2021 Houston Open: Top 10 power rankings at Memorial Park
Talor Gooch is still flying under the radar, but not by much.
The former Oklahoma State standout doesn’t get the buzz of a Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff, and rightfully so. He doesn’t have a win out on the PGA Tour yet.
It could be coming soon.
Gooch opened in 64-69-63 to get in the final group on Sunday last week at the World Wide Technology Championship. He slid back to T-11th. It was still impressively his fourth top-11 in a row, which includes top-fives at the Fortinet Championship and against a ton of big names at the CJ Cup.
“It’s been pretty good lately. I wish I could bottle up these three, four months of golf and continue it,” Gooch was quoted by Tee Scripts after Saturday’s round at Mayakoba. “I’m hoping it’s not just a timing thing. I feel like I’ve made a turn in my game and hopefully we can keep it going.”
The 29-year-old’s career best at a PGA Tour event is T-3rd at the 2019 Farmers Insurance Open. Next is solo fourth at the 2020 Houston Open.
Gooch got around Memorial Park in 68-69-71-63. He tied the low round on Sunday, only to come four shots short of champion Carlos Ortiz.
A lot of players missed fairways and greens amidst tough conditions. Gooch was one of them, but his short game was fantastic. He finished second in scrambling (82.76%) and was eighth in strokes gained putting (5.337).
Gooch is usually a pretty good iron player, too, as demonstrated by ranking 32nd on the PGA Tour last season in SG approach (.435).
He’s missed just one cut since May. I like it to stay that way as he gets in the mix once again.