Evaluating the Phenomenon of Choking in Professional Golfers

Abstract

A study involving 775 professional golfers investigated whether choking occurs in the PGA Tour's Qualifying Tournaments, known among golfers for its high pressure. It was hypothesized that players who were near or at the cutoff for earning a tour card would have higher final round scores than players whose scores entering the final round were either four or five strokes better or worse. However, the data did not support a choking hypothesis. There were no significant differences in final round scores for the conditions.