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 did not ship, rapidly 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 throughout the match itself. It was boring to look at, 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 while you’re profitable, so we made it very straightforward on ourselves, and I feel we complemented one another’s video games nicely,” Thomas stated.
“It’s clearly a troublesome adjustment for any of us and all groups taking part in, however we one way or the other discovered a technique 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 group. However outdoors of that, the match didn’t characteristic 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 will be stated for Cantlay.
Horschel, in the meantime, tried his hardest to entertain, with no extra important second being his entrance into the SoFi Heart 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 yr Atlanta misplaced to John Elway and the Denver Broncos in Tremendous Bowl XXXIII.
“[My teammates] knew it was coming. Clearly my spouse and youngsters knew, and my center daughter — they had been doing the dance the opposite evening on FaceTime. Once they discovered what the dance was, they regarded it up on YouTube and noticed it,” Horschel stated.
“Pay attention, my children love me, so hopefully, they gave me a great score, and so they preferred what I did, however I’m certain they’re going to make enjoyable of me on the similar time, which is cool with me.”
Thomas was not enthused, nonetheless.
“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 of get that out of my thoughts,” the two-time PGA Championship winner stated.
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 employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By means of. Observe him on X @jack_milko.
