Justin Thomas starred on his TGL debut to assist Atlanta Drive GC to a convincing 4-0 victory over New York Golf Membership of their season opener.
Thomas lined up alongside fellow former FedExCup champions Billy Horschel and Patrick Cantlay for his or her first match within the new tech-infused workforce league, which sees PGA Tour stars go head-to-head inside a purpose-built indoor area.
The 2-time main champion noticed his facet lead from the opening gap and by no means trailed all through the competition on the TGL Sofi Heart, the place they gained two factors within the opening nine-hole session that makes use of an alternate shot – or triples – format.
Atlanta Drive’s Billy Horschel danced his means all the way down to the SoFi Heart forward of his TGL debut towards New York Golf Membership
Atlanta Drive gained the primary two holes of singles and closed out a convincing win, the place New York’s line-up of Matt Fitzpatrick, Rickie Fowler and Cameron Younger turned the primary facet to fail to attain some extent in a TGL match.
Victory sees Atlanta Drive earn two factors and transfer joint-top of the SoFi Cup standings, with New York backside of the six-team league after a second successive defeat and now struggling to qualify for the season-ending playoffs.
Billy Horschel, Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay dominated on night time three of the TGL and celebrated in type!
Thomas leads Atlanta to successful begin
New York GC instantly fell behind when Younger hit his opening shot out of bounds and allowed Atlanta Drive to win the opening with a par, with Fitzpatrick then lacking a putt from eight toes to stage the match on the subsequent.
Younger additionally squandered a birdie likelihood to win the third, whereas Atlanta Drive stayed forward when Thomas recovered from shedding his footing and hitting his drive on the par-five fourth into the penalty space by draining a 25-footer to scramble a par.
Justin Thomas made two large putts for his TGL workforce Atlanta Drive once they confronted New York Golf Membership on night time three
Cantlay could not convert a 15-foot putt to win the fifth however noticed his facet double their lead the sixth, when Thomas knocked his method to 6 toes and Horschel holed the putt, with the rest of the holes tied within the triples session to go away Atlanta Drive 2-0 up heading into singles.
Younger did not rise up and all the way down to match the birdie of Thomas on the tenth, whereas Fitzpatrick conceded the eleventh towards Horschel after discovering water together with his second after which hitting his subsequent two pictures into bunkers.
Thomas holed one other long-range putt to birdie the thirteenth towards Younger, who had fired a 360-yard drive and left his method in gimme vary, whereas Fitzpatrick was unable to earn New York their first level when he burned his birdie take a look at the 14th.
Atlanta Drive elected towards utilizing ‘The Hammer’ all through the match, which provides a workforce the chance to place their opponents beneath strain by doubling the worth of the opening, with a shutout confirmed regardless of Cantlay’s missed birdie likelihood on the final.
Enchancment wanted from New York?
Fowler mentioned: “We have simply acquired to discover a solution to play higher than the opposite workforce. We have gotten outplayed each occasions. I do not assume we performed very poorly, apart from our first gap.
“We acquired off to a tough begin, however apart from that, there isn’t any blaming right here. I missed the inexperienced with a chip. Yeah, we dug ourselves a small gap, however I felt like we performed first rate from there. However the large factor is we now have to discover a solution to gap some putts.”
Younger added: “I believe the sport was actually enjoyable. Clearly not the end result that we needed, however I really feel prefer it was the most effective golf I’ve seen from watching the opposite two matches after which ours tonight. It was a blast, and I believe we’ll do higher subsequent time.”
Luke Donald displays on his expertise watching TGL and discusses the similarities it has with the atmosphere a participant might face on the Ryder Cup
What’s subsequent?
Rory McIlroy is about to make his TGL debut on Monday when his Boston Widespread Golf facet tackle Tiger Woods’ Jupiter Hyperlinks Golf Membership, who had been thrashed by Los Angeles GC of their season opener, with protection stay from 11.30pm on Sky Sports activities Golf.
Atlanta Drive GC return to motion with two matches on February 17 towards Los Angeles GC (6pm) and The Bay Golf Membership (9pm), whereas New York GC subsequent play on February 18 towards Jupiter Hyperlinks (February 19, 12am UK time).
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