Talor Gooch ran off a 7-under 63 in Friday’s second round at LIV Golf Korea in Busan to take the 36-hole lead at 8 under, leaving Bryson DeChambeau a single stroke behind as the weekend begins.
Gooch’s round produced eight birdies, including six over his last eight holes, a late burst that flipped the leaderboard and pushed OKGC into the team lead at 14 under. Crushers GC sat one stroke back, with Ripper GC in third place in the team standings.
The margin is thin but telling: DeChambeau carded a 2-under 68 to reach 7 under individually, while five players — Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Scott Vincent, Thomas Pieters and Charles Howell III — were tied for third at 5 under, clustered within striking distance of the lead.
Gooch shrugged at the attention but did not pretend the week has been effortless. "I wish I could say it’s as easy as picking a time to play great because if I could do that, I would just do it all the time," he said, later adding that the game "still doesn’t feel great" even amid the surge. "Hopefully we can just kind of keep it going and get this train rolling."
The defining metric of Friday’s shift was Gooch’s finish: six birdies in his final eight holes turned a solid start into a breakout round and a one-stroke advantage going into Saturday. That run also matters for season stakes — Gooch entered the week ranked 29th in points and is projected to move to fifth with a win.
DeChambeau’s presence on the leaderboard is the weekend’s friction point. He credited his short game for saving the round — "My putting saved me today" — but was blunt about his ballstriking: "I felt like I was hitting it really well yesterday, driving it well, and today just kind of went sideways." The mismatch between his overall position and his self-assessment leaves a question looming: can his putting hold while the rest of his game snaps back under pressure?
The chase is deeper than those two names. Five players sitting at 5 under provide both raw firepower and varied styles that could complicate Gooch’s task: a blend of bombers, shot-makers and steady scorers all within three strokes of the lead. Team dynamics make the weekend consequential as well — OKGC’s slender one-stroke cushion over Crushers GC means every birdie and bogey will have amplified value toward the team trophy.
Course setup in Busan appears to favor late movers this week; Gooch described Asiad Country Club as more of a shot-maker’s test and noted it doesn’t need to be 8,000 yards to be demanding. That description reframes how to read the leaderboard: raw length matters less here than timing and precision, which bolsters the case for a volatile weekend where leads can erase quickly.
Gooch’s momentum and OKGC’s rebrand — it was only the team’s second tournament since the name change — give them the initiative entering Saturday, but the leaderboard is compact enough that one hot round from DeChambeau or a 63 from a chaser could tilt the balance. The weekend in Busan will settle whether Gooch can convert a late burst into a title or if one of the chasers will seize the moment.
Can Bryson DeChambeau — who admitted his driving "went sideways" — or one of the cluster at 5 under catch Gooch across the final rounds in Busan?
