Both Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, the two founders of the TGL, will be forced to watch from the sidelines when the inaugural season’s playoffs kick off in a fortnight’s time.
McIlroy and the Boston Common side needed to beat New York Golf Club by four holes on Monday night and then hope that Jupiter Links failed to beat Atlanta Drive on Tuesday, but that match now becomes a dead rubber as New York’s 10-6 victory secured the fourth and final playoff berth.
New York took an early advantage by winning the opening hole in triple play after some scrappy early play from Boston, but back-to-back wins on three and four got Boston’s noses in front. The lead changed hands again on the fifth as some questionable hammer strategy saw Boston accept New York’s challenge when Rickie Fowler hit a close approach on the par-3 and Keegan Bradley left Adam Scott outside of 20 feet. Scott’s putt came up short, and Xander Schauffele, making his first appearance since the opening night, held his nerve to win the two-point hole.
Further wins on six and eight saw New York edge ahead by three, but Boston rallied with a two-point win in the final triple-play hole to reduce the deficit to one.
With their tails up, McIlroy won the first singles hole against Cameron Young and when Bradley took down Rickie Fowler on the next, the pendulum had swung back in Boston’s direction and their playoff hopes were very much alive. The momentum shifted again on the 12th, and this time, it was a crucial swing as Schauffele holed a 12-footer for birdie after throwing a hammer and when Young defeated McIlroy on the next, Boston’s hopes were dead in the water.
The final hole of the match went in New York’s favour again and was worth two points, leaving Schauffele and co. on five points, three ahead of Jupiter Links in fifth place and they’ll face LA Golf Club in the semi-final after Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala and Tommy Fleetwood took down Shane Lowry, Min Woo Lee and Wyndham Clark in the early match, condemning Bay Golf Club to their first loss and leapfrogging them into the number one spot in the process.
“I felt like we played better than our results,” said Scott after Boston’s loss. “But that’s kind of the match play game. That’s why this is exciting, and that’s why I think the head-to-head and the whole innovation in here really has a future.”
“It’s been a lot of fun being in here, competing against the best players in the world, competing with some of the best players in the world.”
“Look, I’ve been sort of a part of this since it was just an idea,” McIlroy added, “so to see it come to life this year and to see the reception to it, that’s been really, really cool and something that I know I’m very proud of and all the team behind this concept are very proud of, as well.”
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