TGL took advantage of the day off (at least for people with fake jobs) to put themselves in the spotlight with three matches, and boy did the players deliver. The action kicked off pitting LAGC against Atlanta GC, with Atlanta slightly favored before the match given Collin Morikawa's absence from the match roster. After tying the first two holes, LA took the early lead with a win on the par 3 "Set in Stone" after Justin Thomas missed the green and his team failed to get up and down. They quickly tied the match back up the following hole, however, as Sahith Theegala went from bunker to bunker while trying to get up and down. Following more poor bunker play from LA on 6, ATL took a 2-1 lead. LA regained the lead thanks to some individual brilliance from Tommy Fleetwood, who sank a clutch putt for birdie on 7 and drove the green to kick-in range on the par-4 8th "Bluebonnet," the same hole he aced in warmups.
The match seemed all but over after the first two holes of singles, as Tommy and Justin Rose won 10-11 to pull into a 5-2 lead, but ATL wasn't finished. After Theegala narrowly missed a putt on 12 to put the match away, Billy Horschel threw the hammer on 13 and delivered a birdie to cut the lead to 1. Tommy and Patrick Cantlay halved the 14th, putting the pressure on Justin Thomas to tie the match on the last. Only needing a tie to win the match, Sahith let his team down with a duffed bunker shot, and could only put it close for a par after his second attempt made it on the putting surface. However, the yips got to JT as well as he duffed his first chip and failed to reach the putting surface. Immediately, however he told his teammates to pull the pin as he proceeded to hole out for birdie to send the match to OT.
As a reminder, the TGL overtime is a best of 3 closest-to-the-pin battle. ATL won the first matchup, then stuck it close for the second. Tommy lad rose to the occasion, however, holing out to keep the OT alive. In my opinion, that should have ended the match, but alas, Sahith misjudged his shot for the finale, and Cantlay was able to hit a stock shot to 15 feet to secure the win. LA took their first loss of the year, and its hard to not point the finger at Sahith for his poor performance. Tommy, on the other hand, has the highest singles win rate now on TGL at 50.2%. LA will look to regroup for their next match on Monday, Feb 24 against NYGC.
After a thrilling comeback, Atlanta got an hour to regroup before taking on the Bay GC in their second match of the day. Continuing to build on the city dynamic TGL is trying to push, ATL was supported throughout the day by former Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and Falcons owner Arthur Blank. The Bay, on the other hand, all showed up to SoFi stadium in 49ers jerseys, their arrivals highlighted by the broadcast during the first match.
The second match was rising star Min Woo Lee's debut for the league, a professional golfer from Australia who has built a cult following for his fun personality and creative social media presence. You may recognize him from his sponsorship with Lululemon and their viral marketing campaigns at the past two WM Phoenix Open tournaments. Atlanta subbed in Lucas Glover for Billy Horschel in the matchup, while the bay brought Ludvig Åberg straight off his Genesis invitational win and Wyndham Clark, who has become one of the stars of TGL with his shit-talking and heavy use of the hammer. The Bay picked up right where they left off in week 1, taking a 3-0 lead thru 4 before Justin Thomas sank a long birdie putt with the hammer on 5 to make it 2-3. The match stayed tight throughout triples, and the Bay went into singles holding on to a 1 point lead. The highlight of triples was Min Woo's hole out on 4, keeping true to his nickname 'Dr. Chipinski.'
Wyndham Clark ended up being the savior of the match, winning both his singles holes to Atlanta's single win by JT. JT nearly made another tying putt on the last, but was off by a hair giving the Bay a 6-5 win. Despite the loss, Atlanta had a great showing on the day, with JT emerging as a real competitor and face of the league.
The Bay kept things rolling as they entered the primetime slot against Boston Common GC, who brought out Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, and Hideki Matsuyama for the match as the Bay swapped out Min Woo for Shane Lowry who had been watching from the sidelines. Keegan, the Captain of the 2025 US Ryder Cup team, donned a USA Hockey Jersey in support of our boys on the ice who put belt to ass against Canada on Saturday and are gearing up to do so again in Boston on Thursday.
I was less tuned in for this one as I was flipping between it and UVA/Duke, USA/Sweden, and some work, but just like the two matches before it viewers were treated to a tight competition down to the wire. Boston Common started off taking a 2pt lead on the first hole, as Hideki drained a 9ft putt for birdie on the hammer for his first shot ever in TGL. Triples were relatively uneventful, with the Bay taking a win on the 3rd and a hammer on the 5th, giving them a 3-2 lead into the singles session. Boston had their biggest moment on the match on the 10th, as captain Keegan holed out from way off the green for eagle to tie things up.
Ludvig Åberg immediately struck back for the Bay on the par 5 Alpine, hitting the longest drive in TGL thus far at 360yds, following up with a tight wedge shot and clutch putt for eagle. Keegan tied it back up on the 13th, yet it was all for naught as Wyndham Clark, quiet for much of the match, sank a clutch 10ft putt for birdie on the last to give the Bay yet another win to remain undefeated on the season.
After the electricity of three one-point matches on President's day, TGL hoped to keep things rolling by putting Tiger woods' Jupiter Links up against Rickie Fowler's NYGC in a solo slot Tuesday night. Alas, Tiger and his team (mostly Kevin Kisner) put up an absolute dud, losing 7/9 of the the triples holes and two of the singles holes for a 10-3 win. Tiger was understandably out of form, as he has been grieving the loss of his mother, Kultida Woods, who passed away earlier this month. Jupiter's night could be summed up with Tiger's approach on hole 13, where a miscommunication with his teammates led to him hitting a 99yd wedge shot when the green was 194yds away. In his own words, Tiger called it "one of the most embarassing moments of my career."
For those inclined, look to bet against Jupiter, particularly any holes putting the pressure on Kevin Kisner, for an easy win at plus odds.
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