ode
Yep. Experience means a lot, but there's no denying the youth factor. And these younger guys are ready to win no sooner than they get on tour, whereas it used to take at least 7-8 years for them to make that adjustment. That bellcurve is no longer in play.
Russell Henley is a good example, won his very first event start as a rookie. And the talent that has come after him has been no less impressive.
Between playing collegiate golf at very competitive universities and spending a year or so on the web.com tour - these guys don't need 10 years to figure it out. They don't even need half that time. They've performed under a high degree of stress, be it in college or the web.com, and are ready to hit the ground running when they earn the cards.
Remember when there was this fallout not all that long ago about Q-school and how players would no longer have that as a direct route to the tour, that they would have to earn their PGA Tour cards via the web.com?
A lot of older guys who cashed a lot of checks by just making the weekend cut and an occasional top-20 - they bitched like no tomorrow. They felt like they were being shortchanged. But today - you don't see many older guys playing like it used to be, guys taking up space just to cash in on a weekend cut. This change with how the tour decided to reroute the avenue to earn a tour card - it made things much more highly competitive. Younger guys who want to win, who have the game to win, vs the older players simply trying to hang on for 3-4 more years until they qualify for the Champions Tour.
Initially I wasn't for doing away with the traditional Q-school process... but it's bore fruit for the tour. They separated the wheat from the chaff and there is more parity in golf now than ever before.
Yet the best players still rise to the top much of the time.