After 14 holes on night one of a potential three-match TGL Final, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay each faced six-and-a-half-footers with the night’s spoils on the line.
Atlanta Drive and New York GC were tied at five apiece and each man had a birdie putt, but crucially, despite the optics, Cantlay was an inch further away meaning Atlanta Drive had the honour.
Inside right was the team consensus on the read, and it turned out to be dead straight, but the weight perfect, it dropped inside right. Over to Schauffele. His putt was a little tougher, even though it was shorter, and he under-read the break, watching in agony as the ball caught the right lip and horseshoed out.
First blood to Atlanta Drive.
In an inaugural season that has largely failed to live up to the hype with notable exceptions, the first leg of the best-of-three final delivered.
Justin Thomas, Billy Horschel and Cantlay combined to give Atlanta a 2-0 lead after four holes, but back-to-back wins on five and six had Rickie Fowler, Cameron Young and Schauffele back on level terms and that’s the way it stayed through the end of triple play.
The fireworks really started on 10, where Young left himself a nine-footer for eagle on the par-5 and, with Thomas’s birdie pitch just sliding by, the New York side threw down the gauntlet in the form of a yellow towel. Hammer time!
It was accepted, but Young poured in the putt to streak two points ahead. The lead was short lived, however, and Horschel responded in kind against Fowler on 11, holing from 12 feet to tie the match once again.
Billy bringing the energy!!
A clutch putt to tie it up @TGL 🔥pic.twitter.com/FvNncFwtt3
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 25, 2025
Young got New York noses in front again by beating Thomas on 13, but after Horschel hit his approach to four-and-a-half feet on the par-3 14th, Fowler was facing a likely must-make nine-footer if New York were to keep their lead approaching the last. The pressure was cranked up as Atlanta threw a hammer, and after discussion, New York opted to decline, thereby conceding the hole.
The statistics, they argued, were in favour of concession as were Fowler to miss and Horschel to make, Atlanta would retake the lead.
So, it was on to the last where Cantlay and Schauffele – good friends and regular partners in Ryder and Presidents Cup – would decide the outcome of night one.
“It was cool, it was great. The atmosphere was fun and I think it’ll be more of the same tomorrow night,” Cantlay said afterwards.
“Billy making that putt when the Hammer was down was really the decisive point in the match.”
Horschel has been the best performer in singles play in the inaugural season, collecting five points more than any other player, and he credits it to his dogged attitude.
“I love going head-to-head with somebody and it’s who’s willing to whatever it takes to get the victory,” he explained, before going on to add that it had come to his attention that a reporter had tipped Horschel to lose in each of his singles holes thus far.
“I’m very well aware of when people are picking against me. I want to prove them wrong and I want to beat the person I’m going against about as bad as I’ve wanted to beat anybody at that moment.”
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