With Tiger Woods’ Jupiter Links losing to the New York Golf Club on Tuesday, every team has now played at […]
With Tiger Woods’ Jupiter Links losing to the New York Golf Club on Tuesday, every team has now played at least one match in the second season of TGL.
It has also been a wild start to the season for Atlanta, the reigning TGL champions, starting off 2-0 through the first three weeks.
Let’s break down the winners of losers in the early portion of TGL Season 2.
Winner: Boston Common Golf Club
In the five matches of the inaugural season, Boston Common Golf Club did not win a match, going 0-4-1. In large part, Boston Common did not hit fairways at a high clip, ranking last with a 60% fairway accuracy rate. That all changed in its opening match when it took down Los Angeles Golf Club, 7-5, on Jan. 2. Led by captain Rory McIlroy, Boston Common hit 70% of its fairways and also 60% of its putts from 10-30 feet to earn its first TGL win.
Also read: The Masters 2025: Winners and Losers as Rory McIlroy achieves the Grand Slam
Loser: TGL Ratings challenge
In the first three matches of TGL season two, TGL challenged itself with the windows for competition. However, the ratings showed it did not perform to the benchmark of last year’s first three matches. TGL tried to have its opening match between the morning and afternoon slate of the NFL games. In addition, 15-time major winner Tiger Woods did not appear until the fourth match on Jan. 13.
- Dec. 28 (Same as NFL Week 17): 646K viewers on ABC (nearly 30% drop from last year’s first match)
- Jan. 2: 354K viewers (65% drop from 1.05 million viewers with Tiger Woods playing)
- Jan. 6: 518K viewers (25% drop from 682K viewers)
Winner: Replacement faces
Because of injuries, new players are stepping up in the absence of others due to scheduling or injuries. In the season-opening match, Corey Conners and Chris Gotterup competed for Patrick Cantlay and Lucas Glover for Atlanta. Both Conners and Gotterup played pivotal roles to earn a 6-4 win over New York on Dec. 28. On the flip side, Massachusetts native Michael Thorbjornsen competed for Boston Common and shone under the lights. Thorbjornsen became the first TGL player to nail four putts outside 10 feet in a single match, including making an eagle on the final hole to seal the win.
Related: TGL Season 1 Recap: 10 Winners and Losers as LA Golf Clinches Top Seed, Tiger Woods’ Team Struggles
Winner: Atlanta Drive
The reigning champions are proving why they hoisted the trophy this season. After taking down New York in the opener, Atlanta continued its winning ways with a 7-4 win over Bay Golf Club on Jan. 6. Gotterup, playing in his second match, chipped in to tie the score at two on the sixth hole. Then in singles, Atlanta won four consecutive holes, beginning with Gotterup’s apex on Stinger at just 15.9 feet into the fairway for a perfect shot. The victory gives Atlanta its seventh consecutive win, dating back to last season. Cantlay, Atlanta’s hammer expert, helped Horschel and Gotterup decline three hammers while also picking up two points of their own.
Loser: Jupiter Link’s Shot clock violation
In TGL, to ensure the pace of play is implemented, a 40-second shot clock is used. In TGL season one, only one team committed a shot clock violation. That same team committed another shot clock violation on Tuesday. Last year, it was Jupiter Link’s Tiger Woods. This year, Woods’ teammate, Kevin Kisner, started his putt after double zeros were shown on the clock. As a result, Jupiter Links was assessed a one-stroke penalty. Furthermore, that penalty led to New York winning the hole and cutting the deficit to 3-2 before going on to win.
Also read: Scottie Scheffler’s 10 Best Moments of 2025
Winner: New holes
In this second season of TGL, changes have been made with the greens as well as new holes. Every team has created its own hole and will be played in their respective matches. The theme beyond the holes coincides with the relative geography of each team. Two of the new holes are named Cenote and Stinger. Cenote is a par-3 lasting 259 yards. However, instead of the fairway being in front of the green, it is behind the green that funnels down to the putting surface. Thorbjornsen and Los Angeles’ Sahith Theegala both landed inside of 20 feet before Thorbjorn knocked in his 17-footer for birdie to break the 5-5 tie.
Loser: Stinger
One of the new holes has brought an early challenge for some of the players. Stinger is a par-4 double dogleg that requires hitting Woods’ most famous shot. The tee shot is a low driving shot, barely getting off the ground. As a result, this hole can lead to a wide range of scores. On Stinger, the apex of a solid tee shot on Stinger is 40 feet high at most. During the opening match, for Horschel and New York’s Xander Schauffele both hit the rock as the latter needed to take a penalty on the double dogleg par-4 hole.
Winner: New York Golf Club
Through two matches, New York Golf Club started off 1-1, including its win over Jupiter Links on Tuesday. On Tuesday, New York started slow before finishing off the win. With the trio of Matt Fitzpatrick, Cameron Young, and Rickie Fowler, they turned around a 2-0 deficit after the first two holes to secure eight of the nine final points for an 8-3 win. That also included scoring the final seven points, including Fowler securing two points with the hammer on the 13th hole.
Winner: TGL expands to women
The exponential growth of TGL took its next step on Jan. 6 when its company, TMRW Sports, announced it would partner with the LPGA Tour and form WTGL. As a result, before Atlanta and Bay Golf competed, 15-time LPGA Tour winner Lexi Thompson was on hand to help announce the news. Thompson told ESPN, “What TGL has done for the guys, it brings a whole different fanbase for the women. I think fans really get involved more and see the personalities of the guys and now the women.” As a result, WTGL could see Nelly and Jessica Korda, Charley Hull, among other big personalities on the LPGA Tour.
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