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Tallor Gooch says he is disappointed after losing an exception at this year’s US Open – although the decision was not made retroactively, as he thought.
Gooch’s frustration stems from how the major tournaments determine the qualifications of their players in Season 2 of LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed series that has drawn many PGA Tour pros, including Gooch. In his case, the move in early February by the USAF for the US Open is significant.
Then the governing body This exemption included On this year’s Open Championship, which will be played in less than two months at the Los Angeles Country Club: “Those players who qualified and were eligible for the season-ending 2022 Tour Championship.” The key here is the phrase “were qualified for”. She was Added only this year. And Gooch lost his way to the tournament—he qualified for the Tour Championship, but didn’t play in it after being suspended by the PGA Tour after playing in LIV Golf’s first event.
Notably, the modification also only affects Gooch – the other players who made it to the Tour Championship were all eligible to play in it. and on the 73 holes podcast this weekGooch described the move as frustrating.
“Unfortunately, the USGA decided to go in a different direction, and they retroactively changed this rule, and the rule now within the USA is that you have to qualify for the Tour Championship and also be eligible to play, which was obviously disappointing because the rule change affected the One person, which is me.
“And so that was frustrating and difficult.”
However, Gooch inaccurately said that the decision was made retrospectively. USGA, through Statement to Golf Magazine holdalso provide an explanation.
USGA wrote in an email to my bank. “Importantly, we have provided more clarity for a specific exemption class to reflect that players should be eligible and eligible for the Tour Championship, beginning with the 2023 US Open.
“The change was not made retroactively, but as part of our annual review process and is embedded in the many other changes that have been made to the criteria for the upcoming 2023 tournament.”
As for Gooch’s cases for the other three majors, they are also complex.
– We’ll start with the Masters, where Gooch played earlier this month under similar exemption which he would previously have at the US Open, and by his world ranking. The previous entry read this way: “Last year’s season-ending championship finalists.”
However, a day before the start of the tournament, the Masters released the exemption list for 2024 – and Embedded language Similar to the USGA Tour Championship. It now reads: “Previous Season’s Final Round Tournament Finalists and Qualifiers”.
Could Gooch play in the Masters next year? Yes, but it will be difficult. Winning – or finishing in the top four – at this year’s PGA Championship, US Open or Open would see him enter. As in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking at the end of this year, or the previous week at the start of the Masters – but currently, LIV does not receive world ranking points for its events, and as of this week, He was ranked 59.
– How about this year’s PGA Championship, which takes place next month at Oak Hill in Rochester, New York? It’s cloudy.
There is no American PGA class to the Tour Championship, but the only path for Gotch now would be a private invitation. Can he get one based on his world ranking? maybe.
“It’s been kind of a known fact that as a rule of thumb throughout my career, if you’re ranked in the top 100 in the OWGR, you’ll get a spot in the PGA Championship,” Gooch said on the podcast. .
– And what about this year’s Open Championship, which will be held in July at Royal Liverpool in England? Gooch in.
R & A has Similar exemption According to the old criteria for the Masters and the US Open, it reads: “Top 30 Final FedExCup Points List 2022.” Now, could that change for next year as well? Stay tuned.
Can Gooch still play in the US Open? Yes, in several ways.
If he wins the PGA Championship (if he makes it), he’ll be a participant. If he’s in the OWGR’s top 60 on May 22, or June 12, he’s in. If he receives a special dispensation, he will be a participant.
Or Gooch could make it through the playoffs.
– Will any of the disciplines create special exemptions for LIV players? Gooch, who won the LIV event last week, is optimistic.
“I think Augusta, it was very clear that having the best players in the world is more important than the tour you decide to play on,” he said on the podcast. “And I think that’s what’s best for the fans. I think that’s what’s best for the players. I don’t think John Rahm and Rory McIlroy and the best players in the world right now want to go and win a major championship and get a star next to that win because it’s not really filled with the best players in the world.
“Unfortunately, the OWGR doesn’t really reflect the best players in the world. We all at LIV knew that the decision we made to go play LIV was a bit against the system and there would be some tough times. But that’s why I think the Masters was a great week for everyone inside golf because it shows It’s just, you know, the big games are the binding ground for professional golf. It’s where fans get a chance to see the best players in the world come together, and you don’t get a chance to see that anywhere else now that there’s such a division within the ranks of professional golf.
“And so I continue to hold out hope that the big companies do what’s right for the fans, do what’s right for professional golf and do what’s best for their own good, which is for the best players in the world to come and play this event. That’s what’s going to drive viewership. That’s What’s going to get attention. That’s why in Augusta on Sunday, the ratings were so high because it’s the only place in the world where the best players come together and play right now. I hope this is a good lesson and a good model for the PGA of America and the USGA and R&A to look at and say, you know, We need to rise above all of that division and we need to figure out how to be better than that.”