A Dream Week for Oklahoma Native Talor Gooch

Talor Gooch is as Oklahoma as they come. He’s from Midwest City and went to Oklahoma State.

And this week, he got to compete at the PGA Championship in his home state.

“It was as good as I could imagine,” Gooch said on Sunday after putting the bow on a tidy 2-under 68. He finished at 1-over for the Championship. Gooch opened with a 1-under 69 and had just one tough day – he shot 4-over 74 on Saturday in some tough conditions. He bounced back well on Sunday with a round highlighted by holing out from the bunker on No.3.

Credit: PGA of America via Getty Images

“I just had a perfect lie and it was one of those bunker shots that you just walk into thinking, ‘This one could go in.’ And so, it came out nice and it just went right in,” said Gooch. “Those are always, you know, boosts to the round. To say the least.”

Given the weather conditions over the last four days, Gooch said this week was “the definition of golf.” Funny enough, he admitted, the first three days he hit it well and didn’t get much out of his game. But Sunday he didn’t hit it very well at all, he said, and shot his low round of the week.

“Major championship weeks are tough and they are a grind and you’ve just got to be on your game. And when you’re not you’ve got to have days like this,” said Gooch. “That was a good way to end it.”

This week marked Gooch’s third PGA Championship. With the final groups of the day on their front nine, he’s trending towards his best-career result.

Gooch was inside the top 20 at the midway point of the afternoon.

A winner on the PGA Tour already, Gooch said he’s getting more and more comfortable competing on the game’s biggest stages.

“The more and more you play, the more comfortable you get and I’m continuing to prove to myself that my game can compete with the best of the best at the best venues at the highest level,” said Gooch.

Credit: PGA of America via Getty Images

With a laugh Gooch remembers being invited by a friend to the 2007 PGA Championship to see Tiger Woods play, but given how hot it was that week, he chose to stay home and watch it on TV. His hometown, Midwest City, is just over 90 minutes away from Tulsa.

A decade-and-a-half later the only time he would see Southern Hills Country Club on TV was when he was checking in on his fellow playing competitors.

“It’s a dream come true,” Gooch said earlier in the week, “for an Oklahoma kid to go to Oklahoma State and play the PGA Championship at Southern Hills.”