If Talor Gooch were still a member of the PGA Tour, he’d likely be in the running for one of the top spots in the Player Impact Program.
He has a knack for stirring up social media, and his latest remarks went viral after taking a shot at Rory McIlroy and the Masters, specifically.
“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 the reality,” Gooch told Australian Golf Digest. “I think everybody wins whenever the majors figure out a way to get the best players in the world there.”
Let’s just say, social media had a field day, including someone going to his Wikipedia page and adding a note how none of Gooch’s wins have come while playing in a field with McIlroy.
For what it’s worth, at last year’s Masters, Gooch made the cut while McIlroy didn’t, but let’s not confuse the major pedigree of them. McIlroy has more top 10s in majors the last five years (12) than Gooch has major starts in his career (11).
Here’s some of the best reactions to Gooch’s remarks:
If this is the metric Gooch is using (and it would be the right one to use), then [checks notes] the PGA Tour (!!) has more top players excluded from the Masters than LIV does. https://t.co/OpElkoNzaM
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) February 27, 2024
Think there are 12 LIV guys in the field at Augusta. Roughly 20% of LIV is in the Masters. So what Talor Gooch really means is there’d be an asterisk on Rory’s win because Talor Gooch isn’t in the field. https://t.co/nFZXqQYB5s
— Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) February 27, 2024
I once won the nearest-the-pin competition for a Scottish Open media day. A proud occasion tainted, somewhat, by the absence of Talor Gooch.
— Michael McEwan (@MMcEwanGolf) February 27, 2024
best finish in a major:
talor gooch – 14th*
michael block – 15th*jake knapp was not in field
— Underdog Golf (@Underdog__Golf) February 27, 2024
Joaquin Niemann felt frustrated he wasn’t in majors so in a bid to get in played the Australian PGA Champ, WON the Australian Open, the Dubai DC and just last week in Oman.
Talor Gooch has played one non-LIV tournament in a year: T42 in the Hong Kong Open.
Proactive v Passive
— Jamie Weir (@jamiecweir) February 27, 2024
Everyone has had some fun dunking on Talor Gooch for his takes over the past two years, but I would like to point out what a genuinely nice guy he is and how friendly (and even funny) he is in person. It’s all quite weird to see him become such a lightening rod. https://t.co/LQHfCKZnLe
— Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) February 27, 2024
Just realized we gotta put an asterisk next to the 1997 Masters win and the 2000 U.S. Open win because Talor Gooch wasn’t in those fields either. Sorry, Tiger.
— Shane Bacon (@shanebacon) February 27, 2024
Talor Gooch makes a good point. I’ve been giving him credit for winning LIV last year but it turns out most of the top players weren’t in those tournaments, so maybe he actually sucks.
— Tweeth Mitchell (@tweeth_mitchell) February 27, 2024
we need more microphones in front of Talor Gooch
— deepfriedegg (@deep_fried_egg) February 27, 2024
Imagine a player who has never had a major top 10 saying the majors need an asterisk if he isn’t playing
— Joseph Quantick (@joequan1985) February 27, 2024
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