Colin McDougall, a golf enthusiast and former NCAA golfer at the University of Tampa, was watching the final round of a recent golf tournament with Chris Higgins, the resident statistician at the Richard Ivey School of Business. Higgins, an avid golfer himself, was amazed at the low scores being made on this particular Sunday. McDougall, however, was not impressed. He explained that scores on Sundays are always lower than scores on Thursdays for the benefit of television ratings. Fans want to see golfers making birdies so the golf courses are set up to be easier on Sunday," said McDougall. Higgins countered that all the pressure facing the golfers on Sunday would surely raise their scores, and the television coverage would increase the pressure. McDougall was not convinced. "Too bad we don't have the data" he said. It would make an interesting study. In this particular tournament, a young unknown was leading the field. McDougall believed that the younger players were taking over. McDougall, who was over 40 himself, lamented, "Once you hit 40 you are simply not competitive anymore." As the final round progressed, McDougall and Higgins discussed how they would use the data if they were accessible. Questions they raised and discussed included the following:. 1. Are scores different from the first day to the last day? Are scores different across the four rounds?
2. Are young people doing better than those who are older?