Golf enthusiasts watched Brooks Koepka birdie three of the final five holes last weekend to win the U.S. Open Championship. Brooks finished the tournament with a total score of 16 below par, an incredible feat for what is traditionally one of the toughest tournaments on the PGA tour. With great performances come large rewards, and this win netted Brooks $2,160,000. Even though outstanding golf performances like this can result in big paydays, over the course of a year it is consistency that really pays off. As Dougal Williams writes in today’s recommended reading, “Beat the Field by Shooting Par,” if a player had simply shot par in each of the past five US Opens, they would have made more money than anyone else on tour. This concept can be applied to the stock market as well. Had an investor simply ‘shot par’ by capturing market returns, they would have outperformed roughly 90% of stock mutual funds over the past 15 years. Avoiding the temptation to outperform is actually a very profitable strategy.
