Talor Gooch grabbed a share of the first-round lead at LIV Golf Greenbrier on Friday, shooting a bogey-free seven-under 63.
It was matched by Smash teammate Jason Kokrak and Torque GC’s Sebastián Muñoz.
Smash GC Captain Brooks Koepka is in a five-way tie for fourth, just one stroke back after his 64 on a day in which play was suspended for 80 minutes due to inclement weather.
South Africans Dean Burmester and Branden Grace both shot 68 to share 24th position, with countryman and Stinger GC teammate Louis Oosthuizen a further two strokes behind.
With Gooch, Kokrak and Koepka providing the contributing scores, Smash opened up a four-shot advantage over Ripper GC and Legion XIII on the team leaderboard. Smash’s 20-under total matches the lowest counting score by any team this season in either of the first two rounds in which three scores count.
“It’s always good to have a day where golf is easy,” said Gooch, who hit all 18 greens in regulation while holing out for eagle at the par-four 5th. “Golf hasn’t been as easy this year as it was last year, so hopefully we can have a couple more easy days coming up.”
Gooch won three tournaments last season en route to the season-long championship. His best finish this season is a tie for second at Las Vegas in the second event of the year. He hasn’t held the solo lead after any round, and Friday is just the second time he’s shared the lead.
While mathematically eliminated from defending his individual title, he still has an outside shot of playing his way into the top three. He entered this week ranked 11th in points.
“It’s been a bit of a disappointing year, but you’re just trying to get better,” Gooch said. “You’re trying to capture the good golf and make it last as long as possible. We haven’t been able to capture much good golf this year, but that’s why you’ve got to put the work in and just know that it’s going to pay off.”
Koepka won LIV Golf Singapore in May for a league-best fourth career LIV title. But the five-time Major winner did not contend in any of this year’s Majors. Like Gooch, he also has no shot at the individual title, as he’s ranked 10th in points, but can still move into the top 3. The Individual Championship standings will be finalised next month at LIV Golf Chicago.
“This year has not been great,” said Koepka, who was also bogey-free on his round. “This year has been actually very disappointing. I haven’t played anywhere what I want to play. Played absolutely horrible in all the Majors and only won once out here, so that’s not anywhere where I want it.”
Smash has one team victory this season, in Las Vegas, but started this week ranked seventh in points. They could still play their way into a top-three seed that will receive a bye for the Dallas Team Championship.
Having a solid third performance will be key, and Kokrak provided that Friday with his 63. The non-counting score was supplied by reserve John Catlin, who shot 66 in place of Graeme McDowell.
“Golf is a fickle game,” Kokrak said. “It’s hard to be consistent all the time. This year I kind of started off … solid but not great, and then kind of just fell into a little bit of a slump. I think I found something nice in my golf swing the last week or two.”
Only one team has ever swept the podium in LIV Golf history, and that happened in the inaugural 2022 event in London with Stinger GC. Friday’s round marked the 100th competition day in LIV Golf history, and many of the faces have changed since then, but Smash would love to match that kind of achievement.
“These are the types of days you wish you could have more of,” Gooch said. “Hopefully we can have another couple easy days this weekend.”
Photo: Emily Burke/LIV Golf
