LIV Golf star Taylor Gooch attempted to qualify for the US Open on Monday, but his attempt to earn a ticket to Oakmont did not go to plan and he withdrew after 15 holes
12:25 ET, 20 May 2025Updated 08:31 ET, 21 May 2025
Talor Gooch cut short his U.S. Open qualifying bid(Image: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
Talor Gooch is LIV Golf’s biggest earner. He is also among the most outspoken players on the breakaway tour about access to major championships, although he changed his approach on Monday with an ill-fated attempt to qualify for the U.S. Open.
The Oklahoma native joined the LIV circuit as a founding member in 2022, and he made hay through his first couple of seasons, winning the individual championship in 2023 after bagging three tournament victories. That success has made him the leader of LIV’s all-time money list, raking in more than $62 million in on-course earnings.
But his lucrative tenure with LIV has come at a cost. The 33-year-old has missed six of the past eight major championships due to his fall in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR). LIV remains unsanctioned by the OWGR, meaning its players do not accrue ranking points from its tournaments. It came as Scottie Scheffler’s wife asked a revealing question to a caddie that showed what she truly feels about him.
READ MORE: Scottie Scheffler’s ‘childish’ financial agreement with star caddie after $3.4M winREAD MORE: Jon Rahm’s wife’s reaction to LIV Golf star losing $1.5 million in minutes said it all
Gooch, once ranked 31st in the world and trending upwards, is now the world No. 1556. His lowly ranking has left him with very few options to qualify for majors. For the U.S. Open and The Open Championship, there are fiercely contested 36-hole qualifiers to try to sneak one of the last available spots in the field, while special invitations have been his only hope of getting into The Masters and the PGA Championship, both of which he missed this year.
Gooch has been reluctant to try to qualify for the U.S. Open and The Open. He infamously said a year ago that he was not interested in competing in U.S. Open qualifying to earn a spot at Pinehurst No. 2, and it has been clear in his public comments that he believes his performances on LIV should have merited more opportunities to play in majors.
Subscribe to our golf newsletter for all the latest news and views from the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and beyond
Gooch leads LIV Golf’s all-time money list with more than $62 million in earnings(Image: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)
Other LIV players have taken a very different stance in that time. Sergio Garcia has competed in qualifiers at every opportunity, while Joaquin Niemann has made a concerted effort to play as many tournaments on other tours as possible, something that has impressed the bigwigs at Augusta National and led to the Chilean receiving special invitations for the past two editions of The Masters. Gooch, meanwhile, played in just four tournaments aside from his LIV schedule in 2024.
To his credit, Gooch did try to qualify for next month’s U.S. Open at Oakmont. He was in the field for the final qualifying event at Bent Tree Country Club in Dallas, Texas, on Monday. But he lasted just 15 holes before walking off and withdrawing from the event.
Gooch was one-over-par at the time, leaving him with an uphill task of climbing the leaderboard and earning one of the seven available spots at Oakmont over his final 21 holes. Fellow LIV member Carlos Ortiz was among the seven players to punch their tickets to Oakmont.
READ MORE: Golfer who had ‘weird’ Tiger Woods experience at Masters lands U.S. Open spotREAD MORE: Masters champion with $55M in PGA Tour earnings out of US Open as 26-year run ends
It is unclear whether an injury played a role in his decision to quit, but he was ruthlessly mocked by fans on social media, who were quick to dig up comments Gooch made in an interview with Australian Golf Digest in February 2024. He claimed major victories without some LIV members in the field would come with an asterisk.
“If Rory McIlroy goes and completes his Grand Slam without some of the best players in the world, there’s just going to be an asterisk. It’s just the reality. I think everybody wins whenever the majors figure out a way to get the best players in the world there,” he said.
Gooch is 20th in LIV Golf’s standings after seven events. He will tee it up in the league’s next event, LIV Golf Virginia, in two weeks off the back of a season’s best third-place finish at LIV Golf Korea earlier this month.
