Taylor Gooch’s Pro Golf Future in Flux After LIV Loses Financial Backing

The former Oklahoma State star golfer may be looking at a difficult road to continue his pro golf career after LIV lost its funding.

Former Oklahoma State golfer Taylor Gooch. | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Former Oklahoma State star Taylor Gooch’s long-term bet on LIV Golf may prove to be a hard one to recover from.

On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) and other outlets reported that the Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund would end its backing of LIV Golf by the end of the year. It’s possible that LIV could find a new backer and continue. But, the PIF put more than $5 billion behind LIV to compete with the PGA Tour.

LIV needed that money to lure big names to the tour, including Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. Gooch also joined LIV after playing on the PGA Tour.

If LIV ultimately folds, then those players will need a place to land. That could be the PGA Tour. But reporting by Golf Digest indicates that won’t be easy.

Taylor Gooch’s Complicated Road Back to PGA Tour

Oklahoma State alum Talor Gooch and LIV Golf’s Chris Heck discuss the rebrand of Talor’s team, Smash, as Oklahoma-based OKGC pic.twitter.com/PUgTohi3VV

— Scott Wright (@ScottWrightOK) April 21, 2026

Golf Digest reported that agents of several players on LIV have reached out to the PGA Tour to gauge how they could re-join. It sounds like the terms to rejoin could be worse than the terms for Brooks Koepka.

Koepka left LIV after last season and re-joined the PGA Tour. To pave his way to return, the PGA Tour created what it called the “Returning Member Program.” The requirements were stringent. Players had to have been away from the PGA Tour for two seasons and have won a Major or the Players Championship between 2022-25. Gooch wouldn’t have qualified. In fact, only four players did and Koepka was the only one to accept the terms.

Golf Digest reported that the program likely won’t be renewed or could come back in a different format with different tiers, based on the quality of player. Both the Journal and Golf Digest reported that players that were part of an anti-trust suit against the PGA Tour may be held to more stringent standards. That pool of players would include Gooch.

Gooch joined LIV in 2022 and won four events, three of which were in 2023. That was part of a season in which he finished as LIV’s individual points winner and money list winner. Recently, LIV re-branded his team OKGC, leaning into the Midwest City, Okla., native’s state roots.

If Gooch returns to the PGA Tour, he’ll rejoin a tour that he played on for five seasons and won one event, the 2021 RSM Classic. He played in 13 major championships, most recently in 2024 at the PGA Championship, where he finished in a tie for 60th. He also finished in a tie for fifth in the Players Championship in 2021.