After week two of the inaugural TGL season, things were looking grim for New York Golf Club. Played two, lost two, and only won two holes combined, they were rooted to the foot of the table and team leader Xander Schauffele was set for an extended period on the sidelines.
It might be a stretch to evoke the ‘rags to riches’ narrative, but just two months later they’ve booked their place in the final and are nor just two (or possibly three) matches away from being crowned maiden TGL champions.
With Matt Fitzpatrick watching on from the stands, Schauffele, Rickie Fowler and Cameron Young faced off against number one seeds L.A. Golf Club and the trio of Collin Morikawa, Tommy Fleetwood and Sahith Theegala, and it was the table toppers who drew first blood by winning the opening hole when NY declined to accept the hammer thrown.
It was a closely fought opening nine holes, but New York found themselves 3-2 ahead at the completion of triples play, and they stretched that advantage to three with back-to-back singles for Schauffele over Morikawa and Fowler over Fleetwood.
Theegala reduced the deficit to two when New York declined to accept a hammer on the 12th, but the roles were reversed on the next and again, the margin was three.
L.A. threw their final hammer prior to Fleetwood and Fowler tackling the penultimate hole and, as it was thrown before a tee shot was struck, New York had no choice but to accept and the game hinged on the short par-3. Up first, Fowler stuck his tee shot to nine feet, but Fleetwood got inside him and had five feet on a similar line. Had Fowler holed, the match would’ve been over, but his putt drifted right, leaving Fleetwood with a must-make putt to extend the match. It horseshoed the hole and remained above ground, sending New York through.
With permutations for third place and starting order in the final still to play for, they had to complete the 15th and final hole, and L.A. scored a consolation win to leave the final score 6-4 in NY’s favour.
They’ll now face either Shane Lowry’s Bay Golf Club or Atlanta Drive who square off in the second semi-final tonight.
“I think we all thought it was possible just to try and come back and get to where we’ve gotten,” Schauffele said afterwards. “The comeback isn’t complete yet, but it’s definitely nice to be here.”
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