Talor Gooch is the highest earner in LIV Golf and one of the most vocal players on the breakaway tour regarding access to major championships. However, he altered his strategy on Monday with an unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the US Open and quit after just 15 holes.
The Oklahoma-born golfer joined the LIV circuit as a founding member in 2022 and quickly made his mark, winning the individual championship in 2023 after securing three tournament victories. This success has placed him at the top of LIV’s all-time money list, earning over £50million from his performances on the course.
However, his profitable stint with LIV has come with drawbacks. The 33-year-old has missed six out of the last eight major championships due to his drop in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR). As LIV is not sanctioned by the OWGR, its players do not accumulate ranking points from its tournaments. Once ranked 31st globally and on an upward trajectory, Gooch now sits at No. 1556 in the world rankings.
His low position has left him with limited options to qualify for majors. For the US Open and The Open Championship, there are highly competitive 36-hole qualifiers to secure one of the final spots in the field, while special invitations have been his only chance of participating in the Masters and the PGA Championship, both of which he missed this year.
Gooch has shown a marked reluctance to attempt to qualify for the US Open and The Open. Famously, a year ago he expressed disinterest in vying for a spot at Pinehurst through US Open qualifying, and his public remarks have made it clear that he feels his performances on LIV should have warranted more chances to participate in majors.
In contrast, other LIV players have adopted a markedly different approach during this period. Sergio Garcia has seized every opportunity to compete in qualifiers, while Joaquin Niemann has made a deliberate effort to play as many tournaments on other tours as possible, a move that has won him favour with the powers that be at Augusta National and resulted in the Chilean being extended special invitations to the last two editions of The Masters.
Gooch, on the other hand, participated in only four tournaments outside of his LIV schedule in 2024. He did make an attempt to qualify for next month’s US Open at Oakmont. He was part of the line-up for the final qualifying event at Bent Tree Country Club in Dallas, Texas, on Monday.
However, he only managed to complete 15 holes before withdrawing from the competition.
At the time, Gooch was one-over-par, leaving him with a challenging task of ascending the leaderboard and securing one of the seven available spots at Oakmont over his remaining 21 holes. Fellow LIV member Carlos Ortiz was among the seven players who secured their places at Oakmont.
The reason behind the player’s abrupt departure is somewhat shrouded in mystery, and some have wondered if injury was a factor. Social media users didn’t hold back in lampooning him, swiftly resurrecting his comments from a February 2024 interview with Australian Golf Digest.
Gooch had stated that majors won without the inclusion of some LIV members would be devalued by an asterisk.
“If Rory McIlroy goes and completes his Grand Slam without some of the best players in the world, there’s just going to be an asterisk. It’s just the reality. I think everybody wins whenever the majors figure out a way to get the best players in the world there,” he insisted.
Currently ranked 20th in LIV Golf’s standings after seven events, Gooch is preparing to compete in the next league event, LIV Golf Virginia, in two weeks. This comes following his season’s best performance so far, accomplishing a third-place finish at LIV Golf Korea earlier this month.
This article first appeared on Mirror US.
