Is there a 'Gooch Rule'? USGA Boss Mike Whan discusses Talor Gooch’s chances of qualification for the US Open

Talor Gooch is not receiving any special treatment, for or against, when it comes to his participation in the 2023 US Open. At least, that's what the United States Golf Association (USGA) board said, denying the existence of any so-called 'Gooch rule'.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated on Monday, USGA executive director Mike Whan said the rule changes are just part of the organization's annual review practice. He also said he felt "bummed" that the change affected Talor Gooch.

“We didn't sit down and talk about Talor Gooch. We made subtle changes to a few places on our field criteria and have every year,” Whan said.

“There are a lot of reasons a player may not be eligible for a Tour event, and most of those would make us stop and at least question. So going forward, let’s make that really clear… I'm bummed out that it affects Gooch. But I also feel pretty comfortable he’s going to play his way into the US Open anyway,” he added.

As for the possibility of creating exemption formulas for players on the LIV Tour, Whan said:

“We're not going to change our special exemption formula because of a field criteria. That's not how we think of our special exemptions. I think we showed pretty clearly that we're the US Open. We had players that made it through qualification to play. We didn't decide where you played, so I feel pretty good about my record of maintaining the openness of the US Open.”

What is the 'Talor Gooch rule'?

The Talor Gooch rule is the name given to a controversial USGA decision to change the exemption criteria for the 2023 US Open, the third major tournament of the year.

According to this rule, it is not enough to have qualified for the Tour Championship or the FedEx Cup Final in 2022, but you must also be eligible to play in it.

According to the new rule, the exemptions now go to:

“Those players who qualified and were eligible for the season-ending 2022 Tour Championship.”

This directly affected US golfer Talor Gooch, who would be out of the US Open despite finishing 29th in the FedEx Cup. The reason being that he was suspended from the PGA Tour for playing 'without permission' in LIV Golf tournaments.

Talor Gooch holding the Champion´s Trophy at the Singapore LIV Golf Invitational (Image via Getty).

Gooch expressed his disappointment and frustration with this measure, which he considered a retroactive change that only hurt him.

The truth is that this so-called 'Gooch rule' contrasts with the Augusta Masters' decision to invite Gooch for his world ranking (top 50 at the end of 2022) and for his qualification for the Tour Championship, thus recognizing his work during the regular season.

Gooch currently has only two ways to qualify for the US Open. The first would be to play one of the qualifying tournaments scattered around the world. He has not signed up for any of them.

The second would be to be in the top 60 of the world rankings two weeks before the tournament or on the Monday before the tournament.

Talor Gooch will have a chance to improve his current world ranking (60th) when he plays in the PGA Championship on May 18-21. For this tournament, Gooch received an exemption from PGA America.