Shane Lowry had the honour of hitting the opening tee shot of the inaugural TGL season, but he won’t be involved in the season finale after his Bay GC side fell 9-3 to Atlanta Drive in the second semi-final.
After the none-hole triples-play came to a close, the Atlanta side of Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay and Billy Horschel held a 4-2 advantage over Lowry, Ludvig Aberg and Min Woo Lee, but they’d been locked a 2-2 after seven.
Lee, who’d been a little out of sorts for much of the match and had missed a couple of short putts and duffed a chip, drove it into the hazard on eight to allow Atlanta to retake the lead and, from there, they never looked back.
Lady luck shone on Atlanta at stages, most notably on the 10th where Lowry and Thomas faced off in singles and the Irishman pulled his approach shot into the hazard. Thomas’ approach sailed the other direction but also looked hazard-bound only for an extremely fortuitous bounce back into play and they’d go on to win and take a three-point advantage.
Three-down playing the 12th, Bay opted to throw their third and final hammer before the tee shots to the par-3, but Cantlay displayed the ice-cold killer instinct he’s become known for in team competition by stiffing his approach, and when Aberg missed the green left and his chip slid by, Atlanta threw a hammer of their own which Bay had no choice but to accept as to decline would’ve meant it was game over anyway. As it was, it only extended the drama by 40 seconds as Cantlay rolled home the birdie putt for a three-point win and a six-point overall advantage.
From there, the only question was what the winning margin would be with first-tee honours in the final and the bronze medal up for grabs, and they traded one hole apiece to finish 9-3.
This means that L.A. Golf Club take third by virtue of scoring four points in their semi-final loss to New York Golf Club, who’ll hit second in the final against Atlanta Drive which is a best two-out-of-three format and takes place on Monday 24 March and Tuesday 25.
“They are starting to play well at the right time,” said Thomas. “I like our team and I like our chances. I’m excited. It’s gonna be a lot of fun.”
“I think getting off to winning the first two out of three holes is huge, like anything in match play,” Horschel added. “You want to get the momentum early. Obviously we knew they were going to make a little run. But yeah, I think we did a really good job.”
Despite the disappointment of missing out on the opportunity to hoist the SoFi Cup in the debut season, Lowry’s first TGL experience was an enjoyable one.
“Yeah, I suppose the first few weeks were highlights for us,” he said. “We got off to an unbelievable start and we were looking for a while like the team to beat. Obviously I don’t think we performed anywhere close to what we should have tonight or could have tonight, but, yeah, look, first season was, I had a blast. It was great being on a team with these three guys, Wyndham sitting at home, unfortunately, but it’s been great to be on a team with the two guys here beside me, and enjoyed every minute of it.
“Bit deflated about losing tonight really. Obviously would have liked to go at the finals next week, but that’s sport, that’s the way it happens. And yeah, but overall it’s been a really cool experience, something six months ago I didn’t know what to expect, but, yeah everything’s been pretty positive.”
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