Thrust into the captain’s role for LIV Golf’s Smash GC after Brooks Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour, Talor Gooch is already putting his stamp on the team — starting with chemistry.
And when that team happens to be halfway around the world in Australia with the Super Bowl on the schedule, the solution is simple: host a little soiree.
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Gooch, whose first LIV victory came at Adelaide back in 2023, said he joined new Smash GC member Harold Varner III and others in preparing for this week’s tournament by watching the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots battle. Varner and Gooch previously played together on the RangeGoats GC.
Talor Gooch celebrates his victory in the individual tournament after the final round of LIV Golf Adelaide golf tournament at Grange Golf Club. (Photo: Mike Frey-USA TODAY Sports)
“We might have had a little fun with the Super Bowl and watching some football and maybe a couple of adult beverages,” Gooch said. “The four of us get along so well. Obviously, anybody who knows Harold, he is a lightning rod of energy. It’s easy to smile when you’re with him and be in a good mood. He’s the one that when things are tough and golf is not good, he’s going to be able to keep us smiling and enjoying ourselves.”
Gooch, who is the only player to celebrate team tournament titles with three different teams (4Aces GC, RangeGoats GC and Smash GC), has a total of 13 LIV Golf trophies, either as an individual or with a team.
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While he won at the Grange Golf Club on Australia’s southern coast during his magical 2023 season, he finished 10 over at the same venue last year, making him nearly dead last (Matthew Wolff held that honor).
And now, with some Official World Golf Ranking points on the table and the Oklahoma native slipping all the way from a high of 37th in the world to his current place at 1,579, Gooch has a very simple, if tongue-in-cheek philosophy moving forward.
“I’m just going to win the rest of them,” he said sarcastically in advance of today’s opening round. “I’m just going to win the next 13, 12 events, whatever we’ve got left. I’m going to win them all.
“Winning is so hard out here. Look at the guy who’s probably played the best golf out here the last couple years, Jon Rahm. He’s played unbelievably well but he hasn’t won a whole lot. I think that really exemplifies how hard winning is. At this level, when you win, you just need some luck. You need things to go your way. When you win, you need to cherish it because you never know when the next one is going to come.
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“I would love to get a win here this week and kind of rekindle some of the 2023 good vibes, and that would be amazing.”
Of course, if he does that, his ranking will improve and he can potentially play his way back into majors. Gooch has only played in two of the last 10 majors, missing the cut in one and finishing T-60 at the 2024 PGA Championship.
“I mean, for us, obviously the majors are the driving factor. Like, how do we get into the majors, and the OWGR is one of those routes,” he said. “I have to go play great golf, plain and simple. We all have to go play great golf to get into the majors and then hopefully to play great in the majors.
“At the end of the day it doesn’t really change things. I’m still working my butt off. I’m still trying to play great golf. It’s just now there’s another opportunity to get into the majors, which is great, and hopefully those opportunities and pathways continue to expand and become more ample for us.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Talor Gooch on LIV Golf, team chemistry and his quest to win
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