Atlanta routs Jupiter in TGL regular-season finale

Atlanta Drive GC dominated Jupiter Links GC to the tune of a whopping 9-1 score and put a bow on the inaugural TGL season on Tuesday.

Now, Atlanta has a ton of good scoring energy heading into the playoffs — especially following a blowout of that nature against Jupiter's Tiger Woods, of all people.

“Whatever you do against Tiger, you want to beat him,” Atlanta's Billy Horschel said. “He's the best in the world, best ever, and he's competitive as hell. Whenever we get a chance to sort of get one on him, you've got to take it because he's got so much on us that we can't even compete with.

“It was nice to get a win and go into the playoffs with some momentum.”

The playoff picture was already set after New York Golf Club’s win over Boston Common Golf Monday night. Atlanta Drive still had a chance to jump The Bay for the No. 2 spot if it won more than 13 holes against Jupiter Links Tuesday night, but that was a near statistical impossibility.

Still, it was a dominating performance by Atlanta.

Atlanta, which finished the year 4-1 but won four fewer total holes than The Bay Golf Club, was down two of its usual team members Tuesday night as both Patrick Cantlay and Justin Thomas were unavailable for the season-ending affair. The team signed reigning PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Nick Dunlap to a one-match contract in their place.

Dunlap won one point in his singles match against Max Homa and said he “thoroughly enjoyed” his time in the arena.

“I think it's different. It's new. It's extremely exciting. I love the energy in there,” Dunlap said. “It's nothing like I thought it was going to be.”

Atlanta got off to a quick start, winning holes 2 and 3 to jump out to a 2-0 early advantage. It declined a hammer throw on No. 6 to make it 2-1, but notched another point on the next hole, the par-3 7th, and led 3-1 after triples.

After Dunlap’s win on No. 12 to make it 4-1, Atlanta used up its hammers with aplomb. First, Horschel knocked his approach on the par-4 13th to just six feet for birdie and secured the two points. Then, Lucas Glover earned three points when both Atlanta and Jupiter Links threw hammers on the next hole. The win by Glover put the match to bed.

Atlanta finished third in the standings and will take on The Bay in the semifinals. Los Angeles Golf Club earned the No. 1 seed and will take on New York in the first semi-final match.

While Jupiter did not make the playoffs, Woods said he had “a blast” over the last three months. 

“As I was saying out there, we didn't hit a lot of great shots, but God, we had some fun,” Woods said.

Although there were some conversations on social media about Woods potentially teeing it up at The Players Championship next Thursday (as this year marks the final year of his automatic exemption to TPC Sawgrass from his 2019 Masters), Woods seemingly put that to bed.

“This is the third time I've touched a club since my mom passed, so I haven't really gotten into it. My heart is not really into practising right now. I've had so many other things to do with the Tour and trying to do other things,” Woods admitted. “Once I start probably feeling a little bit better and start getting into it, I'll start looking at the schedule.”

There was plenty of star power in the building Tuesday night to watch Woods’ final competitive effort of the TGL season.

Reigning NFL MVP Josh Allen, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold and 11-time MLB All-Star and former Toronto Blue Jay Roger Clemens all took in the match along with Celine Dion (!), who was there with her children. Dion even sang a golf-inspired rendition of “My Heart Will Go On” alongside ESPN host Marty Smith.

Best moment

With Atlanta Drive ahead as the match inched closer to singles, Tom Kim nearly chipped in. Emphasis on nearly.

Kim celebrated with an aggressive club toss and a look back at the crowd, but there was only one problem — the ball didn’t drop.

The lip-out left his teammates — Tiger Woods and Max Homa — in literal tears. Homa even ended up on his knees laughing. It was the funniest moment of the season, let alone the match.

Top performer

Glover’s putter was on fire through Tuesday night. He rolled in a birdie putt on the par-5 2nd for the first point of the match for Atlanta before nailing a nifty four-foot par saver on the next hole to earn another point.

In singles versus Tiger Woods, Glover found himself in a double-hammer situation on the par-3 14th as Jupiter desperately needed to try to salvage some late-match points. Glover hit his tee shot to just 10 feet, however, and rolled in the birdie for three more points.

Quoteable

“So, I had won three Masters by the time you were born,” Tiger Woods to teammate Tom Kim, who was born in 2002.

The ultimate flex.

Up next

The TGL playoffs are set with the top four seeds making it into the postseason. Here is how the playoff picture looks.

Monday March 17

Tuesday March 18

The winners return to SoFi Center for a best-of-three championship series on March 24 and 25.