LIV: THIRD INDIVIDUAL WIN FOR GOOCH; THIRD TEAM WIN FOR TORQUE GC – Golf News | Golf Magazine

As Talor Gooch stood over his 12-foot birdie putt on the ultimate gap of regulation Sunday afternoon at LIV Golf Andalucia, his confidence degree was extraordinarily excessive. Along with making a optimistic stroke, he imagined the celebration afterward when the putt dropped.

“Simply felt like I used to be going to make it,” Gooch stated. “Earlier than I even hit the putt, I used to be already visualizing the fist pump that was coming with it. I’m glad it went in.”

Gooch’s dramatic birdie at Actual Membership Valderrama gave him a one-stroke victory over a battling Bryson DeChambeau and makes the RangeGoats GC star the primary three-time particular person winner in LIV Golf’s younger historical past. Gooch shot a final-round 4-under 67 to complete at 12 beneath, with the Crushers GC captain at 11 beneath after his 2-under 69. Smash GC Captain Brooks Koepka completed third at 9 beneath.

All three of Gooch’s victories in 2023 have come exterior his native United States, as he beforehand received back-to-back occasions in Adelaide and Singapore to turn out to be the primary participant to win consecutive LIV Golf occasions.

“Final yr I didn’t get a win, so this yr I used to be simply so centered on getting a person win,” stated Gooch, who now leads the Particular person Champion race by 27 factors over Koepka. “You don’t suppose a lot previous the primary one till you get the primary one. I undoubtedly didn’t have three in thoughts for the season, nevertheless it’s cool that we’re right here, and it’s particularly cool to have the third one right here at Valderrama.”

Gooch wasn’t the one three-time winner Sunday. The Spanish-speaking Torque GC, captained by Joaquin Niemann, additionally received its third crew title of the season with a final-round finest 7-under counting rating to complete at 16 beneath, 5 strokes forward of the RangeGoats, with Crushers GC ending third. Niemann and Sebastián Muñoz posted 3-under 69s whereas David Puig contributed a 2-under 69. These three performed the final three holes of their rounds in a cumulative 4 beneath.

It’s the second consecutive win for Torque, who received final month in DC. Torque is now simply seven factors behind season-long chief 4Aces GC, who completed fourth at Valderrama.

The win was particularly candy for the 21-year-old Puig, the youngest participant on the LIV Golf League roster and one among three Spanish-born gamers within the subject together with Fireballs GC’s Sergio Garcia and Eugenio Chacarra.

“It’s wonderful,” stated Puig. “Enjoying at house is all the time good, and it’s much more particular once you get a win and once you get a win with this group of men. It was a terrific week.”

Mentioned Niemann: “Having David additionally the primary character of this event is absolutely particular for us. I feel it makes it rather a lot simpler once we do all the pieces collectively like we’re a crew.

“You may see within the outcomes, we’re taking part in nice golf, and simply wanting ahead for the remainder of the season, attempt to preserve doing the identical and having a superb time, as nicely.”

Gooch definitely is taking part in nice golf as he went toe-to-toe with main champions DeChambeau and Koepka within the last group. After making his solely bogey of the day on the par-4 ninth, Gooch was a bogey-free 4 beneath on the again 9.

DeChambeau was two strokes forward on the flip however Gooch caught him with birdies at 10 and 13. They every birdied the par-5 seventeenth to stay tied. Gooch then hit a superb strategy shot to 12 ft, whereas DeChambeau needed to navigate timber along with his second shot, his ball touchdown within the tough behind the inexperienced. His chip shot arrange a straightforward par, however Gooch made it a moot level by draining his birdie putt.

“My recreation is clearly in a superb state, and I knew if I might get myself within the fairway a bunch, we have been going to have an opportunity to win down the stretch,” Gooch stated. “We simply saved plodding alongside, plodding alongside, and didn’t actually make a bunch of putts. That was the longest putt of the day, clearly, so it was good to avoid wasting the perfect one for final.”

RD 3 STAT LEADERS

Driving distance – Peter Uihlein, 340.5-yard common

Longest drive – Peter Uihlein, 382.7 yards (seventeenth gap)

Driving accuracy – Cameron Smith, 86% (12 of 14)

Greens in regulation – Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, 78% (14 of 18)

Scrambling – Bryson DeChambeau, 100% (4 of 4)

Fewest putts – David Puig, 22 putts

Most birdies – Talor Gooch, 8

Bogey-free rounds – Bryson DeChambeau, 63