LIV Golf star Talor Gooch has revealed he lost nearly £1.6 million ($2m) of his £3.2 million ($4m) earnings after winning the LIV Adelaide title at The Grange last Sunday.
Gooch secured his maiden LIV individual title, shooting 20-under-par across his three rounds, including a remarkable pair of 62s on Friday and Saturday to win the event by three shots. The prize for coming out on top was a cool £3.2 million in individual prize money.
Sadly for the Range Goats man though, he did not see every penny of his multi-million pound payout as law in Australia saw Gooch pay 47.5 percent of his winnings in taxes.
Claiming that it 'sucked' to see such a large chunk of his winnings taken away, the LIV rebel told Fore the People podcast: "It was a little bit disheartening seeing 47 and a half percent because Australian taxes [do] not enter the account.
“It comes, you know, almost it sometimes it’s like 48 hours, but it’s usually 24 hours after it direct deposit hits. It was a big one this last week, but yeah, it sucked that 47 and a half percent was withheld for Australian taxes, unfortunately. I am by no means complaining, but the four [million dollars], once you cut it all up, let’s just say that it’s lot less than four.”
Gooch has been one of the main beneficiaries of the Saudi-funded series, winning his fair share of lucrative prize money since joining LIV Golf last summer. The cost of course is a spot on the PGA Tour, with golf's leading circuit locked in a legal battle with a new rival.
The dispute has led to an ugly 12 months for professional golf, with the game's biggest names taking sides, as well as swipes at each other. One of the greatest to play the game, Tiger Woods, has found himself firmly with team PGA Tour since the emergence in LIV, but that has not stopped him keeping a keen eye on his rivals.
Revealing Woods showed a keen interest in the breakaway league in a conversation at this month's Masters, he said: "So at Augusta, one of the mornings I was warming up, Tiger was right next to me warming up. And he was like, man, you're with Bubba [Watson]'s team now, right? And I was like, yeah. He's like, you all are going to Adelaide, right? I'm like, yeah. He goes, man, they got some great golf there.“
"And then he’s, have you ever been to Singapore? I was like, man, first time. And he’s like, man, you need to go to the casino at Marina Bay Sands. It’s the famous hotel casino here; you’ve all seen it, for sure. It looks like there’s a boat on top of three towers. It’s this massive casino hotel."
