Talor Gooch

Talor Gooch
Personal information
Full nameTalor Keith Gooch
Born (1991-11-14) November 14, 1991 (age 33)
Midwest City, Oklahoma
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight200 lb (91 kg; 14 st)
Sporting nationality United States
ResidenceMidwest City, Oklahoma
Spouse
Ally Gooch
​
(m. 2019)​
Career
CollegeOklahoma State University
Turned professional2014
Current tour(s)LIV Golf
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
Web.com Tour
PGA Tour Canada
Professional wins5
Highest ranking31 (January 16, 2022)[1]
(as of November 24, 2024)
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour1
Korn Ferry Tour1
LIV Golf3
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT14: 2022
PGA ChampionshipT20: 2022
U.S. Open66th: 2017
The Open ChampionshipT33: 2021
Achievements and awards
LIV Golf League
individual points list winner		2023
LIV Golf League
money list winner		2023

Talor Keith Gooch (born November 14, 1991) is an American professional golfer.

Early life and amateur career

Gooch was born in Midwest City, Oklahoma. He played college golf at Oklahoma State University.[2] He was already drawing notice for his talent as a six-year-old. His father, Ron Gooch, played minor league professional baseball in the Texas Rangers organization.[3]

Professional career

Gooch played on the PGA Tour Canada in 2015 and 2016. His best finish was second at the 2015 Syncrude Boreal Open. In December 2016, he tied for 23rd place in the Web.com Tour qualifying tournament to earn a place on the Web.com Tour in 2017.[4] In August 2017, he won the News Sentinel Open.[5] He finished sixth on the regular season money list to earn his PGA Tour card.[2]

On the 2017–18 PGA Tour, Gooch made 12 cuts in 27 events with a best finish of T13 at the Wells Fargo Championship. He finished 139th on the FedEx Cup points list to retain conditional status for the following season. He had two top-5 finishes early in the 2018–19 season and finished 101st on the FedEx Cup points list.[2]

In November 2021, Gooch won his first PGA Tour event at the RSM Classic in Sea Island, Georgia. Gooch shot a final round 6-under-par 64 to win by three strokes.[6]

2022–2023: LIV Golf

Gooch joined the LIV Golf Invitational Series in May 2022.[7] Gooch placed 9th in the LIV Golf London at Centurion Club, earning $580,000. Gooch was also a member of the 4Aces GC team at Portland. In an interview after the event, Gooch compared the event to Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup events.[8]

In April 2023, Gooch won his first LIV event by winning the LIV Golf Adelaide event in Australia,[9] following it one week later with a victory at the LIV event in Singapore.[10] In July 2023, Gooch won his third LIV event, LIV Golf Andalucía which was played at Valderrama in Spain.[11] Following the end of the 2023 LIV Golf League's individual season, Gooch won an $18 million bonus for winning the season long points race.[12]

Controversies

Since joining LIV Golf in 2022, Gooch became involved in several off-course controversies in the media regarding comments about LIV's stature in the professional game. In July 2022, speaking after the LIV Golf Invitational Portland event; Gooch compared the atmosphere and crowds at the event as similar to that of playing in a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup, despite having not played in one himself.[13] In February 2024, Gooch commented on the prospect of Rory McIlroy winning the 2024 Masters Tournament; suggesting that if he were to go and win, it would come with an "asterisk" since some of the LIV Golf roster would not be playing in the tournament.[14] McIlroy responded to this by suggesting that Gooch be more like Joaquín Niemann, another LIV player who had also competed in non-LIV events and received a special invitation to play in the 2024 Masters.[15]

Amateur wins

  • 2012 Oklahoma Stroke Play

Source:[16]

Professional wins (5)

PGA Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 Nov 21, 2021 RSM Classic 64-65-67-64=260 −22 3 strokes Canada Mackenzie Hughes

Web.com Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 Aug 20, 2017 News Sentinel Open 66-67-68-65=266 −18 1 stroke United States Jonathan Hodge

LIV Golf League wins (3)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 Apr 23, 2023 LIV Golf Adelaide1 62-62-73=197 −19 3 strokes India Anirban Lahiri
2 Apr 30, 2023 LIV Golf Singapore1 64-65-67=196 −17 Playoff Spain Sergio García
3 Jul 2, 2023 LIV Golf Andalucía1 69-65-67=201 −12 1 stroke United States Bryson DeChambeau

1Co-sanctioned by the MENA Tour

LIV Golf League playoff record (1–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2023 LIV Golf Singapore Spain Sergio García Won with birdie on first extra hole
2 2023 LIV Golf Jeddah United States Brooks Koepka Lost to birdie on second extra hole

Results in major championships

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

Tournament 2017 2018
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open 66
The Open Championship
PGA Championship
Tournament 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Masters Tournament T14 T34
PGA Championship CUT T44 T20 CUT T60
U.S. Open CUT
The Open Championship NT T33 T34 CUT
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament 2019 2020 2021 2022
The Players Championship CUT C T5 CUT
  Top 10

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
C = Canceled after the first round due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament 2021 2022
Championship
Match Play T56 T18
Invitational
Champions NT1 NT1

1Canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic

  Did not play

"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament
Note that the Championship and Invitational were discontinued from 2022.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Week 3 2022 Ending 16 Jan 2022" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "Talor Gooch – Profile". PGA Tour. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  3. ^ "Boy a Chip Off Block, Putt Above". The Oklahoman. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  4. ^ "2016 Web.com Tour Q-school leaderboard". The Golf News Net. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  5. ^ "Talor Gooch rallies from 5 shots back to win News Sentinel Open". ESPN. Associated Press. August 20, 2017.
  6. ^ "Talor Gooch picks up 1st Tour victory at RSM Classic". Thescore.com. Associated Press. November 21, 2021. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  7. ^ McDonald, Patrick (May 31, 2022). "Dustin Johnson headlines field of players set to participate in first LIV Golf Series Invitational event". CBS Sports. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  8. ^ Woodard, Adam (July 2, 2022). "Talor Gooch compared the fans at the LIV Golf event in Portland to the Ryder Cup". Golfweek. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  9. ^ Herzig, Gabrielle (April 23, 2023). "Talor Gooch Wins LIV Adelaide In Wire-to-Wire Fashion". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  10. ^ "Talor Gooch makes LIV Golf history in Singapore with back-to-back victories". The Independent. April 30, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  11. ^ "LIV Golf League: Talor Gooch earns third win of season after one-shot victory at Valderrama". Sky Sports. July 2, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  12. ^ "Koepka wins tourney; Gooch wins LIV points title". ESPN. Associated Press. October 15, 2023. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  13. ^ Keeley, Sean (July 3, 2022). "Golf world has good laugh at Talor Gooch's LIV Golf-Ryder Cup quote". The Comeback. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  14. ^ Berhow, Josh (February 27, 2024). "Talor Gooch: Why Rory McIlroy Masters win would warrant asterisk". Golf Magazine. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  15. ^ Chivers, Matt (February 28, 2024). "Rory McIlroy's advice for Talor Gooch: Be more like Joaquin Niemann!". National Club Golfer. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  16. ^ "Talor Gooch". World Amateur Golf Ranking. Retrieved January 28, 2019.