‘Self Entitled P***k’: Talor Gooch Shown No Sympathy by Harsh Golf Fans Over His Bizarre ‘Major’ Decision

A short reply was what Talor Gooch had when asked about his US Open qualifiers. “I’m not,” replied the LIV Golf Pro unlike his Smash GC teammates Jason Kokrak and Graeme McDowell, both of whom are currently planning to face the local qualifiers. Suffice it to say, the 32-year-old’s response didn’t sit well with the community.

The four golfers were attending an interview ahead of the upcoming LIV Golf event in Singapore. It was then the query was put forth towards the three golfers, aside from Brooks Koepka, who had already been exempted for the major, owing to his US Open and PGA Championship victories. Soon after the response, a video of the same started to circulate on the internet, leading to many followers issuing jab after jab towards Gooch.

Back in 2022, the 3-time LIV Golf champ had been ranked as high as No. 31 on the OWGR and No. 40 by the end of the year. However, his jump to the Saudi-backed league flicked off the domino that was his ranking, making him fall as low as No. 624 on the board. He didn’t receive an invitation to play at the recent Masters, nor did he get one at the 2023 edition of the US Open. A follower thus came forward to punch him where it hurts, all the while replying to the X handle known as LIV Golf Nation; “Liv Golf Nation stands with @TalorGooch Meanwhile, he pisses away his prime years.” That’s not all; other fans also came forward to poke the American pro with responses similar to, “How will the US Open survive with these guys not in it? And here you see one of the side effects of LIV: no motivation, relying on the entitlement,” and “Gooch thinks he is standing on beliefs but he doesn’t understand that to forge a new path you gotta be a trailblazer,” came pouring in.

Recounting the comment he made on McIlroy, Talor Gooch had, back then, said, “If Rory McIlroy goes and completes his [Career] Grand Slam without some of the best players in the world, there’s just going to be an asterisk. It’s just reality.” In a different case, he had even dubbed the world ranking “nonsensical.” From dishing out a surprising take on the current No. 2’s potential victory at the recently ended Masters to ripping apart the OWGR, he has made his stance known many times in the golfing world. Coupling them with his recent response, many followers couldn’t endure his attitude as they commented how he was just “A self-entitled p***k with that attitude,” as well as mentioning how “Gooch does himself and LIV no favors with this sort of dismissive response.”

The golfer, in his professional career spanning 10 years from 2014, has played the major a total of two times, in 2017 and 2022. In the 2023 edition, he was unable to participate due to a slight change in the major’s rules.

What was the rule change that forced Talor Gooch out of the 2023 US Open?

In June, Gooch qualified for the 2023 edition of the major at LA Country Club. However, soon after, the USGA came out with a change in rules, tweaking the eligibility criteria from “Those players qualifying for the season-ending Tour Championship” to “Those players who qualified and were eligible for the season-ending 2022 Tour Championship.”

This, in turn, proved to be an obstacle for Talor Gooch, who left for LIV in June 2022, thereby leading the Jay Monahan-led circuit to ban him from playing at the finale. Responding to the snub, he said, “That was obviously disappointing because that changed rule only affected one person, which was me,” before expressing his frustration with the disruptive Tour not getting proper OWGR representation. Well, after the recent response at the presser, his fans can only hope he has a change of heart in 2025!