Atlanta Drive GC defeated The Bay GC 9-3 in a dominant performance in the second TGL semi-final on March 18 to book a spot in the Championship decider.
Justin Thomas led his Atlanta Drive Golf Club, who were the third seeds, to a wide-margin 9-3 victory over Shane Lowry’s second seeded The Bay Golf Club in Tuesday night’s second TGL semi-final match.
The win sets up a showdown New York Golf Club, who secured their place in the inaugural TGL finals series by beating the previously unbeaten Los Angeles Golf Club in the first semi-final on Monday.
The Atlanta Drive team of Thomas, Billy Horschel and Patrick Cantlay took an early lead, going up 2-0 after the first three holes.
The Bay got on the board using the “hammer” strategy on the par-5 4th hole with Min Woo Lee hitting a long iron to within 17 feet.
The match was briefly tied when The Bay used another hammer on the 7th hole, but Atlanta pulled ahead again, winning the short par-4 8th hole thanks to Horschel’s drive onto the putting surface.
Another hammer on the 9th hole extended Atlanta’s lead to 4-2 going into singles play and they dominated things from there.
Thomas did benefit from a lucky bounce on the 10th hole, avoiding a hazard and winning the hole to push Atlanta’s lead to 5-2 and on the par-3 12th hole Cantlay hit a clutch shot to within 4 feet of the pin.
The Bay’s Ludvig Åberg played a hammer before this hole, which Cantlay was forced to accept and then made his putt, securing three points and effectively clinching the match for Atlanta.
Atlanta had already secured victory before the last three holes were played but each team won one hole in the remaining singles play and they tied on the 15th hole.
Atlanta Drive now face the New York Golf Club in a best-of-three finals series beginning on March 24.
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