Talor Gooch was unable to compete in any of this year’s four PGA Tour majors despite being the highest earner on the LIV Golf circuit after raking in over $65 million in prize money
Talor Gooch has made over $65 million since defecting to LIV Golf(Image: Getty Images)
Talor Gooch has found no shortage of success on the LIV Golf circuit, but the 33-year-old was unable to showcase his s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁s in any of the four PGA Tour majors this year.
Since defecting to the Saudi-backed league and surrendering his PGA Tour membership back in 2022, Gooch has gone on to become LIV Golf’s highest earner.
One year later, he won three tournaments in Adelaide, Singapore, and Spain en route to being crowned the 2023 LIV Golf Individual Champion — a title that comes with an additional $18 million prize purse.
Most recently, Gooch secured a first-place finish in the LIV Golf Andalucia event last month, bringing his total earnings on the big-money circuit to $65,899,530 entering this week’s tournament in Indianapolis.
Despite all he’s accomplished over the last three years, Gooch was unable to compete in any of this year’s majors due to his Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).
He actively sits in 1766th place due to the fact that he can’t earn points while associated with LIV Golf.
Speaking with Australian Golf Digest last February, Gooch expressed hope that the PGA Tour would stop basing majors eligibility on the OWGR.
“Hopefully, the day will turn when the majors decide to start rewarding good play on LIV. Hopefully that’ll be sooner than later,” he said at the time.
So long as he and other LIV Golf stars weren’t allowed to play in the majors, Gooch argued, some of golf’s greatest accomplishments would have an “asterisk” beside them.
Gooch did not compete in any of the four PGA Tour majors this year(Image: Getty Images)
“If Rory McIlroy goes and completes his [career] Grand Slam without some of the best players in the world, there’s just going to be an asterisk,” Gooch said. “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.”
McIlroy, for one, was hardly fazed by Gooch’s argument, responding: “The asterisk, look, The Masters is an invitational, and they’ll invite whoever they think warrants an invite.
“To be fair to Talor, if you read the entire — the question and then the answer — it’s not as if he just came out with that. I feel like whoever did the interview led him down that path to say that, so I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt there a little bit.”
One year after Gooch’s bold comments, McIlroy narrowly fended off Justin Rose in a sudden-death playoff at Hole 18 of Augusta National to emerge victorious in his 11th attempt at completing the career Grand Slam — a feat that only Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods have accomplished in the Masters era.
Gooch, meanwhile, attempted to qualify for the 2025 U.S. Open one month after McIlroy’s Masters triumph, but withdrew 15 holes into the final qualifying round at Bent Tree Country Club in Dallas, Texas.