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, the tour has gotten younger and big chunks of the learning curve have gotten shorter. In 1994, the youngest player in the overall strokes gained stat was 34-year-old Corey Pavin. Last year, five of the top 10 in the category were under the age of 30.
It’s fair to say there are more young stars capable of winning and being near the top of world. But the supposed seismic shift that we all love to reference isn’t nearly what it appears to be. As Mark Twain would say, “the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
In 1987, the top 100 players in strokes gained – which is to say, the best 100 players on the PGA Tour that year – combined for an average age of 32.3. The number climbed to over 36 years old during the late ’90s and early 2000s before a steady decline. Now the number is hovering just above 33 years old.
The best players today are no younger than the best players of 30 years ago.
Last season, the top 15 players in strokes gained off the tee feasted for 18 wins and 85 top-10s. For reference, the top 15 putters had five wins and 39 top-10s. Despite their prowess on the greens, some of them don’t even have full status on the tour anymore.
One of the traditional beliefs of the game is that a male golfer’s “prime” is somewhere in their early 30s. Despite the onslaught of people screaming how much younger the game has become, that is still pretty much true.
The average age of the top 20 players is 32.2 years old. Last year, the top 20 players in strokes gained tee-to-green, a ballstriking stat that is supposed to prove how young players are more physically gifted, had an average age of 31.4. The top 20 putters on the tour last year were even older, averaging just under 34 years old.
For all of the talk of Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau blitzing the tour at the youthful age of 25, it should also be noted that the average age of winners this season is a smidge over 32 years old.
There are young players who have probably progressed more quickly than they would in other eras because junior and college golf has them so well prepared to make the jump. They’ve seen some of their friends have success on the PGA Tour and the intimidation factor isn’t what it used to be. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the tour will soon be dominated by those in their young 20s.
It’s a particularly pertinent week to talk about age on the PGA Tour because this week’s venue is the ultimate home for veterans. Riviera Country Club, one of the few tour courses that is more chess than checkers, has played its role in keeping the aforementioned averages where they are. The youngest player to win the event in the past 11 years? A then 29-year-old Bill Haas in 2012. The average winner in that span has been nearly 35 years old.
That’s far from a coincidence. There’s value in experience here.
The old-school George Thomas layout with its finicky greens demands decisions to get in the right part of the fairway so you can find the proper areas from which to putt. You have to play the course backward, starting with the hole location and figuring out where your tee ball needs to be placed to get there. That’s hard to master for four rounds unless you’re familiar with the venue.
Just listen to Kramer Hickok, a 26-year-old rookie making only his 14th PGA Tour start. He smartly enlisted the help of his former college teammate Jordan Spieth, who is younger but playing his seventh time at the event.
“Everyone thinks of No. 10 as a birdie hole because you can hit 3-wood at the front edge, and Jordan is like, it’s not, it plays like a par 4.5,” Hickok explained. “So it plays just as hard as some par-5s do this year and it’s having that sort of mentality going into the hole, it makes it a lot easier.”
As they do every year, players rave about Riviera for this exact reason. It’s right in front of you, but you can’t just take a hammer to the thing. Bring your whole toolbox.
If you want to point at the men’s game rewarding a certain type of player, it’s not those who are younger – it’s those who are longer. Sometimes that includes younger players, but they are balanced out by Bubba Watson (40), Dustin Johnson (34), Gary Woodland (34) and others.
Last season, the top 15 players in strokes gained off the tee feasted for 18 wins and 85 top-10s. For reference, the top 15 putters had five wins and 39 top-10s. Despite their prowess on the greens, some of them don’t even have full status on the tour anymore.
That’s no concern at Riviera. The longest players can win, but so can everyone else. The best players of all time have won there; some of the greats have not. Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus are both winless here.
“We wish we could play more venues that are classic and simple like this,” Woods said. “There’s nothing really – there’s no secret to this golf course. It’s right in front of you, but it’s hard. The greens are, except for No. 4, everything slopes from back to front and we all know that, don’t go past the hole, but if you do, there’s a price to pay.”
On Friday, 54-year-old Davis Love III and 48-year-old Jim Furyk talked together as they strolled down the first fairway. Then they combined to go 7 under on their opening nine holes. The course allows for that playability.
As DeChambeau said, “This golf course exposes the best players in the world.”
The leaders through 36 holes were 11 under, but the cut came right at even par. It’s interesting golf to watch because players can make birdies while also being challenged.
Even when it’s as soft as a pillow, Riviera reminds us golf is never simple.
It’s no surprise the Genesis Open leaderboard through Saturday was full of veterans such as Adam Scott (38), J.B. Holmes (36), Michael Thompson (33), Charles Howell III (39), Vaughn Taylor (42), Luke List (34) and Paul Casey (41). Even those in contention who we consider young aren’t really so young anymore. Tony Finau turns 30 this year. So does Rory McIlroy.
That’s a normal week for this tournament. And it’s far more normal on tour than we believe.