GREENSBORO, N.C. – Golf is hard, and examples abound at Sedgefield Country Club, host of this week’s Wyndham Championship. Guys who hoped they would already be in the top 125 (FedExCup Playoffs), top 70 (BMW Championship), or top 30 (TOUR Championship). Guys who are toiling away in the heat, doing all they can to improve their numbers while the clock ticks.

Then there’s Collin Morikawa, who seems to have it made in the shade. His last three tournaments have featured his breakthrough PGA TOUR win (Barracuda Championship), a T4 (John Deere Classic), and a T2 (3M Open). In just six starts as a pro, the 22-year-old Cal product has risen to 46th in the FedExCup.

“Some of the expectations and goals I had were to earn the PGA TOUR card,” Morikawa said Wednesday at Sedgefield, where he will tee it up for the first time since his junior golf days. “Obviously, things have kind of moved a little quicker than what I had seen, really.”

Yeah, you could say that. Things went into hyper-speed as Morikawa birdied four of his last five holes at the Barracuda on Sunday, propelling him past 54-hole leader Troy Merritt in the Modified Stableford format. Scored conventionally, Morikawa shot a closing 65 to win.

So much for nerves.

Along with 3M winner Matthew Wolff, plus Viktor Hovland and Justin Suh, Morikawa now headlines one of the most exciting crops of new players in years. He has surpassed them in the FedExCup (Wolff is 72nd), and has done so without even putting all that well.

Had he played enough rounds this season, Morikawa would lead the TOUR in scoring (67.9), greens hit (74.1 percent), birdies per round (4.9), and Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green (+1.42). He would be second in SG: Total (+2.29) and just 100th in SG: Putting (+0.19).

“It's pretty close,” he said, when asked if his recent play has been typical of him. “You know, I don't know if it was that big of a dispersion, but this has been my game forever and that's what I spent four years in college to work and just get – just to get my short game and my putting just to this point, and I know there's a lot of work still left. But that's my game.”

What might happen if he heats up with the putter? Would he win by double digits?

“Hopefully, we'll find out,” he said. “… There's a high school event, I shot 11 under and it was like a three-round event and I won by like 14, but that was a long time ago.”

Well, it wasn’t that long ago, just as it wasn’t long ago that he finished T9 at the AJGA FootJoy Invitational at Sedgefield. Now he’s got the TOUR Championship at East Lake in his sights.

Keep in mind, this is a guy who was focused largely on getting his college degree for the first half of 2019. Could he really make it to East Lake? Could he make Tiger’s U.S. Presidents Cup team?

“The goal was just to get that PGA TOUR card for next year, but after I secured that and I had a few more starts, it was to win,” Morikawa said. “You know, now it's to make it to that TOUR Championship. So, it's not going to stop, it's just going to keep going.”

Given his current trajectory, all things seem possible for Collin Morikawa.