The inaugural TGL playoffs got underway Monday night at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and it was one to remember. The No. 1 overall seed, Los Angeles Golf Club, took its regular-season crown into the postseason where it faced off against the trending New York Golf Club.
In a shocking development, it was New York who reigned supreme as Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele and Cameron Young outlasted Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala and Tommy Fleetwood of L.A., 6-4. The upset victory means the regular-season champions are out of the postseason without a chance to complete the first-season sweep.
After starting the season 0-2, New York has rattled off three straight victories; it will face the winner of The Bay Golf Club and Atlanta Drive GC next week in a best-of-three battle for the inaugural TGL title.
The back-and-forth nature of Monday night’s match started from the opening hole. Los Angeles grabbed the first point of the evening after throwing the hammer, which forced New York to concede the opener. Fowler fought back with a nice approach on the next to tie the match up before New York grabbed a 2-1 lead when Fleetwood fizzled a 6-foot putt on by.
New York made a mess of the next hole with a bogey on the par-3 5th, and Los Angeles took advantage. Standing at 2-2, the match swayed in favor of NYGC with a win on No. 8 and an important tie on the final hole of Triples when LAGC threw the hammer.
The hammer throws continued to drop in Singles as seemingly every head-to-head tussle had one tossed. Schauffele secured a point thanks to a hammer concession on No. 10 just before Fowler found another point the old-fashioned way against Fleetwood to extend New York’s lead to 5-2.
Theegala got the better of Young, who wisely declined a hammer, to claw one point closer, but the march was halted when Schauffele did the same to Morikawa on No. 13. Facing a three-point deficit with two holes remaining, Los Angeles was forced to play the hammer at the start of No. 14 so that New York had to accept it.
With Fowler safely in for par, Fleetwood lined up his birdie attempt from about 6 feet to extend the match but watched it lip out as New York shocked fans by punching its ticket into the championship match.
