With $4 million in payday and his first title at LIV Golf, Talor Gooch should be on cloud nine.
Instead, the 31-year-old American is upset about a rule change that will keep him out of the 2023 US Open.
Gooch, who appeared on the “73rd Hole” podcast, said he believes he has secured his spot in a major championship from June 15-18 at Los Angeles Country Club last August by qualifying for the 2022 Tour Championship on the PGA Tour.
At the time, players who qualified for the Tour Championship received invitations or waivers for the Masters, US Open and The Open Championship, which is how Gooch was able to play at the Augusta National earlier this month.
“When Augusta came out and made that decision, I was very hopeful that everyone would follow suit,” Gooch said.
But when the United States Golf Association published its qualifying criteria for the US Open in February, there was a small but significant change in language from previous years.
According to Golf Digest, the criteria used to read “those players eligible for the season-ending Tour Championship” but now reads “those players who have qualified and were eligible for the 2022 season-ending Tour Championship.”
When Gooch and others left for LIV Golf this past June, they were barred from playing in the Tour Championship and were therefore not “eligible.”
“That was obviously disappointing because the rule change only affected one person, and that was me,” Gooch said. “So that was frustrating and difficult because with LIV still not being rewarded with world ranking points, I only have two options for qualifying for the US Open: with my world ranking, which is going to be very difficult, or obviously trying to go down the qualifying route to sectional qualification.”
Despite his victory last weekend in Adelaide, Australia, Gooch’s world ranking has dropped from No. 57 to No. 59 this week. He must remain in the top 60 to earn a spot on the US Open field.
“Hopefully my ranking will remain high enough for the next month I’m in,” he said. “Time will tell about that.”
On the plus side, Gooch is still listed as exempt from the 151st Open Championship scheduled to take place from July 20-23 at Royal Liverpool Golf Club.