As Talor Gooch stood over his 12-foot birdie putt on the final hole of regulation Sunday afternoon at LIV Golf Andalucia, his confidence level was extremely high. In addition to making a positive stroke, he imagined the celebration afterward when the putt dropped.
“Just felt like I was going to make it,” Gooch said. “Before I even hit the putt, I was already visualizing the fist pump that was coming with it. I’m glad it went in.”
Gooch’s dramatic birdie at Real Club Valderrama gave him a one-stroke victory over a battling Bryson DeChambeau and makes the RangeGoats GC star the first three-time individual winner in LIV Golf’s young history. Gooch shot a final-round 4-under 67 to finish at 12 under, with the Crushers GC captain at 11 under after his 2-under 69. Smash GC Captain Brooks Koepka finished third at 9 under.
All three of Gooch’s victories in 2023 have come outside his native United States, as he previously won back-to-back events in Adelaide and Singapore to become the first player to win consecutive LIV Golf events.
“Last year I didn’t get a win, so this year I was just so focused on getting an individual win,” said Gooch, who now leads the Individual Champion race by 27 points over Koepka. “You don’t think much past the first one until you get the first one. I definitely didn’t have three in mind for the season, but it’s cool that we’re here, and it’s especially cool to have the third one here at Valderrama.”
Gooch wasn’t the only three-time winner Sunday. The Spanish-speaking Torque GC, captained by Joaquin Niemann, also won its third team title of the season with a final-round best 7-under counting score to finish at 16 under, five strokes ahead of the RangeGoats, with Crushers GC finishing third. Niemann and Sebastián Muñoz posted 3-under 69s while David Puig contributed a 2-under 69. Those three played the last three holes of their rounds in a cumulative 4 under.
It’s the second consecutive win for Torque, who won last month in DC. Torque is now just seven points behind season-long leader 4Aces GC, who finished fourth at Valderrama.
The win was especially sweet for the 21-year-old Puig, the youngest player on the LIV Golf League roster and one of three Spanish-born players in the field along with Fireballs GC’s Sergio Garcia and Eugenio Chacarra.
“It’s amazing,” said Puig. “Playing at home is always good, and it’s even more special when you get a win and when you get a win with this group of guys. It was a great week.”
Said Niemann: “Having David also the main character of this tournament is really special for us. I think it makes it a lot easier when we do everything together like we are a team.
“You can see in the results, we’re playing great golf, and just looking forward for the rest of the season, try to keep doing the same and having a good time, as well.”
Gooch certainly is playing great golf as he went toe-to-toe with major champions DeChambeau and Koepka in the final group. After making his only bogey of the day at the par-4 ninth, Gooch was a bogey-free 4 under on the back nine.
DeChambeau was two strokes ahead at the turn but Gooch caught him with birdies at 10 and 13. They each birdied the par-5 17th to remain tied. Gooch then hit a brilliant approach shot to 12 feet, while DeChambeau had to navigate trees with his second shot, his ball landing in the rough behind the green. His chip shot set up an easy par, but Gooch made it a moot point by draining his birdie putt.
“My game is obviously in a good state, and I knew if I could get myself in the fairway a bunch, we were going to have a chance to win down the stretch,” Gooch said. “We just kept plodding along, plodding along, and didn’t really make a bunch of putts. That was the longest putt of the day, obviously, so it was nice to save the best one for last.”
RD 3 STAT LEADERS
Driving distance – Peter Uihlein, 340.5-yard average
Longest drive – Peter Uihlein, 382.7 yards (17th hole)
Driving accuracy – Cameron Smith, 86% (12 of 14)
Greens in regulation – Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, 78% (14 of 18)
Scrambling – Bryson DeChambeau, 100% (4 of 4)
Fewest putts – David Puig, 22 putts
Most birdies – Talor Gooch, 8
Bogey-free rounds – Bryson DeChambeau, 63