New York punches first ticket to TGL championship with epic upset
Although TGL is just in its infancy, this was an epic upset no matter how you slice it. New York Golf Club defeated the top-ranked Los Angeles Golf Club on Monday night to earn the first spot in the TGL finals.
Although TGL is just in its infancy, this was an epic upset no matter how you slice it.
New York Golf Club, which started the season 0-2 and was the final entrant into the TGL playoffs, defeated the top-ranked Los Angeles Golf Club 6-4 Monday night to earn the first spot in the finals.
It continued an impressive turnaround for NYGC, as it was in last place early this season.
“The more time we’ve been in (the SoFi Center) and the more time spent and the more comfortable we get, the better we’ve been playing,” Rickie Fowler said. “Tonight, we didn’t play as well as we have been, but there was still some good golf. Luckily LA didn’t play as well as they have normally either. It ended up being a good match.”
LAGC – which didn’t lose in regulation at any point in the season – got off to a fast start, throwing a hammer after Tommy Fleetwood hit his approach on No.1 to just seven feet. It was declined and they got the first point on the board. Fleetwood missed a 12-footer for birdie on the next hole, however, and NYGC levelled things at one.
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Fleetwood missed another short one, from five feet, on No. 4 to give NYGC a 2-1 advantage.
Fleetwood was able to make it up with his ball striking on the next hole, however, hitting his tee shot on the par-3 5th to just five feet, earning another point for LAGC.
NYGC notched one more point on No. 8 before the ending of singles and held a 3-2 advantage. The key difference was the scoring on the par-5s, as NYGC was 2-0-1 and LAGC was 0-2-1 early, the first time LAGC had gone winless on the par-5s in triples all season.
NYGC came out firing in singles, winning points from Xander Schauffele and Fowler, respectively.
After Sahith Theegala notched a point for LAGC on No. 12, Schauffele stole another point back for NYGC after hitting his approach on the par-4 13th to just seven feet.
The match ended when Fleetwood, again, missed a short putt.
Fleetwood was taking on Fowler and on the par-3 14th, Fowler hit his tee ball to nine feet while Fleetwood hit it to five feet. Fowler missed but Fleetwood also missed — lipping out his birdie try. That gave NYGC the win, officially.
“I think overall I think it was a pretty high standard of match. A couple of mistakes, but even with the chances that I feel like we could have taken, we’re all the time people that are probably going to blame ourselves, but at the end of the day, I had a (five) footer there that would have taken us down to the last hole, and anything can happen from there,” Fleetwood said. “At the end of the day… they performed better, played better and holed the putts, and good luck to those guys in the final.”
Theegala’s final-hole point (to make it 6-4) mattered little for this match, but Total Holes Won will be the tiebreaker to determine the final order (and the purse distribution) of the TGL standings — hence why they continued to play despite the match being finished.
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TGL playoffs on Sportsnet
We’re down to the final four in thrilling tee-to-green play as TGL crowns its first championship team. Catch all the action on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
Now NYGC heads to the finals with a ton of momentum as a squad. In its first two matches it won only two points, total. But in its last four it’s earned 30 points and its’s gone 3-0-1.
“We’ve played better and better, so I think it’s just been a team effort,” Cameron Young said. “All four of us (including Matt Fitzpatrick, who sat for the semifinals) have done some clutch things and gotten through to this point now.”
TOP PERFORMER
Rickie Fowler tied the match at the second with a 5-foot birdie make and added another 6-foot birdie on No. 6 as NYGC took a 3-2 lead in singles. Fowler also earned another point in singles on No. 11.
QUOTABLE
“The comeback isn’t complete yet, but it’s definitely nice to be here” – Xander Schauffele.
UP NEXT
Tuesday, March 18
No. 2 The Bay Golf Club vs. No. 3 Atlanta Drive GC
The winner of the second playoff will return to the SoFi Center for a best-of-three Finals Series on Monday, March 24 and Tuesday, March 25 against New York Golf Club.
Watch the match live on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ starting at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT.
