2023 LIV Golf Adelaide leaderboard, scores: Talor Gooch fends off Cameron Smith, Patrick Reed for victory

Firing rounds of 62-62-73, Talor Gooch successfully fended off the likes of Anirban Lahiri, Patrick Reed and Cameron Smith en route to 19 under and a victory at LIV Golf Adelaide on Sunday. After setting not one but two scoring records the first first two days around The Grange in Adelaide, Australia, the American was faced his fair share of adversity in his final 18.

“I think golf is just really hard,” Gooch said. “It’s hard to put back-to-back days together like I did and even harder to do it three times in a row. I actually played fine out there today. The golf gods I think said, we don’t want this first win to be easy on you.” 

Beginning the final round at 20 under and 10 strokes clear of his nearest competitor, Gooch’s first victory on LIV Golf felt all but certain. Getting off to a casual start that featured one birdie in his first six holes, the former 4 Aces GC and current RangeGoats GC member hit a bump in the road when he arrived at the 7th. 

Back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 7 and 8 gave Gooch something to think about before near disaster struck on the 10th in the form of a double bogey. While the 31-year-old was stuck in reverse, Lahiri and Reed were making their charges with the man from India trimming the lead to as little as three.

“Had a couple bad breaks here and there, so it made things interesting, but it was cool to kind of overcome the adversity and dig deep after I made a double on No. 10,” Gooch said. “It was kind of a point of we’re either going to dig deep and do this or you’re going to stumble coming in. It was cool to dig deep and get the job done.”

Birdies on 11 and 13 put Gooch back in the driver’s seat and all but secured his first victory on LIV Golf. Having been a member of the circuit since the very beginning, the former Oklahoma State standout has experienced his fair share of close calls without tasting victory. While for the majority of LIV Golf Adelaide this call appeared to be anything but close, the win for Gooch solidifies his spot as one of the best players in the league.

Unfortunately for Gooch and the rest of the RangeGoats, the individual winner was unable to carry his squad to the podium in the team portion of the event. Instead, as they have done since the very beginning, the 4 Aces claimed the team title — their first on international soil.

“I was watching the leaderboard a little bit because I knew if we all four played well, we were going to have a chance to win,” said team captain Dustin Johnson. “Yeah, especially once we got through — when it got close to the end, I was definitely looking at the leaderboard a good bit or as much as I could just to see where we stood, to see if we needed to make some birdies, what it was. But obviously it was a great week. All four guys played well. To get our first win outside the U.S. was nice.”

Getting to 47 under, the reigning team champions from 2023 were able to clip Gooch’s RangeGoats by a single stroke and the South African Stinger GC by three.

Team leaderboard