Talor Gooch believed that he was exempt from the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club in June.
My friends, as Lee Corso might say, don’t hurry up.
The USGA has made some subtle changes to the qualification categories for this year, which have Gooch on the outside with more work to do.
Gooch, who won LIV Adelaide and earned $4 million, was banned from the PGA Tour last summer when he joined the Saudi-backed breakaway league. Gooch, 31, had performed well enough to earn a spot in the Tour Championship. He finished 29 th on the FedEx Cup rankings before his departure. This has traditionally earned players a place in the four majors. Gooch was not allowed to play in the playoffs due to his suspension from the PGA Tour. Gooch’s exclusion is due to his suspension from the PGA Tour. The USGA added the requirement that players must be “qualified and eligible for Tour Championship” when it updated its exemption criteria.
In an email sent to Golfweek, a USGA representative wrote: “The USGA reviews its exemption criteria annually for all championships. We did so for the US Open 2023.” We clarified a certain exemption category, stating that players must qualify and be eligible for the Tour Championship starting with the U.S. Open in 2023. The change wasn’t made retroactively but as part of our annual evaluation process, and was included in several other changes to the criteria for 2023.
Gooch, who was invited to play at the Masters in April by the USGA, expressed his disappointment in the USGA’s decisions during an appearance on “73 the rd hole” podcast following his victory on LIV.
Gooch stated that the new rule had only impacted one person, namely him. “That was frustrating because LIV is still not rewarded with World Ranking Points, and I only have two options for qualifying for the U.S. Open. Either through my World Ranking which will be difficult, or by going the sectional qualification route.”
Gooch dropped from No. Gooch fell from No. The top 60 players will be able to qualify for the U.S. Open.
He said, “I hope that my ranking will stay high enough in the next month to get me in.” “Time will tell.”
