Next week teeing it up in Austin I'm going to be the same person. I'm going to still pick out the same targets, wear the same clothes, eat the same food, but it is extremely special to be a PGA Tour winner now.
Q. Does winning in Mexico have a special meaning for you?
BLADES BROWN: Absolutely. Alvaro Ortiz is one of my good buddies. Actually, I graduated with the Korn Ferry Tour class, we graduated in the same class this year and he's been one of those guys that I've seen almost every single week, and he's just awesome. His excitement with the game, and how friendly he's been to me, and how kind.
And for him being, I think he said it's a two‑hour flight from here, this is Alvaro Ortiz territory. Funny enough, he won my home event in Nashville Tennessee. I'm have Nashville. I think it's awesome that we're able to share now. That I've won in his country is pretty special.
Q. It feels a little bit like you had temporary membership, you played Korn Ferry Tour, you got your card, (indiscernible), does it feel ‑‑
BLADES BROWN: Does it feel the same?
Q. Is it special for you to have won early in your career? Do you feel like destiny? Don't you feel that it's like destiny that you will win so early in your career?
BLADES BROWN: I mean, I've got a long way to go. There's so many shots that I want to learn. Golf, I don't think you ever can master, but I'm going to do my best to see how close we can get.
Q. Majority of the season on the Korn Ferry Tour, what do you attribute to fighting out there and playing on that tour this season?
BLADES BROWN: I would say the competition. From a competition standpoint, there's so many incredible golfers on the Korn Ferry Tour. From the PGA Tour to the Korn Ferry Tour, I mean, the margin is so small for how good everybody is.
I mean, I can't give the Korn Ferry Tour enough praise. I needed to play on the Korn Ferry Tour in order to be in the position I am now. It taught me how to go low, it taught me how to handle my emotions. It taught me how to be, as my dad would say, a man, and it's really special.
MODERATOR: Blades, thanks for the time. Congrats on win No. 1.
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