Talor Gooch carded his second straight 10-under 62 on Saturday to expand his lead to a whopping 10 shots at the LIV Golf Invitational Adelaide in Australia.
At 20 under, the 31-year-old Gooch already has the lowest score after any round in LIV Golf’s young history. His 10-shot lead doubles the circuit’s previous best through 36 holes.
Barring disaster, Gooch’s closest pursuers entering Sunday’s final round at The Grange Golf Club are in a six-way fight for second place: South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen (66 on Saturday) and Charl Schwartzel (66), Cameron Tringale (65), Brooks Koepka (65), Mexico’s Abraham Ancer (65) and Pat Perez (67).
Gooch posted his second straight bogey-free round and delivered eight birdies plus an eagle at the par-5 10th hole.
“Everything is just going my way,” Gooch said. “I’m hitting the ball where I want it to go. … A lot of people have asked the last 24 hours, how did you do it, give me the secret basically. It’s like, if I had the secret, we would write that book and everyone would know it.”
Despite his massive lead, the LIV Golf’s team competition still has potential drama.
Gooch’s RangeGoats GC only have a three-shot lead over Stinger GC, and seven other teams are within 11 shots of third-place 4Aces GC.
Gooch said he is motivated to help captain Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats (36 under) earn their first team win.
“It’s going to drive me even more to be aggressive and to go and put a good round up — not just coast to a win,” Gooch said. “We can’t just coast to a win as a team tomorrow, so we’ve got to go play some really good golf. …
“We want to be on that podium really bad. I can’t wait to spray Bubba straight in the face with champagne, so I’m hoping we can get it done.”
Four other golfers are tied for eighth place at 9 under, including Phil Mickelson after a 7-under 65 on Saturday. He birdied six of seven holes between Nos. 5 and 11.
“My game is kind of coming around at the right time,” said Mickelson, who is coming off a tie for second at the Masters. “I’ve got this tournament I’m going to try to finish off and play a really good round tomorrow, and then we’re going to go to Singapore and play and then come back to the States and have three weeks in a row with the PGA Championship right in the middle. It’s coming around at the right time, and I’m going to keep working and trying to build on it.”
–Field Level Media