As comparisons go, here is one that should never be put out there for public consumption: Any young golfer held up against Tiger Woods.

That thought came to mind when Collin Morikawa started his PGA TOUR career by making the cut in each of his first 22 tournaments. When he failed to qualify for weekend play at the Travelers Championship on June 26, it was noted how he had fallen short of another record achievement by Woods, who made the cut in his first 25 starts, back in 1996-97.

That, of course, got folks to comparing Morikawa’s first 22 tournaments to Woods’ first 22 because, well, there are no rules against silly and foolhardy.

That’s unfortunate for Morikawa, who is enjoying a very impressive start to his career but certainly doesn’t need the comparisons to Woods. Good gracious, what is it about “incomparable” – pretty much the word that defines Woods’ career – that people don’t understand?

Even when Morikawa bounced back from the missed cut at the Travelers to win the Workday Charity Open, it shouldn’t have invited a comparison. That’s two wins in 24 starts for the 23-year-old Morikawa, who has pushed to 13th in the Official World Golf Ranking and sixth in the FedExCup standings.

Quality stuff, but Woods reeled off six wins in his first 24 – yes, he won a quarter of his starts right out of the gates – and one of those triumphs was by 12 strokes at the Masters. Or was it 112 strokes? It’s so hard to keep track of his domination.

Like how in his 21st PGA TOUR start as a professional, Woods won the Motorola Western Open and was already No. 1 in the world.

Hence, why “incomparable” is affixed to all Woods accomplishments and should only be used side-by-side to those numbers belonging to Jack Nicklaus. Best to leave the kids out of the equation, OK?

More sensible would be a comparison of the first 24 PGA TOUR tournaments as a pro for Morikawa and Jordan Spieth. The are eerily similar, to wit:

Wins: Morikawa 2, Spieth 1.
Runner-ups: Morikawa 2, Spieth 3.
Top 10s: Morikawa 8, Spieth 9.
OWGR: Morikawa roared from No. 1,039 to No. 13 in just 24 starts. Spieth vaulted from No. 810 to 22nd.

At first glance, there’s little difference from the way these kids started. But from his 25th start on the PGA TOUR to his 113th, which came in his fifth full season, Spieth reeled off 10 wins and three legs of the career Grand Slam (2015 Masters, 2015 U.S. Open, 2017 Open Championship) as well as the 2015 FedExCup title.

Near-flawless as Morikawa’s game has been, uncanny as his maturity has shown, and as thick as the praise has been coming down from the TV towers, a lot of wise observers would agree with the odds and wager against the young man if offered this bet: Will he win 10 times over his next 89 PGA TOUR tournaments, capture three major championships, and get a stint as No. 1 in the OWGR?

That’s because golf is hard, way more difficult than players sometimes make it look.

For proof, turn your attention back to Spieth. When he won the Travelers Championship and Open Championship in back-to-back starts in 2017, he was No. 2 in the world, having won 11 times in 121 PGA TOUR tournaments as a professional.

Offered this proposition, that Spieth would not win any of his next 64 tournaments and fall to 61st in the world, you likely would have bet against it. You would have lost, too. Like we said, golf is hard.

That’s why, while comparisons are, alas, part of the golf landscape and will continue to generate enthusiasm, the fickle nature of this crazy game is still the factor that gets constantly overlooked. You know it’s there and it will make an impact; you just can’t predict it or explain it.

Of course, it would help immeasurably if there was a sense of history. But, sadly, a lot of people don’t have it.

This arrival of the Morikawa, Viktor Hovland and Matt Wolff trio, for instance. As entrances go, let the trumpets sound. Morikawa going from 1,039 to 13in the OWGR in just 24 pro starts is wildly noteworthy. But Hovland (340th to 33rd) and Wolff (1,641st to 59th) aren’t too shabby either.

Just spare us the comparisons to suggest this is historic, never-seen stuff. Wasn’t it just a few years ago when the sirens alerted us to the Class of ’11 and to prepare for never-seen stuff? (Although, personally I thought the Class of ’12 was pretty good. As in 1912, the year Sam Snead, Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson were born.)

Anyway, a bevy of these “can’t miss” kids were at the NCAA Championship at Riviera in 2012 and a colleague who was there said he stood on the range one day and pointed to four of them right in a row – Spieth, Justin Thomas, Patrick Rodgers, Daniel Berger – and asked a heralded teacher, “Who would you take stock in right now?”

The teacher, who had about seven decades of experience with the fickle nature of golf, pointed to another kid, Patrick Cantlay.

We can check back in 20 years to see how it all turned out. In the meantime, enjoy the glory of golf, embrace a little history, and spare yourself silly comparisons.