Farmers Insurance Open: The top ten performances at Torrey Pines
By Bill Felber
Talor Gooch is the Tour’s latest iteration of a star on the rise, or possibly a meteor shower that will evaporate in a figurative day or two.
As a 2018 rookie, Gooch competed in 27 events, never finishing higher than tie for 13th, and missing more than half his cuts. His three fall tour stops didn’t change that picture: two more missed cuts and a tie for 14th.
With the new year, however, something has turned in Gooch’s game. He finished fourth at the Desert Classic and tied for third at San Diego. How?
Part of the answer lies in Gooch’s approach game. It’s become a strength, netting him an average of 1.549 strokes on the field. And as he continues to lean on it, it continues to improve. At Torrey Pines, Gooch made up nearly two full strokes on the field via his approach shots.
He nicely supplemented that with a putting game that is beginning to get attention. At the Farmers Insurance Open, Gooch beat the field average on the greens by nearly a full stroke per round, far better than the three-tenths of a stroke advantage he has generally had this season.
His driving game and his play around the greens have been comparative weaknesses, although Gooch has recently elevated both into the ‘average’ range. In San Diego, neither aspect of his game stood out…but he also allowed neither aspect to hurt him.
Only time will tell whether these recent performance upgrades represent trends or mere events.