Looking back on it, I’m not that offended.

If I were on the verge of a PGA Tour career at only 17 years of age, then following up on a phone-interview with a reporter from Massachusetts probably would have skipped my mind too.

So please, Ty; excuse me, Mr. Tryon, don’t worry about returning the message I left with your coach last March. You have more important matters to attend to, like learning how to shave.

That might sound sour, but honestly, my words are so very far from that assumption. What this kid has done is incredible – plain and simple.

Incredible.

On Monday afternoon, Ty Tryon – the high school junior from Orlando, Fla. – fired a 66 in the final round of the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, to give him a six-day total of 18-under (414) and place him in a tie for 23rd.

In Q-school, the players who finish in the top 35 earn their Tour card and are guaranteed at least one year of same-tournament existence with Tiger Woods, David Duval and the rest of golf’s demigods.

Tryon is the youngest to ever gain PGA membership. And no one is completely shocked that he’s done it.

It’s just that it wasn’t expected this soon. At 19 or 20, maybe. At 21 or 22, sure. Why not?

But at 17? Some courses won’t even let him rent a golf cart at that age.

Someone this young, playing this game, this good, is – for lack of a better word – insane.

The hype started a year ago, when Tryon, playing junior golf at the time, made himself known at the Honda Classic in March where he tied for 39th. As a Monday qualifier, he became the youngest hacker (16 at the time) since 1957 to make a cut on the PGA Tour. Two months later he was tied for the lead after one round of the B.C. Open and finished in a tie for 37th. His talent had been established.

But after failing to qualify for the match play round of the U.S. Amateur it seemed, then, that the youngster might not be as tournament-ready as many once thought.

Still, Tryon turned pro immediately after his early Amateur exit, in a move that was highly criticized.

Until last week.

All the doubts melted away in the West Palm Beach, Fla. heat with his extraordinary finish at Q-school. In his first five rounds at Bear Lakes Country Club, Tryon shot 70-69-71-68-70 and found himself in 50th place, 15 spots away from any golfer’s dream. To be in the hunt at the beginning of Day 6 is tough in the first place. But to shoot a 66 and climb 27 spots in the final day to secure your card is nearly divine. And that’s exactly what he did.

In maybe the most mentally-demanding day in sports; a day in which some kid’s father needed to be successful in order to pay outstanding bills, Tryon – the kid golfer already with a million bucks in his pocket thanks to sponsorships by Callaway Golf and Target Stores – threw out the afternoon’s lowest number.

William Augustus Tryon IV – nicknamed “Ty” because of his father’s liking for Ty Webb, one of the main characters in “Caddyshack” – is now a professional golfer, recognized by one of golf’s supreme bodies.

And he’s not even old enough to buy a celebratory cigar.

Information from ESPN.com used in the column.