I don't understand why calling a 38 year old golfer on the decline 'on the back end of his career' is so controversial. That's when golfers start to decline. Similarly, early to mid-30s is when golfers tend to peak. The average age of a major winner is 32. DJ had a hell of a stretch from 30-36. All seems pretty standard. How long are we to expect that kind of play to sustain itself before it's not "insufferable" to suggest the best days of a 38 year old golfer are behind them?
That doesn't even preclude the chance that a golfer on the back end of their career can win a major. Guys over 38 win majors about a sixth of the time. It's not uncommon. Especially in the Open which DJ has played pretty well, and the Masters, which he at least has the lifetime exemption for. If DJ wins another major he'll join a surprisingly exclusive (and eclectic) group of five other players in the past 30 years to win more than one major after their 35th birthday (Phil, Cabrera, Harrington, Singh, and O'Meara). Guys from the last decade to join DJ in that hunt are: Tiger, Sergio, Bubba, Molinari, Stenson, Zach Johnson, Jimmy Walker, and Jason Dufner. Save for Tiger, DJ's peak is better than all of theirs, but it does go to show how quick the decline can come for players from 'in the hunt' to 'where the hell are they now?' Especially when the exemptions run out.
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