One of the Greenbrier Classic's highlights came in the second edition, in 2011, when Scott Stallings hit a 7-foot knee-knocker on the 18th hole to win a three-way playoff.
The 26-year-old rookie faced off against 32-year PGA Tour veteran Bob Estes and Bill Haas, who went on to win the FedExCup that year. Stallings hit his putt dead-center, then flipped the putter down grip-first, shot his arms in the air and ignited a celebration on the stadium-style par-3.
The next year, Ted Potter Jr. rose from deep in the point standings to give the rookies a second win in three Classics. In a tie for third was another then-struggling rookie, Charlie Beljan.
In 2015, the last time the Classic was played, Tony Finau finished three strokes off the lead, tying for 13th on a crowded leaderboard.
The point here is that an obscure rookie is likely to win or come within shouting distance. It's almost unavoidable in a field of 156.
There are 25 rookies on the Tour this year, not counting one Englishman who landed special temporary member status. Twenty-one have committed to play in the Greenbrier Classic, which begins next Monday at the Old White TPC.
It's almost mandatory that a rookie play everything he can to the end of the regular season. The Greenbrier is part of the (British) Open Qualifying Series, and none of the 21 rookies have qualified for Royal Birkdale.
Many are taking their lumps - 12 rookies are below the magic 125th line in the points standings, a level that assures full Tour privileges for 2017-18.
Some are really, really, really struggling. In the most cringe-worthy example, Bobby Wyatt has made 2 of 14 cuts and has no better than a tie for 57th on his season card. He has six FedExCup points, 226th on that board.
On the far opposite end of the spectrum, there are three rookies who have won events and already have two-year exemptions. Of those coming to The Greenbrier, Mackenzie Hughes won in his fifth start of the season, taking the RSM Classic in Sea Island, Georgia, last November.
"It was a dream come true, and it set me up for a great year," said the 26-year-old Canadian. "I made some great tournaments, the Masters, the Wold Golf Championships, PGA. It just takes a lot of pressure off because now you know you're here for a couple of years."
Hughes faced as much pressure as a winner can after shooting a 9-under-par 61 in the first round. He also led after the second and third round before a 69 dropped him into a five-way playoff. And just to test his sleeping ability some more, darkness intervened and the playoff was put off until Monday morning.
Among rookies with top-five finishes are Ollie Schneiderjans, J.J. Spaun, C.T. Pan, Xander Schauffele, Dominic Bozzelli and Julian Etulain. Schauffele shot a first-round 66 at the recent U.S. Open and eventually tied for fifth.
For the road to get to the big tour, get the Jordan Spieth/Tiger Woods route out of your mind. Some of these rookies have bounced around several mini-tours and taken multiple shots to get through "Q School."
To get to the PGA Tour, mortals must succeed in the Web.com Tour, either making the top 25 on the money list or nabbing one of an additional 25 cards in the four-event Web.com Tour finals.
The latter route is not easy, as 75 PGA Tour pros are dropped into the Finals to fight for their statuses.
Except for the top money-winner, those 50 players, give or take, then enter a "reshuffle" in the priority order to enter tournaments. The list is reshuffled every few events, by rank in the point standings.
Grayson Murray avoided all that by leading the 2016 Web.com Finals money list, placing him in an elevated status. It capped a rapid-fire ascent to the big tour.
He was playing the eGolf (now SwingThought) Tour last year when he was granted a sponsor exemption into the Web.com's Rex Hospital Open, played in his hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina. He finished 10th to get into the next event, finished eighth to get in the next and shot up that tour's priority list to get into more fields.
He finished with eight top-10 finishes and won the last event in the Tour Finals to earn his enhanced status.
But he has gone up and down in the big show, missing five cuts in a row at one point. He has made nine consecutive cuts since, but sits 111th in the point standings.
Still, he's as good a bet to win the Classic as anyone.
"This [rookie] class is good," Murray said. "We all can play; we have the ability to win, which you couldn't say, I feel, about a lot of classes in the past."
Contact Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsmock@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @dougsmock and read his blog at http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/dougsmock/.