Does the PGA Tour Really Favor Its Youth?

PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA | We’re all guilty of it in some respect.

When a narrative gets repeated often enough, for long enough, we start assuming it has to be true. There comes a point where groupthink becomes doctrine, as evidenced by the social media echo chambers we build around ourselves.

This happens in golf all the time. Remember the 2016 Olympics in Rio, golf’s big return to the grandest international sports stage in the world? Once a couple of players cited the Zika virus for why they would not participate, an avalanche of others followed. The tournament went forward without incident, the collective worry ended up being nothing. Concerns may have been warranted, but a mass exodus usually doesn’t happen unless a lot of people are influenced by their peers.

Here’s another example playing out in golf, only over a longer period of time: “The PGA Tour is getting younger and younger. Younger stars are in. Older ones are on their way out.”

Like most forms of groupthink, there is validity in the sentiment. It’s true,...