Jon Rahm has named the one LIV Golf player set to miss out on playing at The Masters he believes should have been given an invite to Augusta National next month.
Of course, golf’s civil war continues to rumble on. And with LIV Golf yet to reach an agreement which would see the tour earn world ranking points, their best players are largely relying on exemptions and invites to qualify for the major championships.
Joaquin Niemann is one of those who has received an invite to The Masters. Niemann has won two of the opening three events at the start of the new LIV season. Bryson DeChambeau claimed that Niemann is definitely one of the best players in the world right now.
Jon Rahm thinks Talor Gooch should’ve received Masters invite
Speaking in his press conference ahead of this week’s event in Hong Kong, Jon Rahm agreed that Niemann deserved the chance to tee it up in Georgia. But he insisted that another LIV star is unfortunate to miss out.
“Isn’t that what we all want to see? So yeah, it’s very encouraging. I was very happy to see Jaco get invites. To be fair, he’s shown the interest of wanting to qualify many different ways. And he’s played the way he’s supposed to play. So I think it’s only right that he gets an invite,” he said.
“But if that’s the way you’re going to go, I think there’s one player that played fantastic all last season that’s been a little bit left out. And not saying that they all have to, but I think Talor Gooch should be under consideration to possibly get an invite to those majors as well.
“He was the best player out here last year. And if that doesn’t show good golf, and being worthy of being in majors, then I don’t know what does.”
LIV defectors knew the risk of going across
Gooch won three times on LIV last season. Meanwhile, he was also only beaten by Brooks Koepka in a play-off in last year’s event in Jeddah.
His form saw many suggest that he was in contention for one of Zach Johnson’s captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup in Italy. Ultimately, Koepka ended up being the only LIV star involved in Rome.
The problem is Gooch’s record before his move to LIV was not spectacular. The 32-year-old had won once on the PGA Tour before the jump. And he has, so far, only registered two top-20 finishes in major championships.
Ultimately, many of those who went over to LIV knew that they were taking a gamble and that may work against them when it came to featuring in major championships.
And Gooch seems the one most unfortunate to miss out right now.
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