This is the week when the individual season champion is crowned and when team seedings are set for the final event.
If you’re a member of RangeGoats Golf Club, consider yourself in the thick of things.
Talor Gooch has been the hottest player on LIV Golf this season and has helped RangeGoats GC get into position for a shot at a team title. But first things first. Gooch is one of only three players who have a mathematical chance of winning the season-long individual champion title, along with Ripper Golf Club’s Cameron Smith and Crushers Golf Club’s Bryson DeChambeau.
The intricacies vary for all three players to claim the trophy, and it will change moment to moment this week at LIV Golf Jeddah presented by ROSHN. Put simply, if Gooch wins in Jeddah, he will win the season-long individual title. And don’t be surprised if it happens. Gooch has three wins in 2023, four top-10s and 11 top-24 points finishes.
Gooch also shot back-to-back 10-under 62s to win at LIV Golf Adelaide and leads all players with a 68.2 scoring average.
“Of course, you want to go win the individual race, so you know you've got to play well,” Gooch said recently at LIV Golf Bedminster. “That's why I keep saying it's the rule of (shooting) 67, because at the end of the day you can try to focus on everything outside of the golf or who's following you or the type of golf you're playing. You go take care of your business on the golf course, and all that stuff will take care of itself.
“I know the position I'm in. But again, I'm just going to go try to shoot a lot of 67s.”
While Gooch aims for the individual title, he will also be helping teammates Harold Varner III, Thomas Pieters and captain Bubba Watson in the team standings. This is the final week to improve your spot before the Team Championship in Miami next week. RangeGoats GC is currently fifth in the team standings, and the top four at the end of this week will earn a quarterfinal bye. A high finish (dare to say, a team victory) would give the team some early rest in Miami.
To get more detailed, the RangeGoats GC will guarantee a top-four spot in the standings and a bye unless: Stingers Golf Club have a higher finish, or Stingers finish eighth and RangeGoats finish seventh, or RangeGoats finish eighth.
The players won’t be busting out the calculators on the course this week, but they know the stakes. The team members’ play of late has been more than solid with Watson posting back-to-back point finishes for the first time this season, Varner III notching a win at LIV Golf DC and Pieters coming off one of his best finishes of the season (13th) at LIV Golf Chicago.
And just in case the team needs a bit more confidence, it can soak this in: RangeGoats GC is the only team this season with points finishes (top 8) in each of first 12 tournaments.