Dave Ballantyne (11/15/2010)
I believe the difference here is in the hash match operation , in your version it is matching on 2 columns and in Jeff's 1 column. Hash matching is a comparatively expensive operation and the pure number of scalar operations executed is a bit of a red herring.
Sorry Dave I hadn't read this one when I posted my last - apologies if it sounds 'off' - just a timing thing, I promise. Though I do disagree with your assessment 😉
Paul White
SQLPerformance.com
SQLkiwi blog
@SQL_Kiwi