Talor Gooch will see a couple of familiar faces when he stands on the first tee Friday at LIV Golf Tulsa to begin his quest for a third consecutive win.
One of his playing partners is Sergio Garcia. It will be the third consecutive round that Gooch has been paired with the Fireballs GC captain. That includes the final two rounds at LIV Golf Singapore, which Gooch won by beating Garcia with a birdie on the first playoff hole.
The other member of the threesome is Dustin Johnson, the captain of Gooch’s former team, 4Aces GC. It will be the first time Gooch has been grouped with DJ at a LIV Golf event since leaving the 4Aces in the off-season to join good friend Harold Varner III on the rebranded RangeGoats GC.
Since then, things have been a bit spicy between the two ex-teammates.
After the switch, DJ said he told Gooch that he “should enjoy being on stage” celebrating last year’s Miami Team Championship “because that was the last time he’s going to do that.”
When Gooch won the individual title last month at LIV Golf Adelaide, it was the 4Aces that won the team trophy, beating the RangeGoats by one stroke. That prompted DJ to say, “I’m glad we snipped him … just to give it to him a little bit more.”
When the RangeGoats finally broke through the following week with their first team win at LIV Golf Singapore while Gooch was collecting his second consecutive individual trophy, Gooch said afterward, “Where’s DJ right now?”
Even though the former teammates have had fun with the back-and-forth banter, the RangeGoats are wary of poking the bear too much. The 4Aces were the dominant team in 2022 with five tournament trophies, and they sit atop the team standings through the first five events this year.
“I don’t hate the Aces,” said Varner after winning in Singapore. “I hate that they’re really good and we haven’t beat ’em. And we did today and I’m super proud of the three men standing next to me. It shouldn’t be that animosity, but it just happens in team sports. We beat ’em.”
Added RangeGoats captain Bubba Watson: “And we will beat ’em again. They’re going to come for us next time.”
Replied Varner: “Oh, yeah, they’re going to be pissed.”
We’ll see just how much starting Friday.
– Article from LIV Golf website
