When sophomore Jordan Spieth failed to earn his tour card through Q-School and elected to turn pro anyway — rather than returning for another year at the University of Texas — the decision seemed questionable.

Some six months later, it’s clear Spieth made the right choice.

Speaking of Spieth’s good decisions, the golfer was one of eight staffers to put Titleist’s new 714 AP2 irons in play this week. Correlation doesn’t imply causality, to be sure. However, the young golfer hit 18 of 18 greens in regulation during the second round — a remarkable feat.

One of the most decorated amateurs in history, Spieth fired rounds of 69 and 66 at the difficult Congressional Country Club to tie him for the lead entering the third round.

After his missed cut in his first professional event at the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year, it looked unlikely that Spieth would even have the opportunity to play on Tour at this point in the season. Now, he’s in good position for a first career win.

After the 19-year-old tied for seventh at the Tampa Bay Championship in March, the PGA Tour granted him Special Temporary Member status (as he’d passed the earnings total of the 150th ranked player on the 2012 money list). Thus, the young Texan became eligible for an unlimited number of sponsor’s exemptions.

For a guy who began the season with no status whatsoever, this alone was a victory. Spieth didn’t make it through Q-School and his prospects entering 2013 weren’t the best. On the strength of four top-10 finishes already this year, Spieth is currently 67th on the money list, virtually assuring his a spot on Tour next year.

Spieth has been impressive in his starts on Tour. Since the aforementioned missed cut in his professional  debut at the Farmers, he’s played remarkably well. In his first start following the Farmers, Spieth tied for 22nd at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. A month later, he finished tied for second at the Puerto Rico Open, and then tied for seventh the next week at the Tampa Bay Championship.

Following this, Spieth tied for ninth at the RBC Heritage and for seventh at the Crowne Plaza Invitational.

He’s accurate off the tee (presently 24th in driving accuracy), and is hitting 66 percent of greens in regulation.  Although his putting will need to improve (127th in strokes gained-putting), Spieth has the tools to contend on Tour.

And drawing wild conclusions from this limited sample, it looks like he now has the tools in the bag, too.