LIV GOLF MIAMI

April 5, 2024

Talor Gooch

Trump National Doral

Smash GC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome Talor Gooch from Smash GC. Welcome, Talor, you are the clubhouse leader alongside Peter Uihlein and Sergio Garcia. You shot 5-under today. Tell us a little bit about your round.

TALOR GOOCH: Yeah, I hit the ball really well today. I was fortunate to make a couple putts coming down the stretch. I actually missed a few putts in the middle of the round. I could have really got it going.

Hey, when you shoot under par at this course, you're never going to complain, so it was a good day.

Q. Do you think the mustache has anything to do with it?

TALOR GOOCH: It has everything to do with it.

Q. You're out here playing against a field with 13 guys that are heading to Augusta next week and you're currently leading them all. Do you think this makes another statement for you to the powers that be about how LIV players should be qualifying to get into majors?

TALOR GOOCH: I'm going to keep doing what I did last year. Even though it didn't work, I'm going to keep trying to shoot good scores. The rule of 67 worked today and I'm going to keep trying to shoot as many 67s as I can and eventually all of that will take care of itself.

There's nothing I can do to influence people, unfortunately. Good golf is all I can control, so I'm going to keep focusing on that.

Q. You're currently leading in Miami. This would be your first win on U.S. soil. How are you feeling after today and heading into these next two days?

TALOR GOOCH: Yeah, it's a good start to the week. Like I said, this golf course is a monster, and if you can get off to a good start like this it puts you in a good position the next couple days. It would be nice to get the first trophy here in the States. Hopefully we can have a good day tomorrow and see if we can get it done on Sunday.

Q. Tell me a little bit about your time on Smash GC this year. Have you been enjoying the new community that you're in right now with Brooks and Graeme and Jason?

TALOR GOOCH: Yeah, it's been what I've been hoping for, being around Brooks and obviously G-Mac and Jase. It's a good bunch of dudes and a good bunch of players. We've all played well. We've only connected on that one week in Vegas, but we've got some firepower. Again, it's cool to be around a couple major champions and then obviously Jason is an incredible player.

It's been great. We all get along well, and we push each other and we hold each other accountable, and it's been awesome.

Q. You've got your newborn baby out here this week. Does that add a little extra something special in your mind when you're out there?

TALOR GOOCH: Yeah, my newborn son, his first tournament out on the road with me. It's special, it's fun, and having the whole family here, obviously it's special.

It's something that I don't know if I necessarily dreamed about, but after having the first one, Collins, I was like, man, it's going to be wild having the second one out for the first time, too. It's such a blessing and it's awesome to be able to bring them along.

Q. Talor, it was April last year where you really hit your hot stretch. You won in Australia. Do you feel like it's almost like happening again this year to a certain degree?

TALOR GOOCH: Hopefully. I was talking with my coach, Boyd, the last few days when he was out here. We noted the same thing, that I played well starting this time last year.

We kind of didn't play great. Hit it great the first couple days of the season, so we had to put that extra work in, and today was kind of the first round where I felt like I got my ball-striking kind of back.

Like I said, I missed a handful of good opportunities today to really get it going.

This felt a little reminiscent of some of those deep rounds I had last year around this time of year. Hopefully we can catch some of that fire that we had this time last year and get it going.

Q. Can you talk about the chip-in on the awkward stance?

TALOR GOOCH: That was sick, yeah. You don't practice that. You're kind of standing there kind of hoping to make par, and then when it happens to go in, that's one of those -- when that happens, it's like, okay, this could be a good day, and things hopefully can continue to go my way. It was a good one. We stole one there.

Q. Is it about maximizing the mustache or minimizing the beard? How did you approach this whole thing?

TALOR GOOCH: I'll let you guys decide that.