World top 5 under 30 for first time

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The youth explosion in golf has hit new heights with the top five ranked players in the world all under 30 for the first time in the history of the game.

RELATED: WiretoWire: Inside Scheffler's hot run at Bay Hill

Scottie Scheffler’s win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, not far removed from his maiden PGA TOUR win at the WM Phoenix Open, pushed the 25-year-old to fifth in the official world golf rankings.

The American now joins fellow youngsters Jon Rahm (27), Collin Morikawa (25), Viktor Hovland (24) and Patrick Cantlay (29) at the pointy end of the standings in the lead up to a highly anticipated PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass this week.

Over the last eight years or so there has been a significant shift in the depth of young stars on the PGA TOUR and across the globe. In both 2015 and 2017 the TOUR saw a run of seven consecutive tournament wins by players in their 20s as the likes of Jordan Spieth (12 TOUR wins), Jason Day (12 TOUR wins), Bryson DeChambeau (eight TOUR wins) and Justin Thomas (14 TOUR wins) came of age.

They were just the start. Current world No. 1 Rahm has six TOUR victories to his name, including the 2021 U.S. Open. Then came Morikawa and Hovland leading a new wave that included Scheffler plus others like South Korean Sungjae Im, Chile’s Joaquin Niemann and fellow American Sam Burns who all have two TOUR wins apiece.

Already this PGA TOUR season, 11 of 19 wins have been by 20-somethings (although Hideki Matsuyama has celebrated his 30th birthday since his two wins).

Morikawa has five PGA TOUR wins including two majors and another DP World Tour title. Hovland has three TOUR wins, two DP World Tour wins and an unofficial TOUR win at the Hero World Challenge late last year. Scheffler grabbed his first two TOUR wins in a 21-day stretch.

Cantlay is the elder statesmen of the record setting youth set. But if he is to add to his six TOUR wins and a FedExCup title in his 20s, he’ll need to salute at TPC Sawgrass this week. Cantlay turns 30 on March 17.

World No. 6 Rory McIlroy and No. 9 Dustin Johnson are the only 30-somethings in the current world top 10 at 32 and 37 years old respectively with Xander Schauffele (28, four TOUR wins), defending PLAYERS champion Thomas (28) and Australian Cameron Smith (28, four TOUR wins) all also in the top 10. In fact, 15 of the current top 25 players in the world are in their 20s.