American golfer Talor Gooch, who is part of the rebel LIV series, has revealed his frustration at losing almost half of his most recent winnings to tax.
The 31-year-old, who had won just once in 121 PGA Tour starts before defecting to the Saudi-backed series, won the inaugural LIV Golf Adelaide event by three shots from India’s Anirban Lahiri last week.
But Gooch’s delight at pocketing the £3.1 million winner’s cheque was cut short when the Australian tax authorities demanded its £1.5 million cut.
“It was a big one this last week, but yeah, it sucked that 47 and a half percent was withheld for Australian taxes, unfortunately,” Gooch told the Fore The People podcast.
“I am by no means complaining, but the four [million US dollars] once you cut it all up, let’s just say that it’s lot less than four. “It was a little bit disheartening seeing 47 and a half per cent 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 the second such jackpot in a week for Talor – all LIV events have the same winner’s cheque – after he triumphed at the LIV Singapore event at Sentosa Golf Club.
Talor gave much of the credit for his Adelaide success to Australian caddie Mal Baker. “His green reading ability out here is incredible,” Gooch said. “I leaned on him more this week than I have in a long time. He was so spot on early on, and it just gave me confidence in him, and I think it gave confidence in himself.”
