Teenager Blades Brown narrowly misses a 59. He's tied for American Express lead with Scheffler

LA QUINTA, Calif (AP) — A chaotic week for 18-year-old Blades Brown was an inch away from a most spectacular highlight Friday when he narrowly missed a 6-foot birdie putt for 59, leaving him tied for the lead in The American Express with Scottie Scheffler.

Brown, who turned pro last year and is weeks removed from graduating high school, needed only one birdie over the final three holes on the Nicklaus Tournament course at PGA West, the easiest of three courses in the rotation in ideal weather.

He hit a gap wedge just right of the pin on his last hole, the par-4 ninth. He had the advantage of seeing David Ford go first on the same line. He picked his spot, rolled the putt and it stayed right, grazing the edge as the gallery groaned.

No matter.

“I'm so stoked,” he said, along with needing what he called a “fat nap.”

Brown earned Korn Ferry Tour status last year and was in the Bahamas for a tournament that didn't end until Wednesday. He used a flight voucher he earned from a top-50 finish in the Myrtle Beach Classic last year to fly private to Palm Springs, arriving to his hotel about 8 p.m. on the eve of The American Express, where he is playing on a sponsor exemption.

And now he goes into the weekend tied with golf's best player.

“We're going to see what happens,” Brown said.

Scheffler wasn't quite as sharp as he was in the opening round and still managed a bogey-free 64 on the Nicklaus course, playing before the largest gallery and two groups ahead of Brown.

Scheffler has started on the two easiest courses — he faces the Stadium Course on Saturday — and was only 2 under through eight holes at Nicklaus Tournament. That feels like losing ground. But then he hit into 4 feet for birdie at No. 18, made the turn and birdied two of the next three, and then ran off three straight birdies late in the round.

“I didn’t get off to the start I would have hoped to get off to today,” Scheffler said. “Outside of that, I did a really good job on the back nine of staying patient and didn’t really try to force things out there. I made a good birdie on my ninth hole today, which was 18, and made some nice birdies on that back nine.

“We’re halfway done, but I put myself in good position after two days with two solid rounds, and just looking forward to hopefully putting up another solid round tomorrow and then we’ll see where we’re at going into Sunday.”

What typically is a casual tournament in the Coachella Valley, set among desert mountains and palm trees and emerald green fairways, was a sellout on Friday.

Scheffler is a big draw in the strongest field in years. And now there's a teenager who was one putt away from becoming the youngest player in PGA Tour history to break 60.

Brown got attention quickly when he was 8 under through seven holes — six birdies and a 25-foot eagle putt on No. 11 after starting on the back nine.

“And then by the time we made the turn I said, ‘OK, couple birdies here on the front nine, let’s see how low we can go.’ When I stepped onto 18 tee box I knew what was at stake. I knew I needed a birdie to shoot 59, and I was just close this time.”

Brown wasn't alone. As he was teeing off on his final hole at the Nicklaus course with a shot at 59, Andrew Putnam was on the 18th hole at La Quinta, needing birdie to break 60.

Both made par. And the tournament is half over, with thoughts now turning to a weekend that features Scheffler looming large as ever atop the leaderboard with a teenager, both at 17-under 127.

Scheffler doesn't know much about Brown except that he turned pro while still in high school. He also heard that he was in the Korn Ferry Tour event in the Bahamas (Brown tied for 17th) without realizing it didn't end until Wednesday and he flew straight to PGA West.

“So he's in form,” Scheffler said with a smile.

“These kids coming out, they know they got to come out and make some birdies,” Scheffler said. “I think when you’re coming out young you don’t have as much scar tissue as the guys that are a little bit more seasoned, and you just come out, and if you want to make a name for yourself you got to put up some good scores.

“It sounds like an 18-year-old shooting 59 is a pretty good start to his career there.”

This was before Brown missed his short birdie putt on the final hole, but the point stands. It was an impressive round of golf for anyone, much less an 18-year-old.

Si Woo Kim, a past champion here, shot 65 on the tougher Stadium Course and was one shot behind, and plenty more players were lined up behind him.

Eleven players were separated by three shots at the halfway point, a group that included Rickie Fowler and Wyndham Clark, both three behind. The cut is not made until Saturday after everyone has played all three courses.

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Blades Brown reacts to missing a birdie putt on the ninth hole, his final hole, scoring a 12-under-par 60 during the second round of the American Express golf event at the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in La Quinta, Calif. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Scottie Scheffler waves to the crowd after making a birdie putt at the first hole during the first round of the American Express golf event at La Quinta County Club Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in La Quinta, Calif. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Blades Brown reacts to missing a birdie putt at the ninth hole, his final hole, scoring a 12-under-par 60 during the second round of the American Express golf event at the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in La Quinta, Calif. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Blades Brown, right, reacts for a cheering gallery as he walks with David Ford as the gallery cheers for Brown who finished with a 12-under-par 60 during the second round of the American Express golf event at the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in La Quinta, Calif. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

DALLAS (AP) — More than 9,000 flights across the U.S. set to take off over the weekend have been canceled as a major storm expected to wreak havoc across much of the country threatens to knock out power for days and snarl major roadways.

Roughly 140 million people were under a winter storm warning from New Mexico to New England. The National Weather Service forecast warns of widespread heavy snow and a band of catastrophic ice stretching from east Texas to North Carolina.

Forecasters say damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival that of a hurricane.

Ice and sleet that hit northern Texas overnight were moving toward the central part of the state on Saturday, the National Weather Service in Fort Worth said.

“Dangerously cold temperatures and wind chills are spreading into the area and will remain in place into Monday,” the agency said on X. Low temperatures will be mostly in the single digits for the next few nights, with wind chills as low as minus 12 degrees Fahreinheit (minus 24 Celsius).

About 68,000 power outages were reported across the country at 8 a.m. ET, about 27,600 of them in Texas. Snow and sleet continued to fall in Oklahoma.

After sweeping through the South, the storm was expected to move into the Northeast, dumping about a foot (30 centimeters) of snow from Washington through New York and Boston, the weather service predicted. Temperatures reached minus 29 F (minus 34 C) just before dawn in rural Lewis County and other parts of upstate New York after days of heavy snow.

Governors in more than a dozen states sounded the alarm about the turbulent weather ahead, declaring emergencies or urging people to stay home.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told residents on the social media platform X that the state Department of Transportation was pretreating the roads and told residents, “Stay home if possible.”

More than 3,300 flights were delayed or canceled Saturday, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. Nearly 6,000 were called off for Sunday.

Angela Exstrom was supposed to fly back to Omaha, Nebraska, from a trip in Mexico, but she learned her Saturday flight out of Houston had been canceled. So instead, she is going back via Los Angeles.

“If you live in the Midwest and travel in the winter, stuff can happen,” she said.

Utility companies braced for power outages because ice-coated trees and power lines can keep falling long after a storm has passed.

The Midwest saw wind chills as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40 Celsius), meaning that frostbite could set in within 10 minutes.

In Bismarck, North Dakota, where the wind chill was minus 41 (minus 41 Celsius), Colin Cross was bundled up Friday in long johns, two long-sleeve shirts, a jacket, hat, hood, gloves and boots as he cleaned out an empty unit for the apartment complex where he works.

“I’ve been here awhile and my brain stopped working,” Cross said.

The storm has been a popular topic of discussion for days at Saint Paul Mini Market in Baltimore.

“Every single person that walks in talks about the storm,” said owner Ayaz Ahmed.

“Somehow, this time around, they did a good job letting people know that here’s a storm coming their way, and everybody knows about the storm, but how to deal with that is another thing,” Ahmed said.

The federal government put nearly 30 search and rescue teams on standby. Officials had more than 7 million meals, 600,000 blankets and 300 generators placed throughout the area the storm was expected to cross, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

President Donald Trump said via social media on Friday that his administration was coordinating with state and local officials and “FEMA is fully prepared to respond.”

After the storm passes, it will take a while to thaw out. Ice can add hundreds of pounds to power lines and branches and make them more susceptible to snapping, especially if it's windy.

In at least 11 Southern states from Texas to Virginia, a majority of homes are heated by electricity, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

A severe cold snap five years ago took down much of the power grid in Texas, leaving millions without power for days and resulting in hundreds of deaths. Abbott vowed that will not happen again, and utility companies were bringing in thousands of employees to help keep the lights on.

Churches moved Sunday services online, and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, decided to hold its Saturday night radio performance without fans. Carnival parades in Louisiana were canceled or rescheduled.

Philadelphia announced schools would be closed Monday. Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. told students, “It’s also appropriate to have one or two very safe snowball fights.”

Some universities in the South canceled classes for Monday, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Mississippi's main campus in Oxford.

At the University of Georgia, in Athens, sophomore Eden England stayed on campus to ride things out with friends, even as the school encouraged students to leave dorms and go home because of concerns about losing power.

“I’d rather be with my friends,” England said, “kind of struggling together if anything happens.”

Megnien and Amy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers around the country contributed.

Strong winds kick up snow in Lowville, New York, on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Cara Anna)

A person walks by a vehicle that was plowed in by snow in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (Joel Bissell/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Work crews stage with de-icing materials in their trucks ahead of expected inclement weather in Plano, Texas, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Doug Kunde watches as steam is seen over Lake Michigan as frigid temperatures for the day are not expected to reach zero degrees Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

People walk on an ice covered beach along the shore of Lake Michigan, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)