The end of the West Coast Swing is near with this week’s Mexico Open at VidantaWorld capping off a storyline-rich start to the season. Rory McIlroy earned his 27th TOUR victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Ludvig Åberg claimed his second title at The Genesis Invitational, Sepp Straka and Harris English added to their win totals and Thomas Detry broke through with his maiden TOUR victory.

Outside of those winners, who have received plenty of shine, almost everyone with a PGA TOUR card has played a handful of events. Three Signature Events and four Full-Field Events are in the books, which is enough of a sample to start extrapolating storylines.

It was at last year’s Mexico Open at VidantaWorld that a pair of rookies took center stage in the spotlight, as Jake Knapp outlasted Sami Valimaki to earn his first win on TOUR. Knapp was the second rookie to win when he did so last year, joining Nick Dunlap and his improbable amateur victory at The American Express.

As we prep for another week at VidantaWorld, let’s check in with this current crop of rookies. No player has reached the heights of Dunlap and Knapp, but several have put together strong early impressions in their debut seasons. Here’s a look at the top five.

1. Will Chandler

Chandler outdueled Scottie Scheffler in the final round of one of the most nerve-wracking events on TOUR, playing alongside and beating the world No. 1 by six shots on Sunday at the WM Phoenix Open. That’s more than enough to warrant attention.

Chandler came out of nowhere just to earn his card, firing a back-nine 30 at the final round of Final Stage of Q-School presented by Korn Ferry to finish inside the top five and punch his ticket to the big TOUR He wasn’t even supposed to play in Phoenix, with the field filled up before the Q-School grads had a chance to enter, but the 27-year-old Georgian Monday qualified into the event and carried that momentum to a career-best T6 finish.

Chandler ranks 82nd in the FedExCup. That’s notable he’s slotted low on the Priority Ranking. His position will shoot up after the first reshuffle of the season later this spring, enabling Chandler to play in all Full-Field Events without worry.

Chandler leads the TOUR in Strokes Gained: Putting thus far this season, an impressive feat considering it was his first time at all the TOUR stops.

2. Rasmus Højgaard

Højgaard shot par or better in his first eight rounds of the TOUR season en route to a pair of top-25 finishes at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and WM Phoenix Open. The Danish twin brother of fellow TOUR pro Nicolai Højgaard, Rasmus quickly made a name for himself in his rookie season.

Højgaard is 76th in the FedExCup standings through The Genesis Invitational, his lone disappointment of the early season. He shot 82-77 and missed the cut.

Højgaard’s talent is apparent. He ranks 11th in driving distance and eighth in club-head speed. Højgaard headlined the 10 DP World Tour players who earned their TOUR cards for this season. The 23-year-old edged out home-country hero McIlroy by one shot at the Amgen Irish Open at world-famous Royal County Down last fall to claim his fifth – and most impressive – DP World Tour title.

3. Jackson Suber

For avid leaderboard watchers, Suber is a name that you should be familiar with. The rookie has shown flashes in every tournament he has played. He finished T6 in his season debut at the Sony Open in Hawaii, was inside the top 10 after the first round of The American Express and was T13 through two rounds of the Farmers Insurance Open.

Suber, 25, has amassed a statistical profile that suggests he will factor into plenty more tournaments this year. The Ole Miss alum leads the PGA TOUR in SG: Approach and is second in SG: Tee to Green. That’s heady territory for a rookie, regardless of the sample size, shining a light on what the recent Korn Ferry Tour graduate is capable of.

Suber has accumulated the second-most FedExCup points of any rookie this season, currently 78th in the standings.

4. Frankie Capan III

The sweet-swinging Minnesotan has been rock-steady outside of a first-round 77 at the WM Phoenix Open two weeks ago. Capan made his first three cuts as a TOUR member, including a season-best T12 at The American Express.

Capan’s game has largely mirrored his days on the Korn Ferry Tour. Known as one of the best putters in the sport, the flat stick keeps Capan’s floor high, but his game comes and goes based on his driver. He ranks in the top 15 on TOUR in clubhead speed, and it can be a weapon when he’s finding the fairways, but that has not been the case this season. He ranks 181st in driving accuracy, hitting just 40 percent of his fairways.

That Capan, 25, has managed to string together made cuts despite up-and-down ball striking should signal good things for the youngster if he dials in his swing as he gets more comfortable on TOUR. Capan is 87th in the FedExCup.

5. Ricky Castillo

Incremental improvement is the name of the game for Castillo, the former hotshot amateur out of Florida.

Castillo has improved week over week in his rookie season. After missing the cut in his TOUR debut at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Castillo finished T43 at The American Express and T15 at the Farmers Insurance Open. He is 101st in the FedExCup standings.

Those aren’t gaudy results, but the underlying metrics point toward future success. Castillo ranks inside the top 10 in Total Driving and is gaining strokes with his approach play, too. A strong tee-to-green game is the easiest, most sustainable route to consistent success on TOUR and Castillo’s bona fides signal it is replicable over a larger sample.

Castillo achieved immediate success on the Korn Ferry Tour, winning his first event in June 2023 after finishing No. 9 in that year’s PGA TOUR University standings. Castillo was the NCAA Freshman of the Year in 2020 and left Florida as a four-time All-SEC selection. Castillo went undefeated in the NCAAs and SEC Championships in his senior season.