Talor

Gooch

Gooch was one of the first to jump ship to the LIV Golf series and later said he did not expect to actually get suspended from the PGA TOUR. We now know that the PGA TOUR was not bluffing. Gooch, and 17 other LIV defectors, are joining the field this week in hopes of picking up some much-needed OWGR points since the LIV events are not accepted as OWGR events, at this time. Gooch has dipped from 35th to 46th in the brief period since leaving the PGA TOUR. This is one of the first big events since the legal battles between tours kicked off. There are expected to be some awkward encounters and Martin Kaymer even backed out after initially committing to play at Wentworth, “Of course, there will be friction there, that’s why I’m not going.”

The 30-year-old, making his second appearance (T33/2021), opened with 68, his best score in a major, and although he backed up on Friday, has posted consecutive rounds in the 60s for the first time in his eighth overall major event. On 13 (of 16) fairways and 16 greens in regulation, he offset one bogey-5 at 16 with four birdies at 1, 3, 14 and 18, posting +1.36 SG: Off-the-Tee, +0.09 SG: Approach, +0.47 SG: Around, and +0.83 SG: Putting at last glance. The Oklahoma State alum, who sandwiched a missed cut at the 122nd U.S. Open four weeks ago with a solo 9th (London) and solo 7th (Portland) on the LIV Golf circuit, is vying for a first major top 10, looking to improve on a best of T14 on debut at the 86th Masters three major starts ago in April. See link below to post-round comments.

This is the Oklahoman’s second Open after a T33 last year at Royal St. George’s, which included his prior-tied-best R1 major score of 1-under 69 (72-67-70). His best finishes are a pair of top 25s, most recently a T20 at the 2022 PGA in a home game, where he also opened with 69 (70-74-68), and a T14 at the Masters in April, where he was T19 after 18 holes (72-74-73-71). The Oklahoma State alum, who arrived off a solo 7th two weeks ago at the LIV Portland, outpaced three bogeys with seven circles, posting +2.22 SG: Off-the-Tee, -1.45 SG: Approach, +0.70 SG: Around, and +3.09 SG: Putting. Afterward (link below): “Firmest I’ve ever seen, no doubt. Anybody I’ve asked over the last 48 hours has agreed. It was amazing.”

The Oklahoma native striped 13-of-14 fairways en route to 13 GIR, while battling blustery winds in the morning. By day’s end, he gave himself six scoring chances from inside of 13 feet but converted on just one of them, a 6'6" birdie splash at the par-5 fifth. He walked off the course gaining 4.2 strokes tee-to-green but gave 1.2 strokes back with the putter. Gooch is playing his sixth career major and hoping to improve upon his previous-best finish which is a T14 at this year’s Masters. He’ll have no problem doing that if he maintains the current level of ball-striking while tidying up the putter over the weekend.

A total of 26 players (of 156) managed a sub-par lap of Southern Hills CC today, 17 from the morning wave, including McIlroy. Among the nine who turned the trick from the later session was Oklahoma State alum Gooch, who began off 10 tee and offset two squares at 17 and 7 (failed scrambles) with three birdies at 1, 5 and 9, walking off with birdie-3 from 7'4", his longest scoring conversion of the lap. On 11 (of 14) fairways and 11 greens in regulation, the 30-year-old lost 0.066 strokes with the flat stick but gained 1.282 off-the-tee, 1.007 on approach, and 1.610 around-the-green, highlighted by a hole-out par from a greenside bunker at 16 (from 20'3" away). This is his sixth overall major appearance with a best of T14 at the 86th Masters in April on 2-over 290 (72-74-73-71). See link below to post-round comments.

The 30-year-old Gooch told media on Monday that, “It’s a dream come true for an Oklahoma kid to go to Oklahoma State and to play PGA Championship at Southern Hills.” Gooch earned his spot in the field with his first career Tour win in November at the RSM Classic, where he carded a final-round 64 to finish at 22-under 260 at Sea Island, besting Mackenzie Hughes by three strokes. “This is what you dream about, playing the PGA Championship in your hometown at one of your favorite places in the world,” he added. “Growing up watching Retief (Goosen) win here, watching Tiger (Woods) win here; there’s a luster about this place that makes it that much more special that this is the year that I guaranteed myself to play in all of the majors for the first time.” Gooch made the cut in his first eight starts this season before missing at the American Express. His T-7 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in July guaranteed him a spot in the 150th Open at St. Andrews this summer. On the season, he’s made 14 cuts in 18 starts with four top 10s including a T-4 at the Fortinet Championship and T-5 at The CJ Cup. Gooch missed the cut at the 2020 PGA and finished T-44 in 2021.

Set for his fifth major championship appearance, Gooch’s best result to date came in his most recent start at The Open where he finished in a tie for 33rd place at Royal St. George’s. Slowly coming into his own in his career, Gooch has impressed having not only having won this season, but also contending at the WM Phoenix Open and the Arnold Palmer Invitational. In fact, it was at Bay Hill, a course which received some criticism over the weekend, where the world No. 34 last saw the first page of the leaderboard. When asked if the firmness and fieriness of Arnie’s Place was comparable to the conditions at Augusta National, Gooch immediately shut it down by saying, “Yeah, this course is so different than what we’re playing on a week-to-week basis. There’s not much to compare it to. I think obviously having played it in tournament conditions for guys, the experience is a big thing out here, but at the end of the day, it’s still golf. Get below the hole and try to make birdies and try not to make bogeys. It’s in great shape. It’s a great test. Like I said, hopefully the rain stays away a little bit, so we can get maybe not quite Arnold Palmer firmness, but something that’s going to make it challenging.”

The 30-year-old drops to 1-for-2 as a 54-hole leader/co-leader, converting seven starts ago at the RSM for his first TOUR title in 104 events, but his Sunday splits today (43-34) tell the story. To his credit, after a first-nine 7-over, which included two doubles, he righted the ship with an error-free home half (2 birdies) to earn his first top 10 at the API in four tries and second top 25 (T13, 2020). The Oklahoma State alum, who began the finale co-leading with Billy Horschel (75), gained 1.518 strokes on approach but lost 1.162 off-the-tee and posted a -2.120 SG: Putting, lowlighted by a 4-putt double from 21'5" at the par-4 fifth. He does hang on for his fourth top 10 of the season in 13 events, first since the RSM win (November), and heads to THE PLAYERS where he finished T5 last year. For the week, Gooch signed for laps of 69-68-72-77, totaled one eagle and 11 birdies versus 11 bogeys and two doubles, and ranked 42nd in SG: OTT (0.322), 37th in SGP (1.023), and 3rd in SG: Approach (6.300).

Bay Hill Club & Lodge played extremely difficult on Saturday, evidenced by Gooch’s four-birdie four-bogey 72 gaining 2.065 against the field average. He’ll be in the final pairing on Sunday with Floridian Horschel, chasing his second win in 111 events and second of the season in 13 starts. This is the Oklahoma State alum’s second 54-hole lead/co-lead, first since the RSM just prior to the holiday break, where he led by three and won by three after a bogey-free 6-under 64. Today, paired with R1 leader and past champ Rory McIlroy, who he beat by four shots, he lost 0.606 strokes on approach, mustering just seven greens in regulation, but gained 2.258 around, and is No. 1 at the three-quarter mark SG: Tee-to-Green (8.556). See link below to post-round comments.

The 30-year-old, who’s chasing leader and fellow Oklahoma State Cowboy Viktor Hovland (66), will play out of the penultimate pairing on Saturday with past champ and R1 leader Rory McIlroy (72), scheduled out at 1:30 pm ET. His 68 today, the best from the late starters, was a whopping 6.342 strokes better than the field average on Friday, despite ending with a bogey-5 at 9, his lone dropped shot of the day. On 10 (of 14) fairways and 13 greens in regulation, the Oklahoma native and resident camouflaged the walk-off 5 with an eagle-3 at 16 from 48'2" and three birdies at 14, 1 and 4, each from inside of 10 feet. He did miss three birdie chances from inside of 10 feet, leading to a pedestrian 0.184 SG: Putting, but hung up a stellar 6.158 SG: Tee-to-Green, including 3.943 of that on approach. See link below to post-round comments.