The NCAA tournaments aren’t the only brackets providing upsets in March.
The inaugural season of TGL concludes with a best-of-three finals at SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on Monday and Tuesday.
Fourth-seeded New York Golf Club stunned top seed Los Angeles Golf Club 6-4 in last week’s semifinals, and No. 3 Atlanta Drive GC upset No. 2 The Bay Golf Club 9-3 in the second match.
New York Golf Club and Atlanta Drive GC will compete Monday (9 p.m. ET, ESPN2/ESPN+) and again Tuesday (7 p.m., ESPN/ESPN+) for the SoFi Cup as the indoor golf league’s season comes to an end.
If the teams split the first two matches, they’ll play again at 9 p.m. on Tuesday (ESPN/ESPN+) in a winner-take-all final match.
There’s a lot of money on the line. Golfers on the winning team will share $9 million of the season-long purse of $21 million, while the runner-up squad takes home $4.5 million.
Finals: Atlanta Drive GC (5-1-0) vs. New York Golf Club (3-2-1)
Finals schedule:
Monday: Match 1, 9 p.m. ET (ESPN2/ESPN+)
Tuesday: Match 2, 7 p.m. ET; Match 3, 9 p.m. ET (ESPN/ESPN+) (if necessary)
Atlanta Drive GC lineup
Justin Thomas
Billy Horschel
Patrick Cantlay
Lucas Glover (not playing in Match 1)
New York Golf Club lineup
Cameron Young
Rickie Fowler
Xander Schauffele
Matt Fitzpatrick (not playing in Match 1)
The teams will announce their lineups for the second match at the conclusion of Monday’s action.
Singles matches
Thomas vs. Young
Horschel vs. Fowler
Cantlay vs. Schauffele
New York Golf Club will be looking to avenge an ugly 4-0 loss to Atlanta Drive GC on Jan. 21, the first shutout in TGL history.
After Atlanta Drive picked up two points in nine holes of triples (alternate shot), Thomas made it 3-0 when he captured a point against Young on the 10th hole of singles. Horschel clinched the match when he collected a fourth point against Fitzpatrick on the 11th hole.
Atlanta Drive GC was much better on the greens in the first match, making 65 feet of putts, including a 24-footer from Thomas on the fourth hole. New York Golf Club made just 15 feet of putts in the first meeting.
“We’ve not holed a putt yet,” Fitzpatrick said that night.
Atlanta Drive GC and Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur M. Blank watched the first match between the teams, as did New York Mets and NYGC owner Steve Cohen, rapper Ja Rule and two-time NBA champion J.R. Smith.
Atlanta Drive GC by the numbers: Atlanta Drive GC has been dominant in singles matches this season, leading the league with 23 points in those matchups. Horschel leads the league with eight singles points, while Thomas (5-0-5) and Glover (1-0-3) are the only players in TGL without a singles loss this season.
Atlanta Drive GC ranks second in TGL in strokes gained: ball striking and feet of putts made, while coming in fourth in driving accuracy (68.3%) and fifth in greens in regulation (63.3%).
What Horschel says: “J.T. just is a really aggressive player, he’s always pushing the pedal down, always trying to hit the great golf shot. He’s an unbelievable iron player and when his iron play’s on, which it’s very rarely off, it’s scary good. And then if the putter gets warm …”
Key to success: If Atlanta Drive GC is going to win the inaugural SoFi Cup, it needs to continue its dominant play in singles and continue to be smart with the “Hammer.” Each team begins a TGL contest with three Hammers (which increases the value of a hole by 1 point when used), which they can use once per hole at any point during the nine triples and six singles matches.
Atlanta Drive GC has piled up 13 points on holes in which a Hammer was thrown, twice as many as any other TGL team. Atlanta GC has thrown the second-most Hammers (12) and lost the fewest (four).
New York Golf Club by the numbers: While Atlanta Drive GC has done much of its damage this season in singles, New York Golf Club’s success has come in the triples competition. NYGC has won 17 points in the alternate-shot format, which is tied for second in TGL. It also ranks second behind The Bay Golf Club with 15 triples holes won.
With Young (317.6 yards) and Schauffele (328.1) leading the way, New York Golf Club ranks second in average driver distance (317.6). It is also second in average driver ball speed (181 mph).
What Schauffele says: “I don’t think Pat’s going to give me a whole lot of trash talking back, that’s usually a one-way street when we’re together. It’s almost impossible not to hear Billy when you’re out there. Billy will be the big one; don’t let him get too fired up or he’s going to run all over you.”
Key to success: New York Golf Club needs to keep its momentum. After dropping its first two matches, NYGC has gone 3-0-1 in its past four. During that stretch, it leads TGL in holes won, points won, strokes gained: total and putting, and feet of putts made.
New York Golf Club needs to grab a couple of points in triples to give itself some cushion heading into singles, in which Atlanta Drive GC has dominated this season.
Source: espn.com