Talor Gooch (73) completed a wire-to-wire victory Sunday at LIV Golf Adelaide.
Gooch had to endure some tight moments despite entering the day with a 10-shot lead thanks to consecutive 10-under 62s. A four-hole stretch in which he suffered his first two bogeys of the week, followed by a double bogey at the par-5 10th, whittled his deficit to only two shots.
But after his double bogey, he responded with birdies at the 11th and 13th holes to restore some breathing room, then parred in the rest of the way for a 1-over 73, leaving him at 19 under for the tournament. That ties the all-time LIV Golf best score for three rounds.
“Golf is just really hard,” said Gooch. “It’s hard to put back-to-back days together like I did and even harder to do it three times in a row. I actually played fine out there today. The golf gods, I think, said, ‘We don’t want this first win to be easy on you.’
“Had a couple bad breaks here and there, so it made things interesting, but it was cool to kind of overcome the adversity and dig deep after I made a double on No. 10. It was kind of a point of we’re either going to dig deep and do this or you’re going to stumble coming in. It was cool to dig deep and get the job done.”
Crushers GC’s Anirban Lahiri shot a 65 to claim solo second place on 16 under, one clear of a four-player logjam which included Patrick Reed, and Pat Perez of 4 Aces, Cameron Tringale of HyFlyers GC and Cameron Smith, the captain of Rippers GC – the all-Australian team that were the crowd favorites this week.
“There’s obviously a want in Australia, I think, for really high-quality golf, and I think the fans here really enjoyed what LIV offers,” Smith said. “There’s no reason why we can’t make it bigger.”
Meanwhile, Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces produced a sizzling final round to claim the team title at The Grange Golf Club with LIV Golf-record 47 under.
Last year, the all-American 4Aces won four regular-season events and the Miami Team Championship, all on home soil. Their performance in Adelaide was their most impressive, with all four members finishing in the top 10 in points.
LIV Golf Adelaide Leaderboard
This week’s Winner’s Circle is powered by the Amazon Titleist Golf Store.
Top-10 Finishers
Pos-Player-To Par (Final Rd)
1. Talor Gooch -19 (+1)
2. Anirban Lahiri -16 (-7)
3. Patrick Reed -15 (-7)
3. Cam Smith -15 (-6)
3. Pat Perez -15 (-5)
3. Cameron Tringale -15 (-5)
7. Peter Uihlein -14 (-6)
7. Dean Bermester -14 (-5)
7. Charl Schwartzel -14 (-4)
10. Dustin Johnson -13 (-5)
Top-3 Teams
Pos-Team-To Par (Final Rd)
1. 4 Aces -47 (-18)
2. RangeGoats -46 (-10)
3. Stinger -44 (-11)
Top-3 Money Makers
Pos-Player (Money)
1. Talor Gooch ($4m)
2. Anirban Lahiri ($2.25m)
3. Patrick Reed ($1m)
3. Cam Smith ($1m)
3. Pat Perez ($1m)
3. Cameron Tringale ($1m)
Credits: Getty Images, LIV Golf Media
