The NCAA Tournament isn’t just about brackets with chaos in March.
TGL’s first season will finish with three best finals on Monday and Tuesday at Sophie Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
The fourth seeded New York Golf Club surprised Top Seed Los Angeles Golf Club 6-4 in the semi-finals last week, while the 3rd Atlanta Drive GC upset Bay Golf Club 9-3 in its second match.
New York Golf Club and Atlanta Drive GC will compete for the Zuffy Cup on Monday (ET, ESPN2/ESPN++) and once again on Tuesday (7pm, ESPN/ESPN+).
If the team splits the first two matches, they will play again in the winner’s final match at 9pm on Tuesday (ESPN/ESPN+).
There’s a lot of money on the line. The winning team golfers will share $9 million in their $21 million wallet during the season, but the runner-up will take home $4.5 million.
Final: Atlanta Drive GC (5-1-0) vs. New York Golf Club (3-2-1)
Final Schedule:
Monday: Match 1, 9 PM ET (ESPN2/ESPN+)
Tuesday: 2pm, 7pm. Match 3, 9 PM ET (ESPN/ESPN+) (if necessary)
Atlanta Drive GC lineup
Justin Thomas
Billy Hoshel
Patrick Cantray
Lucas Glover (not played in Match 1)
New York Golf Club Lineup
Cameron Young
Ricky Fowler
Xander Schauffele
Matt Fitzpatrick (not played in Match 1)
The team will announce the lineup for their second match at the end of action Monday.
Single Match
Thomas vs Young
Horschel vs. Fowler
Cantrey vs. Shaufele
New York Golf Club is aiming to revenge a 4-0 defeat to Atlanta Drive GC on January 21st.
After Atlanta Drive scored two points on a 9-hole triple (alternate shot), Thomas went 3-0 when he scored points against Young on the 10th hole of the single. Horschel clinched the match when he collected the fourth point against Fitzpatrick on hole 11.
Atlanta Drive GC was far better for the Greens in their first game, making a 65-foot putt with 24 footers from Thomas on the fourth hole. New York Golf Club made a putt that was only 15 feet in its first meeting.
“We haven’t stopped putting yet,” Fitzpatrick said that night.
Arthur M. Blank, owner of the Atlanta Drive GC and the Atlanta Falcons, saw the first game between the teams, as well as New York Mets and NYGC owner Steve Cohen, rapper JA Rule and two-time NBA champion JR Smith.
Atlanta Drive GC by Numbers: Atlanta Drive GC dominated in singles matches this season, leading the league with 23 points in these matchups. Horschel leads the league with eight single points, with Thomas (5-0-5) and Glover (1-0-3) being the only players in the TGL without singles loss this season.
The Atlanta Drive GC ranks second in the TGL in strokes. Ball stroke stroke: Ball stroke and foot pads are made.
What Hoschel says: “JT is a really offensive player. He’s always pushing the pedal down and always trying to hit great golf shots. He’s an incredible iron player and it’s scary when his iron play is very rare.
Key to success: If Atlanta Drive GC wins the first SOFI Cup, they need to continue to play dominate with singles and continue to be smart with the “hammer.” Each team will start a TGL contest with three hammers (increase the hole value by 1 point when used). This can be used once at any point during a match of nine triples and six singles.
The Atlanta Drive GC stacked 13 points in a hole where the hammers were thrown twice as much as other TGL teams. The Atlanta GC threw a hammer in the second (12) and lost the lowest (4).
New York Golf Club by Numbers: The Atlanta Drive GC has suffered a lot of damage with singles this season, but the success of New York Golf Club has been competing for the Triples. The NYGC has scored 17 points in the alternative shot format, tied second in the TGL. Also ranked second among the Bay Golf Clubs, with 15 triple holes winning.
Younger (317.6 yards) and Schaufere (328.1) led the way, with New York Golf Club ranked second in average driver distance (317.6). It is also second with average driver ball speed (181 mph).
What Shaufele says: “I don’t think Pat will give me a lot of garbage back. That’s usually one-way when we’re together. It’s almost impossible to hear Billy when you’re there. Billy will be a big thing.
Key to success: New York Golf Clubs need to keep momentum going. After dropping the first two games, the NYGC has gone 3-0-1 in the past four innings. During that stretch, the TGL wins, the points wins, the strokes earned, the total and putting, and the feet of the putts made.
New York Golf Club will need to grab some points in the triple to give Atlanta Drive GC a cushion to the singles that dominate this season.