Fresh off a $4 million payday and his first LIV Golf title, Talor Gooch needs to be on cloud 9.

Instead, the 31-year-old American is irked a couple of rule change that may preserve him out of the 2023 U.S. Open.

Appearing on the “73rd Hole” podcast, Gooch stated he thought he had locked up his spot within the June 15-18 main at Los Angeles Country Club final August by qualifying for the 2022 Tour Championship on the PGA Tour.

At the time, gamers who certified for the Tour Championship acquired invitations or exemptions to the Masters, the U.S. Open and the Open Championship, which is how Gooch was in a position to play at Augusta National earlier this month.

“When Augusta came out and made that decision, I was very optimistic that everybody else would follow suit,” Gooch stated.

But when the U.S. Golf Association revealed its qualifying standards for the U.S. Open in February, there was a small however essential change within the language from earlier years.

Per Golf Digest, the standards used to learn “those players qualifying for the season-ending Tour Championship” however now reads “those players who qualified and were eligible for the season-ending 2022 Tour Championship.”

When Gooch and others departed for LIV Golf final June, they had been banned from taking part in on the Tour Championship and due to this fact weren't “eligible.”

“That was obviously disappointing because that changed rule only affected one person, which was me,” Gooch stated. “So that was frustrating and tough because with LIV still not being rewarded with World Ranking points, I have only two options to qualify for the U.S. Open: via my World Ranking, which is going to be very challenging, or trying to obviously go through the qualifying route of sectional qualifying.”

Despite his win final weekend in Adelaide, Australia, Gooch’s world rating really dropped from No. 57 to No. 59 this week. He should stay within the high 60 to earn a spot within the U.S. Open subject.

“I’m hopeful that my ranking stays high enough for the next month that I get in,” he stated. “Time will tell on that.”

On the plus aspect, Gooch remains to be listed as exempt for the 151st Open Championship scheduled for July 20-23 at Royal Liverpool Golf Club.