With Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy absent and no debut match curiosity, TGL wanted a spark — or a aggressive match — to maintain up the hype throughout its third match.
Sadly, it didn’t ship, shortly changing into a sleep fest as a substitute.
Followers noticed no viral moments, like Kevin Kisner’s shank final week, no witty traces between gamers, nor any dramatic aptitude inside the match itself. It was boring to observe, frankly, as Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, and Billy Horschel of the Atlanta Drive Golf Membership defeated New York Golf Membership 4-to-0. Thomas, Cantlay, and Horschel handed New York its second loss in three weeks.
“I feel something is extra enjoyable if you’re successful, so we made it very simple on ourselves, and I feel we complemented one another’s video games effectively,” Thomas mentioned.
“It’s clearly a troublesome adjustment for any of us and all groups enjoying, however we one way or the other discovered a solution to hit fairways and greens and made a few putts. That was a bonus.”
Thomas holed two putts from deep, which secured a pair of factors for his crew. However exterior of that, the match didn’t function many highlights. New York’s Cameron Younger hit a few towering drives, however the soft-spoken Younger barely uttered a phrase on the telecast. The identical might be mentioned for Cantlay.
Horschel, in the meantime, tried his hardest to entertain, with no extra important second being his entrance into the SoFi Middle itself. He donned an enormous silver chain that learn “Soiled Birds,” a homage to the Atlanta Falcons. Horschel then carried out the “Soiled Hen” Dance, which originated in 1998, the 12 months Atlanta misplaced to John Elway and the Denver Broncos in Tremendous Bowl XXXIII.
“[My teammates] knew it was coming. Clearly my spouse and children knew, and my center daughter — they had been doing the dance the opposite night time on FaceTime. Once they came upon what the dance was, they regarded it up on YouTube and noticed it,” Horschel mentioned.
“Pay attention, my children love me, so hopefully, they gave me a very good score, they usually preferred what I did, however I’m positive they’re going to make enjoyable of me on the identical time, which is cool with me.”
Thomas was not enthused, nevertheless.
“I’d most likely return in time and never watch Billy do the “Soiled Hen” dance if I might as a result of I’ll by no means be capable to get that out of my thoughts,” the two-time PGA Championship winner mentioned.
However after Horchel’s horrifying entrance, TGL didn’t ship. Regardless of that, the start-up league has some luck in its favor. Woods and McIlroy will face off in opposition to one another on Monday, giving golf’s newest enterprise a much-needed rebound.
Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By way of. Comply with him on X @jack_milko.
