• Gooch marches to first PGA Tour title

    Talor Gooch
    Talor Gooch
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    Talor Gooch carded six birdies in a six-under-par 64 to win the RSM Classic by three strokes this past Sunday.

    The 30-year-old had taken a three-shot lead into the final round and never faltered on the par-70 Seaside course at Sea Island, Georgia, his 22-under-par total of 260 leaving him three clear of runner-up Mackenzie Hughes of Canada.

    Hughes did everything he could, but an eight under 62 that featured nine birdies wasn’t enough.

    “Man, it was a great week,” Gooch said. “I played well all week obviously, and today being a crucial day, I had a couple opportunities where things could have taken a turn for the worse and I was able to make some clutch putts … and kind of just keep my foot on the gas all day.”

    Gooch got things rolling early with a four-foot birdie putt at the 2nd. He rolled in a nine-footer at the 4th and birdied 10 and 11 to reach 20 under.

    After a 16-foot birdie at the 13th, Gooch nabbed his last birdie of the day at the par-five 15th to take a five-stroke lead.

    “That was kind of the final topper,” Gooch said of his birdie at 15. “I knew getting birdie there, that was going to give me a good cushion coming down to the last three. So, that was a great shot I hit in there and, yeah, it was a good birdie.”

    Hughes trimmed the deficit with birdies at the 15th, 16th and 18th but remained in search of his first PGA Tour victory.

    “If you told me I would have shot 62 I thought I might be pretty close, but Talor obviously played great this week and deserved to win,” Hughes said.

    “Looking at my own game, I feel like I’ve been getting better with each week. I feel like my game is trending in the right direction and hopefully sooner rather than later we’ll get one of those wins.”

    Colombia’s Sebastian Munoz, who started the day tied for second with Seamus Power three shots behind Gooch, had four of his six birdies on the back nine in a five under 65 and came solo third on 264.

    Ireland’s Power was four under for the day through 15 holes but a double-bogey at the 16th had him finishing on 68 to head a group sharing fourth on 267.

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