Gooch overcomes Sunday struggle to claim LIV Golf Adelaide

No one would accuse the American of idiocy, however, his words looked to be coming back to haunt him as he stumbled his way around The Grange Golf Club he had made look like a pitch and putt course through 36 holes.

The rest of the field doing him no favours as they finally found the birdies he had been making at will all week.

One-under through six holes, Gooch came unstuck with a bogey at the par-5 7^th and another at the par-4 next. A seemingly disastrous double bogey at another par-5, the 10^th, brought the chasing pack, led by Anirban Lahiri, right into the mix.

Lahiri was six-under through 10 holes, while Patrick Reed, Cam Smith, Cameron Tringale, Pat Perez and Peter Uihlein were also bucking their heads.

Gooch managed to stop the bleeding with a birdie at the par-4 11^th that seemed to settle his nerves and steady his multiple shot lead that had quickly reduced throughout the day.

“Had a couple bad breaks here and there, so it made things interesting, but it was cool to kind of overcome the adversity and dig deep after I made a double on No.10,” Gooch said. “It was kind of a point of we're either going to dig deep and do this or you're going to stumble coming in. It was cool to dig deep and get the job done.”

Another birdie at the par-5 13^th took Gooch back to one-over for the day and with a three shot cushion playing the last handful of holes.

Gooch leads the enormous crowd on the walk to the 18th green on his way to a first LIV Golf title. PHOTO: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images.

Lahiri wasn’t done yet though, his birdie at the 17^th hole, his third last of the day, brought the margin back to two, but Gooch managed to par his way in for a 19-under-par tournament total, whereas Lahiri made a closing bogey at the 1^st. The Indian signing for an eight-under 64 and second alone on 16-under.

“I think golf is just really hard. It's hard to put back-to-back days together like I did and even harder to do it three times in a row. I actually played fine out there today. The golf gods I think said, we don't want this first win to be easy on you,” Gooch said.

Creating plenty of cheers and roars throughout the day, Smith had left his run too late and signed for Sunday six-under 66 to share third with Reed, Tringale and Perez, with Uihlein, Dean Burmester and Charl Schwartzel a further shot back.

“I think I did a really good job of actually just playing golf with all the outside noise,” an exhausted Smith said after the final round. “There was a lot of good on the golf course. There was a lot of putts that could have gone in. To finish up the week wherever I did, I think fourth or fifth, I think it was a really good effort.”

Although he claimed the individual trophy, Gooch’s Sunday play hurt his RangeGoats GC team hopes of taking its first group title in LIV Golf.

Smith was the best of the Aussies and thrilled the crowd with plenty of birdies on Sunday. PHOTO: Jason O'Brien/LIV Golf.

Finishing at 46-under for the week, the Bubba Watson led side finished one shot in arrears of the all-conquering Dustin Johnson captained 4 Aces GC that have now won six LIV Golf events.

“I was watching the leaderboard a little bit because I knew if we all four played well, we were going to have a chance to win … All four guys played well. To get our first win outside the U.S. was nice,” Johnson said.

It was a better day for Smith’s all Australian team that finished in eighth, with Marc Leishman signing for a seven-under 65 and mid-field finish, while Matt Jones shot 69 on Sunday and Jed Morgan recorded a four-under 68 to finish on one-under for the week.

“It was nice to get a few putts rolling in and get the crowd going a bit. Had a few moments early in the week, but I just was – there was a lot going on, and I was having so much fun all week,” Leishman said.

“It was nice to finally put a good score on the board today. Changed strategy a little bit. I think I was a little bit too conservative early in the week.

“Then yeah, a little bit more aggressive today, and it paid off.”

"It's hard to put back-to-back days together like I did and even harder to do it three times in a row. I actually played fine out there today. The golf gods I think said, we don't want this first win to be easy on you.” - Talor Gooch.

Although Gooch will leave with the trophy, Smith the hearts of the adoring Australian crowd and the 4 Aces another team title, it was Chase Koepka who had the moment of the day and arguably.

The younger brother and teammate of Brooks making a hole-in-one on the party hole 12^th to rapturous celebrations and a beer shower (more HERE).

“I got up on the tee and I was just trying to hit like a trap draw 9-iron, something we’ve been working on all week. Just trying to make sure I drew it and I hit it, I knew it was good," Koepka said.

"And then the roars just kept getting louder and louder and when it went in, I just started getting peppered with beer cans. I smelt like beer the whole rest of the day.”