Rishe, Patrick James. “Differing Rates of Return to Performance: A Comparison of the PGA and Senior Golf Tours.” Journal of Sports Economics. August, 2001. p. 285 – 296
Abstract:
Past literature has examined gender discrimination in professional golf. This paper expounds on the study of discrimination in golf by examining age discrimination between the PGA and Senior Tours in the 1999 season. OLS, interaction terms, Oaxaca’s decomposition procedure, and gap analysis find that differing return on performance due to increased corporate sponsorship and TV contracts are primarily responsible for pay differentials between the ages. However, it does not discount age discrimination as one factor in the pay differential.
Extended Abstract:
ln Y = b + b1DA + b2GIR + b3SS + b4DD + b5BC + b6BB + b7SCRAM + b8SEN + e
Where:
Y = earnings per event per golfer
DA = driving accuracy, measured as a percent of drives that land on the fairway
GIR = greens in regulation, as the percentage of times a two-putt will yield a par
SS = sand saves, where a player can earn no worse than par after being in sand
DD = driving distance; the average length of a player’s drive
BC = birdie conversions – percentage of time that, after reaching the green in regulation, the player scores a birdie or better
BB = bounce back, or the percentage of times a player, after shooting over par on the previous hole, comes back to shoot under par on the following hole
SCRAM = scrambling, or the percentage of times a player can score par or better after not reaching the green in regulation
SEN = dummy variable, equals 1 if the player is on the senior tour
With R^2 = .7723
All data from www.pgatour.com from the 1999 golf season.
The regression found statistically significant differences in the mean earnings between PGA and Senior Golfers, with means $36,164 and $19,803 per event respectively. The study found that, comparatively, PGA golfers drive the ball further, are better in sand, are more likely to bounce back, and are better putters. It found that Senior tour members are better at hitting fairways and reaching the green, but the author explains that this is partially due to the course difficulty differential between the tours.