New York finally gets first TGL victory with blowout of Jupiter Links
New York Golf Club is finally on the board. Led into the stadium by Pete Alonso and on it by Rickie Fowler, NYGC blew out Tiger Woods’ Jupiter Links for its first win of the TGL season.
New York Golf Club finally won its first points in TGL with a commanding victory over Jupiter Links Golf Club on Tuesday night.
After winning just two holes in its first two matches combined, New York took the first three holes and raced out to an 8-2 lead in triples before beating Jupiter Links 10-3.
The New York team (1-2-0) switched up its intro music and came out to the banging trumpet notes of “Narco” along with New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso.
New York — made up of Rickie Fowler, Matt Fitzpatrick and Cameron Young once again this week with Xander Schauffele still nursing an injury — was up 8-0 after eight holes before cruising through singles.
“Really nice to be on the other side of it. I obviously missed the first match, but it was not a good feeling leaving here a few weeks ago getting shut out,” Young said. “To come out and win a bunch of holes tonight was more kind of how I hoped it would go and fun to play some golf like that tonight.”
Jupiter Links (Tiger Woods, Tom Kim and Kevin Kisner) fell victim to an early hammer throw for a two-point swing on No. 3 and quickly went down 3-0.
They finally got on the board after they threw the hammer on the par-5 9th and Kim dropped a 12-footer for birdie — following it up with a colossal fist pump for good measure.
Woods won the 10th hole — the first of singles — to keep the door slightly open for Jupiter Links (1-2-0). This was the first time Woods has played anywhere publicly since the sudden death of his mother, Kultida, on Feb. 4.
The last time Woods’ mother saw him play in person was at a TGL match.
“I had a really hard time getting here and then reliving all the moments that we’ve had, my mom, how excited she was to have Charlie drive her here. So those are some great moments and great memories,” Woods said. “It’s been a hard process.”
Despite Woods’ win on the first hole of singles, New York would go on to capture two of the next three holes to officially win the match — and keep its playoff hopes alive.
“We all knew that we were going to need (a win). I think we knew it was kind of an unspoken thing,” Fowler said. “We were going to need a big night at some point to at least kind of get the mojo going and the momentum the right way. Nice to do it tonight versus waiting a match or two.”
Key moment
Fitzpatrick hit his tee shot on the par-3 3rd to just four feet and threw the hammer, which was accepted by Jupiter Links. After Kim hit his tee shot to 25 feet, Woods couldn’t convert the birdie try and New York got off to a big 3-0 start after three holes. It would go on to win the next five holes in a row and this one was over.
Top performer
Fowler was the most consistent on the victorious New York side. He won the 11th hole in singles to put New York up 9-3 while also knocking his tee shot on the par-3 5th to just five feet from 200 yards away and making the hole-winning putt on No. 8. He also hit his approach on the first hole of the night to just 11 feet to set up an early victory for New York, which led 1-0 after one hole.
Quoteable
“That was one of the most embarrassing things to ever happen,” Tiger Woods said about mistakenly hitting a wedge from 199 yards away. His friend and Jupiter caddy Rob McNamara told Woods he had ‘99’ left, as in ‘199’ for his approach on the par-4 13th. That message was lost in translation as Woods hit a pitching wedge about 100 yards short of the flag — and his teammates nearly fell over laughing.
UP NEXT
New York Golf Club vs. Los Angeles Golf Club on Feb. 24 at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT
Boston Common Golf vs. Atlanta Drive GC on Feb. 24 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT
Jupiter Links vs. The Bay Golf Club on Feb. 25 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT
