Talor Gooch eclipses $9,250,299 PGA earnings with a whopping LIV bonus
Talor Gooch won the individual title at LIV Golf for the 2023 season, becoming the second player to do so after Dustin Johnson in 2022. For Gooch, it was much more than a demonstration of sporting stability, as 2023 was an almost unrepeatable year financially speaking.
During the current season, Gooch has more than tripled his earnings from the first seven years of his professional career. His 2023 earnings surpassed the $30,000,000 mark, while he made $9,250,299 during his time on the PGA Tour.
Winning the 2023 LIV Golf season individual title earned Talor Gooch a bonus of $18,000,000. He also earned $12,000,000 for his three wins of the year (Adelaide, Singapore and Andalusia). The rest of his results (two more top-10 finishes and team results included) accounted for $3,137,066.
"It's a Validation to the golfer that I am, to the hard work we've putted in for years and years. This game would beat you up, but we've done a good job year after year. Just conctinue to improve and getting better," Gooch said to LIV Golv News Services.
On the PGA Tour, Talor Gooch has played in 123 events, with one victory (The RSM Classic of 2021), 10 other top 10s and 80 cuts made. He has also played 27 events on the Korn Ferry Tour (earning $311,789) and 27 events on the PGA Tour Canada (earning $71,618).
Gooch's season continues with the Team Championship in two weeks. His team, the Range Goats GC, is in fourth place, allowing them to rest on the first day of the event and select their opponent on the second day.
Talor Gooch at LIV Golf Jeddah
The 2023 individual champion went from strength to strength in the final tournament of the season, the LIV Golf Jeddah. Talor Gooch had an unremarkable first round with three bogeys and three birdies for an even par score.
It wasn't the same on the second day, let alone the third. Gooch had six birdies and zero bogeys on Saturday and eight birdies and zero bogeys on Sunday to tie Brooks Koepka atop the leaderboard and force a playoff.
At that point, Gooch was already the champion of the season. The only players who could challenge him for the title, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeu, finished in positions that took them out of contention altogether. While Smith ended up in 16th place, DeChambeau finished 25th.
Koepka eventually defeated Gooch in the final playoff in Jeddah. With this result, the former displaced DeChambeau for third place in the individual standings. Smith's performance was good enough for him to secure second place.
There were no surprises at the bottom of the individual standings. Jediah Morgan, James Piot, Chase Koepka and Sihwan Kim occupied the final spots and will be relegated to the Development Tournament.
Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer also took relegation places, but their captain status exempts them from losing their spots in LIV Golf.