At age 15, Miles Russell became the youngest golfer ever to make the cut of a Korn Ferry Tour event as he went toe-to-toe with dozens of golfers vying to earn a spot on the PGA Tour.
Russell finished in the top 25 of last weekend's LECOM Suncoast Classic in Florida. He was among 10 golfers who finished at 14 under, six strokes behind the winner Tim Widing. The nine others who finished 14 under earned a paycheck of over $10,000.
But because Russell is an amateur, his payday was $0.
Although he is ineligible to join the Korn Ferry Tour until he is 18, his performance will allow him to gain entry into another event. Russell qualifies for next week's Veritex Bank Championship in the Dallas area.
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"It was an awesome week. It was a blast," Russell told reporters. "Especially for my first one, you may get a couple weird looks, like, 'Who's the little kid on the range?' But, you know, everybody was so nice and so helpful with everything."
The Korn Ferry Tour feeds into the PGA Tour. The top 30 golfers on the Korn Ferry Tour each year gain entry into the PGA Tour the following season. Golfers who win three tournaments in the same season can get automatically promoted to the PGA Tour that year.
Russell's performance garnered attention from one of golf's top luminaries.
"This is an amazing accomplishment. It’s great to see a young lefty playing such incredible golf," six-time major champion Phil Mickelson wrote on X.
Russell entered the tournament as ranked No. 1 by the American Junior Golf Association. He won such tournaments last year as the Junior PGA Championship and the Junior Players Championship.
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