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Talor Gooch is one of 17 LIV Golf players who will appear in the PGA Championship and, as well as going in search of his maiden Major victory at the tournament, the 31-year-old will be attempting to secure qualification to the US Open.
That’s thanks to a controversial rule change that means he is currently not in the field despite originally thinking his participation was assured.
The USGA amended its criteria in relation to the 2022 Tour Championship, adding a clause that players had to be eligible to play in the FedEx Cup finale, rather than merely having qualified for it.
Gooch had done enough to reach the Tour Championship but was ineligible due to his ongoing suspension from the PGA Tour following his LIV Golf move. Still, his qualification had been enough to earn him an exemption to The Masters, and he had hoped that would apply to the US Open too, until the rule change was introduced.
Because of the extra clause, Gooch now needs to find another way to reach the June Major. Having missed qualifying, the only pathway that remains is for him to play well enough at Oak Hill Country Club to be in the top 60 of the Official World Golf Ranking on the Monday following the tournament.
It should be firmly within Gooch’s grasp. The American has been in excellent form of late, with back-to-back wins in the LIV Golf tournaments in Adelaide and Singapore before his tie for 36th in the most recent event in Tulsa. Not only that, but he goes into this week’s tournament just three places below the threshold at World No.63.
Despite lacking opportunities to regularly accumulate world ranking points since his move to LIV Golf, Gooch could even find himself as high as World No.17 if he wins the event.
Nothing is guaranteed, of course, particularly in a tournament with arguably the strongest field of all the Majors, thanks to its lack of amateurs. Still, Gooch is likely to go into it with plenty of optimism about his chances of reaching the US Open – even if he’s having to get there a second time after originally thinking he’d done enough by qualifying for the Tour Championship nine months ago.
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