DETROIT — Miles Russell’s pants don’t fit. He accidentally showed his ankles in the first round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Thursday. It’s just that the inseam he recently measured no longer applies. He hit a growth spurt soon and now measures 5-foot-7, but is stuck in pants for a tiny 5-6. Her waist, meanwhile, remains almost non-existent. At 120 pounds, she sports a 28-inch waistline “with a scrunched belt.”
So there Russell was on Thursday, walking around the Detroit Golf Club, those ankles flashing with every step.
Such is the life of a 15 year old.
Russell made his PGA Tour debut at Rocket Mortgage, shooting a 2-over 74. Born in 2009, he signed autographs for 7-year-olds, 10-year-olds, 15-year-olds old and some elderly. He captured every swing with PGA Tour Live cameras a few feet behind him. He held a press conference the day before and after his first round. He played off the tees measuring 7,370 yards. He played on a field with 10 of the top 50-ranked players in the world.
And the strangest of all?
It felt strangely normal.
This year has seen two 16-year-olds compete on the PGA Tour — Kris Kim at The CJ Cup Byron Nelson, and Blades Brown at the Myrtle Beach Classic. Last year, 15-year-old Oliver Betschart survived a 54-hole qualifier to play in the Bermuda Championship, becoming the youngest player to play in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event in nearly a decade. He is now three months younger than Russell.
First birdie on TOUR for 15 year old Miles Russell 🤩 pic.twitter.com/5tLfnf5HuW
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 27, 2024
Now Russell at Rocket Mortgage. In April, he played in the Korn Ferry Tour’s LECOM Suncoast Classic, shooting rounds of 68 and 66 to become the youngest player to make the cut in developmental tour history. The headlines followed. Russell then followed with rounds of 70 and 66 to end the T20. The winner, Tim Widing, was 11 years her senior.
Tournament organizers from Rocket Mortgage took notice and contacted Russell following his performance at the Suncoast Classic, hoping to capitalize on the story. Because that’s what a contest like Rocket needs — attention, however it can be earned. Big names are hard to come by in Detroit, so compelling storylines are needed. The Nos. 2, 4 and 5 ranked rookies in the world — Jackson Koivun, Benjamin James and Luke Clanton — are all in this year’s field. Clanton is making his PGA Tour debut, as is Neal Shipley, the lowly Masters and US Open rookie who recently turned pro. When Shipley left the course Thursday, he was told that next week’s John Deere Classic, another non-elevated PGA Tour event, had a spot for him.
Those names are all at least in or out of college, though.
Russell just finished his freshman year of high school, even though he doesn’t attend physical school. The Jacksonville Beach, Fla., native started playing at 2 years old, broke par at 6, and has been on a great path ever since. He is home-schooled and already operates as a small business. He has an agent and holds Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals with TaylorMade and Nike.
Because 15 is annoying, there is a tendency for some to see Russell as a novelty.
In reality, all this is not so common.
Russell didn’t go to Detroit like a kid looking to high-five his heroes.
Rico Hoey, one of Russell’s playing partners on Thursday, was on the practice green after their round and was still in a bit of disbelief. Now 28, he’s trying to break 80 at Russell’s age. Coming into the first round, he figured he and Pierceson Coody, a 24-year-old PGA Tour rookie with three Korn Ferry wins to his name, needed to keep things light and easy for the young star. Then they met him.
“As a 15-year-old, I’m sure I’m a little nervous here, so we tried to make it easy on him, and make him feel comfortable, but, really, I don’t even know how much he needs that,” Hoey said. “He’s cool. He has a really good short game. He has a lot of length for his size. He just plays really well and he’s really calm.”
Russell shot a 74 in his first PGA Tour round on Thursday. (Raj Mehta/Getty Images)
Some have always been uncomfortable with young mega-watt talents being rushed to play alongside the pros in any sport. But that didn’t stop it from happening. And golf appears to be evolving, and getting younger and younger. It’s reasonable to expect someone soon to surpass Michelle Wie West as the youngest player to ever play it in a PGA Tour event. He was 14 years, three months and seven days old when he played in the 2004 Sony Open.
What’s most striking is not the age, but how narrow the gap is between the kids and the pros. Russell is not a bomber. Instead, he flexes and builds a swing with his coach, former Korn Ferry player Ramon Bascansa, that builds enough clubhead speed to hang with the pros. He averaged 292 yards off the tee Thursday, tied for 78th in the 156-man field.
But that doesn’t mean that everyone around him still doesn’t fit in. He is technically not old enough to use the Detroit Golf Club’s men’s locker room, though exceptions were made this week. He doesn’t know how to drive, alone, rent a car or check into a hotel. A group behind Russell, 36-year-old Rafael Campos played his round while tearing up a few cigarettes — a habit Russell couldn’t legally buy for three years.
Afterwards, Russell played along with questions about experience, but he was really only concerned with golf. He talked about unforced errors and missing some hard-hitting layups. He said he learned from watching Coody and Hoey how tour pros manage to “grind it out and shoot a couple under.” He said, sure, he was nervous about the start of the round. How much is 10? “I’d probably give it a seven.” But kind of shrugged off the idea of being intimidated.
Russell’s voice was soft and he was clearly still annoyed. A missed 3-footer on the final hole left him with a closing bogey.
“We live, we learn, we move on,” he says, sounding like someone who’s not only used to playing on tour, but also expects it.
Maybe, for better or worse, it’s not so crazy anymore.
(Top photo: Raj Mehta/Getty Images)
