Talor Gooch reacts to getting the PGA Championship invite

Talor Gooch was happy to lead after the first round of the LIV Tour Singapore, where he recorded an excellent 7-under 64 on Friday. To compound his joy, the 31-year-old has also received an invitation to this season's PGA Championship on the same day.

At the end of the first round, the editorial director of LIV Golf, Mike McAllister, asked the golfer about this important invitation. In response, Gooch said:

"Last season on the PGA Tour, obviously I couldn't complete the season, but I played well enough to qualify for the Tour Championship. It was really cool when the Masters came out and announced their field and recognized that I had qualified for the TOUR Championship and that they said, 'Hey, you're in the top 50 in the world and you qualify for the TOUR Championship, those are both how you got into the field.'"

“Then the R&A came out and the same thing, 'You qualified for the TOUR Championship'. The same thing: 'We're going to recognize that and give you a spot on the field'. I was hopeful that the USGA would fall in line and do the same thing, but they decided to go a different route, and they kind of tweaked their criteria for that, so I wasn't able to get a spot on the field via qualifying for the TOUR Championship,” Gooch added.

“It was cool today, though, this morning waking up and seeing an invite from the PGA of America for the PGA Championship. It's going to be a fun week, and yeah, it's cool that they recognize the body of work and give me a spot in the field."

Talor Gooch leads in Singapore

It was, without a doubt, an excellent first day at LIV Golf Singapore for Talor Gooch. He did not make any bogeys, making five birdies, and an eagle on the 18th hole to close off this great performance with a flourish.

Talor Gooch at the Liv Golf - Adelaide: Day 3 (Image via Getty).

His performance was very important for his team, RangerGoats GC, to close the day in fourth position with -9, three strokes behind the leaders, the HyFlyers GC.

Individually, four players are in second place behind Gooch. They are Cameron Tringale, Sergio Garcia, Brooks Koepka, and Cameron Smith, all with 6-under 65. Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, and Louis Oosthuizen are in T6 with -5.

Talor Gooch on the PGA Tour

Talor Gooch's PGA Tour history includes one victory, earned at the RSM Classic in 2021. He also had a third place and 11 Top 10 finishes, with 80 cuts made out of 121 tournaments.

He has only been present in one PGA Tour event this season, the Masters Tournament, where he finished T34 with a 4-over par. He is currently the 59th-ranked golfer in the world.