Palm Beach Gardens, Florida – The indoor golf league, TGL, returned on Sunday night with an all-new green complex setup, several new hole designs, and a finals rematch of the defending Champion Atlanta Drive vs the New York Golf Club at the SoFi Center. The Drive raised a championship banner, and then took on New York with two fill-in players – Chris Gotterup and Corey Connors, who were subbing for injured players – Justin Thomas, Lucas Glover, and Patrick Cantlay. Billy Horschel led the newcomers to another dramatic victory over Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick and Cam Young.
The opener began with neither squad able to generate much scoring through the first eight holes, where the score was knotted at 1. On the par-5 ninth, worth two points, Billy Horschel poured in a 6 ft birdie to take a 3-1 lead for the Drive. Atlanta had a 3-0 record last year when leading entering the triples format in season 1. That trend continued on the par 5 tenth when Gotterup canned a 4-footer… 4-1 Drive, but the momentum of the match was about to turn.
NY inched closer in singles when Corey Conners sprayed his tee shot into the water, giving the easy point to Matt Fitzpatrick, 4-2. Hole 12 Xander vs Billy Ho on the long 269 yard par-3. Both players had birdie attempts, Horschel narrowly missed his attempt from 42 ft (lagging to within an inch). Xander followed suit from 17 feet, hole tied.
On the 306 yard driveable 13th, Cam Young ripped his tee shot to within 24 ft for eagle, Chris Gotterup left his drive short of the green and faced a chip from 19 yards, he left the chip well short of the hole. Young buried the eagle to tighten the match at 4-3.
Hole 14 – 179 yards, Fitzpatrick vs Conners. Fitz was safely on 21′ 8″ away, and Conners was a bit closer at 15′ 7”. Fitz drilled the left to righter from mid-range and Conners missed his putt, 4-4. Some opening day drama down the stretch.
Hole 15 – “Quick Draw” 571 yard par 5. Xander vs Billy Horschel, the Hammer was thrown before the drives were hit, meaning the hole was worth two points in this replay of the pivotal singles match in the Finals of season 1. Both players reached the fairway with a good chance to get on in two. From 202 out, Billy Ho hit his approach to 37′ 5″, Xander’s shot was considerably better. From 196 yards out, he hit his to 14′ 8″. Advantage Xander.
Horschel stepped up and showed the SoFi crowd why the SoFi Center is his house, drilling the eagle for the Atlanta Drive. The crowd erupted, and then went silent as to watch Xander’s attempt to tie. It was not to be, the putt slid by the edge of the hole. Deja vu, Horschel had done it again. Atlanta wins 6 – 4.
Atlanta Drive 1-0, NY Golf Club 0-1.
Afterward, Horschel reflected on the win. “Yeah, obviously New York did a great job there, getting back to all square with the last hole to go between Xander and I. We both played a beautiful hole, both had good opportunities to make birdie. Listen, I’ve hit a couple putts tonight that I thought were in, came up just short. I just said, make sure I hit it hard enough. Chris and I looked at the putt. We both agreed with the way we thought it was breaking. About five feet out, it looked really good. I just hoped that it had enough speed to get there, and it went in. Obviously very reminiscent to last season, that big putt we made to win the match sort of on the 14th hole, or take a lead. Obviously I don’t like New York Golf Club very much, and I just like breaking their hearts a little bit.”
