Oklahoma high on Gooch victory vibe ahead of LIV Golf Tulsa

It promises to be a Talor Gooch-driven affair at LIV Golf Tulsa this weekend with the local boy coming home on the back of successive victories at Adelaide and then Singapore that have put him atop the individual rankings for the season.

The two wins in April made Gooch the first back to back winner in the LIV Golf League and have sparked considerable interest in the sixth of 14 tournaments scheduled for the year to be played at the Cedar Ridge Country Club in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma from Friday onwards.

The par-70, 7,213-yard course will see the 12 teams and 48 players once again do battle over 54 strokeplay holes with a combined $25 million prize purse ($20 million individual, $5 million team) at stake.

Of the total pot, the individual winner takes away $4 million while the winning team shares a $3 million cheque.

Dustin Johnson’s 4 Aces lead the way in the team standings while Gooch of the Bubba Watson-led RangeGoats is followed in the individual rankings by Peter Uihlein of the 4Aces and Chares Howell III of the Crushers.

Indian star Anirban Lahiri is 16th in the standings as he and Howell have been the backbone of the Crushers, who won the opening LIV Golf League event in Mayakoba, Mexico, in late February.

Overall, the Crushers stand fifth in the team rankings behind the 4Aces, Torque GC, Fireballs and the RangeGoats, who won their first title at Singapore.

But the Tulsa tale – at least initially – promises to be about the home boy. The 31-year-old hung tough to beat back a charging Lahiri at Adelaide before getting the better of Ryder Cup veteran Sergio Garcia the following weekend at Sentosa.

Interestingly, the top three in the individual standings – Gooch, Uihlein and Howell – are all Oklahoma State alumni, while three others – Matthew Wolff of Smash GC, and Eugenio Chacarra and Abraham Ancer of the Fireballs – were also OSU golf team members.

The fifth stop on the LIV Golf calendar will also be the last one ahead of the PGA Championship at Rochester in New York, the second major of the year at which Gooch and Lahiri will join 10 other LIV Golf League members in the invitees list, including 2021 winner Phil Mickelson.

The 12 LIV Golf invitees at the 105th edition of the PGA Championship also number a few other former champions including Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau.