Despite His $30M Final Laugh, LIV Golf’s Biggest Star Talor Gooch Faces a Massive 2024 Tragedy Amid OWGR Controversies

Tensions peaked in the golf world as LIV Golf Jeddah saw its third and final round taking place on Sunday. Taking home the winning cut of the $25 million prize pool was Brooks Koepka, who won the event after a playoff hole. However, the focus was on another golfer, Talor Gooch, who lost out to his American colleague at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club.

Although Gooch could only come out as a runner-up in the competition, he managed to bag an eye-watering $18 million as the golfer took home the title of the season-long champion of 2023. However, despite proving his worth against Koepka, LIV Golf’s best player is set to suffer a major tragedy heading into 2024!

Talor Gooch and his biggest 2024 tragedy

Gooch lost to Koepka on the second playoff hole, leading the latter to lift the cup on Sunday. Even so, he managed to surpass the likes of Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau to capture the season-long points race, taking home the $18 million prize and pushing his earnings to over $30 million in 2023. However, what awaited the professional was nothing short of a huge misfortune.

The 31-year-old has been able to emerge victorious in a total of three events in the Saudi-backed league. These include wins in Adelaide, Singapore, and Spain. Despite the impressive victories, the American isn’t exempt from playing in any of the majors in 2024.

A tweet was uploaded on social media addressing the same, which took a jab at the OWGR and its recent rulings as it asked the rankings to “forget the nonsense… and just offer direct spots based on tournament and order of merit finishes instead.” Moreover, it went ahead to talk about how the major tournaments should have the “strongest fields in golf regardless of where players play their golf.”

The post on Twitter came out in lieu of the recent decisions made by the rankings system owing to which the 1X PGA Tour champ hasn’t qualified for the biggest events in golf.

OWGR and its decision on the LIV Golf issue

Peter Dawson, chairman of the OWGR board, issued a letter to Greg Norman and Gary Davidson not too long ago which conveyed the board’s unanimous decision to abstain from awarding points to the PIF-funded league. This ruling was made owing to the circuit boasting an altogether different format as it does not follow the 72-hole system.

Moreover, the fact that LIV Golf does not provide enough promotion and relegation chances to players played a crucial role in the decision. More than 40 players are provided a chance to enter the PGA Tour through their university program, the Korn Ferry Tour, and the European Tour’s grassroots events.

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This ruling was a hard hit to many of the professionals on the Middle Eastern circuit as it failed to help them fight for a chance at some traditional tournaments that depend on the points system, including the major championships. Well, one can hope everything becomes a bit more amicable after the details of the merger are in place.

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