Talor Gooch Already Putting an Asterisk On a Future Rory McIlroy Masters Win

One thing you perhaps missed under the deluge of other sports is that Talor Gooch won LIV individual championship last year with a stellar campaign that saw him best the field at three events. He's off to a nice start this season as well and just finished second at LIV Las Vegas two weeks ago. None of this has done him anything to earn him any benefit in the Official World Golf Rankings, where he currently occupies the No. 427 position because that metric pretends the offshoot circuit doesn't exist.

This means that barring something unforeseen he will not be invited to play the Masters in Augusta in April. If you know anything about anything you know the Masters is just going to make it up as it goes so we have a situation where Dean Burmester (No.95) and Louis Oosthuizen (No.137) have been snubbed despite winning twice each on the DP World Tour last fall while Joaquinn Niemann (No. 72) will be welcomed in to walk Amen Corner.

It's an obviously frustrating situation for Gooch, who, like all the others who jumped to LIV had to weigh the positives and negatives of such a move. There was certainly no guarantee that there wouldn't be significant obstacles to overcome in exchange for the lucrative payday but here we are and even the biggest hater can understand a competitive person wanting to play on the biggest stage.

At the same time, Gooch's comments to Austrailan Golf Digest are being met with raised eyebrows at best and laughter at worse. It seems he believes that whomever wins the green jacket will get it emboldened with a mark to show it's not like all the others.

In an ominous portent to Augusta National, Gooch said: “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. I think everybody wins whenever the majors figure out a way to get the best players in the world there.”

Gooch continued:

“I don’t know where the OWGR goes from there. It’s not fit for purpose anymore. It’s there to rank the best golfers in the world and it doesn’t do that. And if you are a major championship and you’re looking for the best fields, you now can’t go off the OWGR to formulate your fields and use them for exemptions. You’ve got to find another way of doing it, otherwise you lose credibility as a major championship, don’t you?”

It's unfair to dunk on Gooch as if he's only referring to himself. He played three majors last season and only made the cut at the Masters before eventually finishing 34th. Two years ago he was 14th at Augusta, 20th at the PGA Championship and 34th at the Open. Three years ago he was 44th at the PGA Championship and 33rd at the Open. So while it's true that he hasn't been threatening the top of the leaderboard, he's played well and is arguably playing the best golf of his life.

But the answer to his question is still no. The major championships will not be losing a scrap of credibility. The guys who can actually win them from LIV will be there. The mere presence of Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka (hell maybe even Koepka alone) removes any question of an asterisk.

Majors have always been exclusive and selective. If it wasn't the OGWR there would be using other factors to create a tight field of the best players. That's still the whole point and we've seen, thankfully, during LIV's infancy, that they still have the juice. Maybe even more as they serve as an opportunity for LIV's stars to prove a point.

Bottom line, whomever plays the best golf over a weekend against the world's best players earns their trophy and fame. Any LIV player who feels like they are at a significant disadvantage has to understand that they are the one most responsible for it.

The only thing they can do right now to make it change is to complain so in a way you have to respect the hustle.