Benchmark of list null checking

Program.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using BenchmarkDotNet.Attributes;
using BenchmarkDotNet.Attributes.Columns;
using BenchmarkDotNet.Attributes.Exporters;
using BenchmarkDotNet.Attributes.Jobs;
using BenchmarkDotNet.Running;

namespace benchmark
{
    [CoreJob]
    [RPlotExporter, RankColumn]
    public class ListNullCheck
    {
        private List<string> toCheck = null;
        [Benchmark]
        public void Traditional(){
            if(toCheck!=null)
            {
                foreach (var item in toCheck)
                {
                    
                }
            }
        }

        [Benchmark]
        public void Inline(){
            foreach(var item in toCheck ?? new List<string>())
            {

            }
        }
    }
    class Program
    {
        
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var summary = BenchmarkRunner.Run<ListNullCheck>();
        }
    }
}

result.txt

BenchmarkDotNet=v0.10.14, OS=Windows 10.0.16299.431 (1709/FallCreatorsUpdate/Redstone3)
Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU 2.80GHz (Kaby Lake), 1 CPU, 8 logical and 4 physical cores
Frequency=2742186 Hz, Resolution=364.6726 ns, Timer=TSC
.NET Core SDK=2.1.300-rc1-008673
  [Host] : .NET Core 2.1.0-rc1 (CoreCLR 4.6.26426.02, CoreFX 4.6.26426.04), 64bit RyuJIT
  Core   : .NET Core 2.1.0-rc1 (CoreCLR 4.6.26426.02, CoreFX 4.6.26426.04), 64bit RyuJIT

Job=Core  Runtime=Core

      Method |     Mean |     Error |    StdDev | Rank |
------------ |---------:|----------:|----------:|-----:|
 Traditional | 10.48 ns | 0.1587 ns | 0.1484 ns |    1 |
      Inline | 18.58 ns | 0.4107 ns | 0.5194 ns |    2 |