Talor Gooch Reflects on Beating Rahm and Valderrama Legacy

Talor Gooch returned to the winner’s circle in dramatic fashion at LIV Golf Valderrama 2025, securing his second individual win at the iconic Spanish course and his 13th LIV trophy overall — more than any other player in league history.

Gooch reflects on the emotional victory, beating Jon Rahm by one shot, and delivering clutch birdies on 17 and 18 under pressure. He discusses the meaning of Valderrama in his career, the evolving landscape of LIV Golf, his hopes for future major access, and the pride of seeing his photo placed once again in the Valderrama clubhouse alongside legends.

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Okay, let’s welcome our individual champion of Live Golf Ander Lucia, Taylor Gu of Smash GC, who finished eight under par, winning by one shot over John Rom. Taylor, congratulations. How does it feel to be back in the winner circle and to do it here in Spain? Yeah, it’s just, man, I I just can’t describe how special it is and, you know, to beat Rombo. Uh while all the fans may not love that part, uh that makes even that little bit more special for me. So, um, you know, it’s been two years since I won. My last win was here. And so, uh, it’s been two years of a lot of hard work, uh, a lot of time put into this craft and and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, you know, shed to get back here. So, um, the patience and hard work, uh, has paid off and I couldn’t, uh, I couldn’t be happier for it to be, you know, have paid off here at Vderama. Got off to a bit of a a slow start, first six holes, but then really turned it on on the back nine. I think that birdie on 17 was clutch. That 18, the shot you hit into 18th. Can you just talk about um how you played down the stretch there? Yeah, nothing nothing was easy today. It felt like I had very few tapins. Uh I felt like I had a bunch of three, four, fivefooters for par. I mean, I made a uh you know, on um 13 I made a about a five-footer for par. On uh on 15, I made about a 20footer for birdie. On 16, I made about a five-footer for par. uh 17 made about a five-footer for birdie. So it’s like felt like I you know my back was against the wall all day long and um to make a birdie on 17 to take the lead and then the shot I hit on 18 um my Caddyy Mau when we got got done um he said that second shot on 18 he said that’s the best iron shot he can remember seeing. So it was not the place you want to be to try to uh win a golf tournament but we hit a phenomenal golf shot and got it done. Just final one for me. You’ve showed incredible composure when you’ve gone up against some of the biggest names. I think you beat Bryson when you last won here in Ander Lucia. Uh you took down John this week. What what does that mean to you? Again, like I said, just made it a little bit more special uh to to for Rombo to be the one that, you know, I had to had to beat today. And so, like I said, you know, I’ve I’ve beaten Sergio in a playoff out here. I’ve made a birdie on the last to beat Bryson. I, you know, beat Rombo by one. So, uh, to beat these caliber of players, it just, you know, it’s just an affirmation of, um, of where, you know, my game has gotten and and the type of player that I can be and, uh, just again, it makes the wins that much spe, you know, that much more special. Awesome. Over to you, Mike. So, so Taylor, this is your fourth individual win, but if you include the team wins, you’ve now lifted 13 trophies, which is more than any other live golfer. Just wondering what that means to you and how you put that into perspective. You know, it’s cool considering I’ve been on three different teams. So, we’ve had some, you know, success on the teams that I’ve been on. Uh, year one with aces, year two with the goats, and then the last two years uh here with Smash. We’ve been able to get some wins everywhere I’ve been, you know, which is makes it uh that much more fun um and that much more just fulfilling, right? Um so, uh that’s pretty cool stat. I didn’t know I had the most trophies on live. Uh I’ll be I’ll be sure to let everyone know in JCB that that’s the case. And how how much better are your celebration techniques on the podium? Uh this one was more of a relief than a celebration. Um you know, I was on the podium a couple months back in uh South Korea and Seoul, but uh not not in the winter circle. So, um, yeah, like I was telling Anthony at the interview on when we were staying on 18, it’s it’s nice to get, uh, it’s nice to get sprayed on on 18 again. And, and you were talking about the crowd here, obviously, they were heavily supporting John. Did you kind of embrace the spoiler role, do you think? And, and did that help you at all? You know, the the fans, um, they’re great even if you’re not, you know, a Spaniard. And so, um, obviously I know that they they want, you know, one of their own to win, but, you know, I never felt like the spoiler. They’ve embraced me so much. And obviously, having won here two years ago, I think I’ve garnered a few more fans. And so, um, yeah, I felt super supported out there, like I said, these are uh, incredible sports fans. Um, and it’s just it’s another, you know, another great reason to to win here in front of them. And last question for me, are you glad not to have to hit another T-OT on one? And what did you think was a key moment this uh today? I’m glad to not have to hit a lot of T- shots out here uh for another however long it’s going to be. So, um yeah, God, this this place is just it’s so penal and it it puts it applies pressure to you throughout the entire round. And um you know there’s there’s a few shots uh on that back nine that I’m going to you know never forget kind of moments. Um obviously the the second shot on 18 is one of those moments. Um but even even the birdie on 17 um you know just given the moment given the situation I knew I needed a birdie. Um, you know, those are the type of moments, like I said, years down the road I’m going to look back on and and uh just have great memories of. So, there’s a a great memoryfilled day and thankfully not a bad one. Hey, Taylor. Um, your your resurgence, particularly this week, seems really well timed with, you know, Liv getting more spots in the majors as of this year going forward. Obviously, the uh application for the world rankings has been resubmitted. Do you feel like it’s a really timely way for you to start playing your way back into winning form? Um, I wish I would have played this way to start the year so I could have maybe gotten one of those spots into, you know, the majors that, uh, you know, at those, you know, certain points, uh, that we had. So, um, listen, playing good golf anytime is is good. Uh, I I I want to play good golf all the time. Um, but yeah, I mean, uh, with, you know, the momentum of of the league and the momentum that we have with what we’re doing, you know, everything from, you know, having Roshan and HSBC and these, you know, these big big companies coming and seeing our vision and and getting on board and supporting and partnering with us. Um, you know, it’s it’s it’s a good time to, you know, to do well, right? And so, um, I’m just happy again to be in the winter circle and, uh, happy to do it here in Varama. you you mentioned the momentum of the league. Where do you see that at the moment? Um given that, you know, you you were sort of caught in the crosshairs of that, you know, gray area in the first two seasons, but now it looks like it’s, you know, sort of some of those pathways are coming back. There are now avenues into majors. Where do you see live golf at at the moment? Yeah, that’s a great question. Um obviously it’s a a move in the right direction. Um, and as we continue to move in the right direction, I I think we’ll get, you know, to where the end goal is, and that’s just to, you know, have, you know, people want to come to live because of access into the majors, not people not wanting to go to and play on live because not having access to the majors. So, the closer we can get to that point, uh, the better it is for all of us out here and for, you know, young kids coming up. I’ve said many of times, you know, the uh Tom McKibbons and Caleb Serats and David Puge, like those guys, I just I hope for their sake who haven’t played in, you know, majors. Uh David’s played in a few, but you know, Tom and uh Caleb haven’t played me. It’s like, you know, these are young kids who have a lot of time left in this game and and I I just hope that they get a chance to, you know, play those four special weeks a year and I hope it’s, you know, because of their, you know, superior play on Liv. So, um, that’s my my hope and my desire. And so, we’ve we’ve started to move in that direction. Thanks, TA. Congrats. Do we have any other question in English? See, we have one question in Spanish. Victoria. So there is a speculation about this tournament going from U Balderama to Madrid, but uh he’s assuming that you may be against that. I want to play uh Vadorama as as much as we can, right? Um I’ve heard some of that speculation, too. We’ve never been to Madrid. I was telling someone I would I was actually talking with Rombo about it. Obviously, if we go there, that would be fantastic as well. But yeah, this place has a special place in my heart and uh I hope we come back here every year. We can All right, Tyler. Sorry, one more. Um so when you hear yourself speaking about what does that mean for you? What is now in your life like uh the meaning of Berama in your life? So um I was just uh taking pictures with uh some of the the staff from the club and uh they said that this you know being my second win that this is going to be the second picture of me up in the in the clubhouse. And so just to have a picture up in the clubhouse with all the great champions and all the great tournaments and matches of of the you know the history of this place it’s just it’s special right I mean even Sergio right like him having won here like you know you just think about the champions and and the the greats that have been here it’s just an honor and special to be a part of that talk here. Thank you very much and congratulations.