Making your mark on the PGA Tour as a fresh-faced rookie can sometimes seem like a daunting task. But over the years, guys like Keegan Bradley, Jhonattan Vegas and, this season, John Huh have proved that making a splash is possible.
Harris English is another who knows all about making a splash in the professional ranks. Just last season as a senior at the University of Georgia, the then-21-year-old showed up at a Nationwide Tour Children's Hospital Invitational, as an amateur, and walked away with the title.
If anything, the win taught us that English would be one to watch this season when he teed it up for the first time on the PGA Tour. And so far, it appears the Georgia product is living up to the sky-high expectations.
Aside from making the cut in all five of his starts this season, English also has two top-20 finishes, something most rookies would kill to have this early in the year. By Sunday afternoon, he could have something even more important if things fall his way, after English fired a 4-under 66 on Saturday -- he's currently ranked third in greens in regulation this week at PGA National -- to get within two of Rory McIlroy going into the final round.
While Rory isn't Kyle Stanley (at Torrey Pines), Spencer Levin or Robert Allenby, there's always a chance he could coming crashing down to earth, and if that happens, don't be surprised if English is there waiting in the wings.
He's a rookie and he's never been in the final group on Sunday at a PGA Tour event -- so you have to think nerves may play a role -- but based on the confidence English has shown in his game recently (and the win he picked up on the Nationwide Tour as an amateur), you have to like his chances not just in the final round, but going forward.
He's definitely one to keep an eye. And while it seems like these young guns keep coming up in bunches, English has more than separated himself from the pack as a future star. We've seen crazier things happen on Sunday this season; who knows, maybe this is his time to jump into the spotlight. He certainly has the game to make it happen.