LIV Golf Andalucía: Talor Gooch Leads After Rd. 2; Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces Surge

SAN ROQUE, Spain – Two years after posting his final LIV Golf win at Andalucía, Talor Gooch is displaying the identical form of type that received him the league’s Particular person Championship in 2023.

The Smash GC star shot a second-round 5-under 66 on Saturday to seize a commanding four-shot lead after 36 holes on the historic Actual Membership Valderrama. It’s the primary time he’s led after 36 holes since his breakthrough season two years in the past, when he received thrice.

Dustin Johnson, captain of the 4Aces crew that Gooch performed for through the inaugural 2022 season, is his closest pursuer at 3 underneath. Stinger GC’s Branden Grace, battling relegation, is one other stroke again in solo third. Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm, 4Aces GC’s Patrick Reed — winner two weeks in the past in Dallas — and Iron Heads GC’s Jinichiro Kozuma are tied for fourth at 1 underneath.

The 4Aces are looking for their first win since 2023, like Gooch, and prime the crew leaderboard at 2 over, one stroke forward of Smash and 5 forward of Legion XIII. Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC, looking for their fourth consecutive victory, are in sixth place, 9 strokes off the tempo.

Saturday’s play included the completion of the primary spherical, which had been suspended on Friday as a result of extreme winds and the specter of harmful circumstances. After ending his last 5 holes, Gooch emerged with a share of the 18-hole lead with Ripper GC Captain Cameron Smith and Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann at 2 underneath, after which was the one one who stored his place on a difficult however much less blustery afternoon.

Whereas Gooch has good vibes at Valderrama, he additionally understands the difficulties of defending a lead on this difficult course. A yr in the past, Anirban Lahiri entered the ultimate spherical with the identical four-shot lead however in the end misplaced in a playoff to Fireballs GC Captain and native favourite Sergio Garcia, who rallied from seven strokes down.

Amazingly, Garcia is in the identical actual place this yr — even par by means of 36 holes and 7 strokes again.

“Generally, on LIV, there’s actually no lead that is protected, particularly at a golf course like this,” Gooch stated. “Issues can occur shortly, and also you’re one shot away from an enormous quantity. There’s positively no sense of [relaxation] or calmness.

“I do know DJ (Dustin Johnson) is true behind me. … There’s simply too many good gamers out right here to really feel like I am snug simply displaying up and successful this tomorrow. I’ve bought to play a very good spherical of golf to get this factor finished.”

Johnson received the Particular person Championship in 2022, and Gooch adopted a yr later. Each have labored onerous to regain their type and enhance on their ends in 2025.

Johnson shot a bogey-free 7-under 64, the bottom spherical by means of the primary two days and his second-lowest spherical, relative to par, this season.

“My recreation has been actually good [in] the final month and a half or so,” stated Johnson, who’s looking for to win a LIV Golf event for the fourth consecutive yr. “Simply haven’t actually seen the outcomes that I really feel like I needs to be taking pictures.

“As we speak, it was good to truly put collectively a very strong spherical.”

After a troublesome begin to the season, Gooch has put collectively a number of strong rounds recently, lately producing a four-tournament stretch of top-15 finishes. He’s completely happy to see his elevated apply routine paying dividends.

“I’ve discovered plenty of grime on the vary,” he stated. “Simply labored my tail off. It’s good to see all of these hours and hours form of paying off.”

However the job shouldn’t be full. When Gooch received at Valderrama in 2023, he needed to overtake DeChambeau on the ultimate day. Final yr’s outcome confirmed {that a} rally from seven photographs down is feasible. Valderrama is a troublesome course, and scores can go off the rails quick, leaving the door open for the chasers.

“I’ve bought an opportunity,” Johnson stated.

“It’s doable,” added Rahm.

“All the things has to go my manner tomorrow,” famous Garcia. “Not solely do I’ve to play rather well, however then the leaders need to play badly. It is a large mixture of issues.”

Gooch is prepared for the problem — and able to return to the highest of the rostrum.

“Nothing is given tomorrow,” he stated. “Simply because I performed good as we speak, it has no bearing on the outcomes tomorrow. Tomorrow is a recent day, and we have got to go have an amazing day.”

TEAM SCORES

LIV Golf’s new scoring format this season now entails all 4 scores now counting in each spherical within the crew competitors. Listed here are the outcomes and scores for every crew after Spherical 1 and Spherical 2 of LIV Golf Andalucía.

ROUND 2

1. 4ACES GC +2 (Johnson 64, Reed 71, Pieters 72, Varner III 72; Rd. 2 rating: -5)2. SMASH GC +3 (Gooch 66, Koepka 70, McDowell 71, Kokrak 72; Rd. 2 rating: -5)3. LEGION XIII +7 (McKibbin 69, Rahm 70, Hatton 72, Surratt 76; Rd. 2 rating: +3)4. FIREBALLS GC +8 (Ancer 69, Garcia 69, Puig 70, Ballester 75; Rd. 2 rating: -1)5. HYFLYERS GC +10 (Steele 70, Tringale 71, Mickelson 72, Ogletree 72; Rd. 2 rating: +1)6. CRUSHERS GC +11 (DeChambeau 72, Howell III 73, Lahiri 73, Casey 74; Rd. 2 rating: +8)7. IRON HEADS GC +12 (Kozuma 68, Lee 68, Jang 72, Na 73; Rd. 2 rating: -3)8. CLEEKS GC +13 (Meronk 70, Kaymer 72, Bland 73, Kjettrup 74; Rd. 2 rating: +5)9. STINGER GC +15 (Oosthuizen 69, Grace 70, Schwartzel 72, Burmester 73; Rd. 2 rating: E)T10. RANGEGOATS GC +17 (Campbell 69, Watson 71, Uihlein 72, Masaveu 75; Rd. 2 rating: +3)T10. MAJESTICKS GC +17 (Horsfield 70, Stenson 72, Westwood 72, Poulter 75; Rd. 2 rating: +5)T12. TORQUE GC +19 (Muñoz 70, Pereira 72, Ortiz 73, Niemann 75; Rd. 2 rating: +6)T12. RIPPER GC +19 (Jones 70, Herbert 72, Smith 73, Leishman 79; Rd. 2 rating: +10)Wild Playing cards: C. Lee 73, Kim 73

ROUND 1

1. CRUSHERS GC +3 (DeChambeau 70, Casey 72, Howell III 72, Lahiri 73)2. LEGION XIII +4 (Rahm 72, Surratt 71, Hatton 72, McKibbin 74)3. 4ACES GC +7 (Reed 70, Pieters 73, Varner III 73, Johnson 75)T4. CLEEKS GC +8 (Bland 71, Kaymer 73, Meronk 73, Kjettrup 75)T4. SMASH GC +8 (Gooch 69, Kokrak 71, Koepka 76, McDowell 76)T6. HYFLYERS GC +9 (Mickelson 72, Tringale 73, Ogletree 74, Steele 74)T6. RIPPER GC +9 (Smith 69, Jones 74, Leishman 74, Herbert 76)T6. FIREBALLS GC +9 (Ancer 73, Ballester 73, Garcia 73, Puig 74)9. MAJESTICKS GC +12 (Poulter 71, Horsfield 74, Westwood 74, Stenson 77)10. TORQUE GC +13 (Niemann 69, Muñoz 74, Pereira 75, Ortiz 79)11. RANGEGOATS GC +14 (Uihlein 73, Campbell 74, Watson 74, Masaveu 77)T12. IRON HEADS GC +15 (Kozuma 73, Na 73, Jang 76, Lee 77)T12. STINGER GC +15 (Grace 70, Schwartzel 74, Oosthuizen 77, Burmester 78)Wild Playing cards: C. Lee 73, Kim 76

This piece is courtesy of Mike McAllister in partnership with LIV Golf.

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