The Elite Invitational

While Blades Brown technically did not go to college, he does spend lots of time these days around Vanderbilt's team, practicing at Vandy's home course and often with his buddies who are on the Dores' roster. So, you could say Scott Limbaugh won the recruiting battle, even if Brown isn't hitting shots for him.

In the moments after his maiden PGA Tour victory Sunday in Cabo, Blades Brown made sure to thank several people, including his dad. Parke Brown was initially diagnosed in 2022 with bone cancer and given months to live, only for doctors to discover that he actually had hairy cell leukemia. That discovery was a lifesaver, literally. That type of leukemia isn’t curable, but it is highly treatable. Parke went through 20 rounds of chemo, only missing two of Blades’ golf tournaments during his treatment. He wrapped up his chemo about 12 weeks before Blades captured medalist honors at the 2023 U.S. Amateur, where Blades said of his dad’s cancer battle: “I just use it as fuel. Having him here is just awesome. Like he could not be here right now; that’s crazy to think about. I remember when I qualified, he posted, My son is going to the U.S. Amateur! What dad can say that after thinking that they were going to die?” Now a few years later, Parke, 55, is doing well health-wise and has been traveling with Blades throughout his nearly two-year professional golf career. He often collects mementos – balls, gloves, etc. – along the way to document Blades’ journey, and it all goes in his man cave back home, a shrine of sorts. Blades' infectious energy; he gets a lot of it from Parke. On Sunday in Cabo, Parke Brown got to see his only son Blades become a PGA Tour champion, the tour's youngest in 95 years. Amazing stuff.