Corey Conners was waiting for a call to participate in TGL since January and when he finally got his opportunity, he made the most of it – helping Atlanta Drive GC to a season-opening victory.
Conners – who became the first Canadian golfer to tee it up in TGL Sunday – along with Billy Horschel and Chris Gotterup defeated the New York Golf Club 6-4 thanks to Horschel nailing a 37-foot eagle putt on the final hole of singles to give Atlanta Drive a victory in their first match of season two.
Horschel’s eagle putt was the second longest in TGL history and the win came on the night of Atlanta Drive seeing its season one championship banner get raised to the rafters of the SoFi Center after it defeated New York in last season’s finale.
“Obviously I don't like New York Golf Club very much, and I just like breaking their hearts a little bit,” Horschel said with a smile. “I’ve hit a couple putts tonight that I thought were in, came up just short. I just said, ‘make sure I hit it hard enough.’”
“(Gotterup) and I looked at the putt. We both agreed with the way we thought it was breaking. About five feet out, it looked really good. I just hoped that it had enough speed to get there, and it went in.”
Conners and Gotterup filled in for the injured Patrick Cantlay and Lucas Glover on the Atlanta Drive side, with Justin Thomas also still out after having surgery a few weeks ago. The announcement that they were playing came just four hours prior to the match.
Conners did not record a point in singles but was at his usual ball-striking best for the first nine holes in the team competition. He called the atmosphere “electric” and said the energy of the SoFi Center brought him back to playing hockey in Listowel, Ont.
“We were all playing for each other tonight, and that was a fun feeling,” Conners said.
“The first time walking out there, the atmosphere, the noise, the people cheering was a unique feeling in this setting. Really cool and just electric.”
Atlanta Drive was up 4-1 through 10 holes before New York staged a furious comeback starting with Atlanta Drive declining a hammer throw to make it 4-2 after 11 holes.
Cameron Young rolled in a 23-foot eagle putt on No. 13 in his singles match against Gotterup to pull New York to within a point before Matt Fitzpatrick nailed a 21-foot birdie on the penultimate hole to make it 4-4.
That excitement was short-lived, as Horschel rolled in his clutch eagle to win the match for the defending SoFi Cup champions.
“The guy is really good at this stuff. Kudos to him,” Xander Schauffele said. “That was a hell of a putt.”
Conners, meanwhile, had a front-row seat to the match-winning effort.
“Pretty speechless with ‘Big-Game Billy’ knocking that (eagle) putt down – knowing I’d rather have him out there to make that one,” Conners said. “It was just a blast and really fortunate to have been able to play.”
It remains to be seen if Conners will fill in for Atlanta Drive again this season. Thomas is out indefinitely as he recovers from surgery, but the next Atlanta Drive match is on Jan. 6. If both Cantlay and Glover are still on the sidelines, Conners could get the call.
And Conners knows that in the dead of winter back in Ontario, letting people see their hometown hero on the big stage with the big screen would be something he’d love to do again soon.
Plus, his new teammate thinks there will be plenty of new TGL fans north of the border.
“I think you’re going to see a lot of people walking around Toronto with an Atlanta Drive hat and not know why,” Horschel said with a smile, “and it’s because of Corey.”
TGL is back with the second match of the season on Jan. 2, with Rory McIlroy’s Boston Common Golf taking on Los Angles Golf Club.
