After three months, 18 matches, 181 points, 83 Hammer throws and 270 holes, it all comes down to this.
No. 3 seed Atlanta Drive GC and No. 4 seed New York Golf Club in a best-of-three Finals Series for the SoFi Cup.
Atlanta holds a 1-0 series edge after a thrilling 6-5 win on Monday night in Match 1. It means New York has it all to do, with Match 2 set for 7 p.m. on ESPN and Match 3 (if necessary) at 9 p.m. Tuesday, also on ESPN.
TV & STREAMING: How To Watch TGL In Your Country
The Finals is a culmination of the inaugural season of TGL presented by SoFi, with Atlanta and New York earning the right to play for the title with Semifinal victories over The Bay Golf Club and Los Angeles Golf Club.
The winning team from Tuesday will earn $9 million and the honor of going down in the books as the first-ever league champion.
After Monday's result, both teams will roll with the same three players on Tuesday, with Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler and Cameron Young for New York and Justin Thomas, Billy Horschel and Patrick Cantlay for Atlanta.
TGL 101: Everything you need to know about season 1
Match 2: New York Golf Club vs. Atlanta Drive
Lineups
New York Golf Club: Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler, Cameron Young
Atlanta Drive GC: Justin Thomas, Billy Horschel, Patrick Cantlay
Playing Order Reveal
Here’s the order in which players will tee off for their teams:
TRIPLES
SINGLES
3 Things to Know
Putt for Dough: It’s no surprise that the top two putting teams in the league have advanced to the Finals Series. New York was first and Atlanta second in total feet of putts made after the Semifinals.
Single-Minded: If you want to get to Atlanta, you better do it early. They’ve been the best team in Singles this season by a wide margin and they stepped up again in Match 1, winning four points from the six holes on Monday.
Head Start: We’ve heard players talk all season about the importance of getting an early lead. That’s been especially true for both of these teams. Atlanta is 5-0 on the year when scoring first while New York is 2-0-1.
How They Got Here
Atlanta Drive GC: Atlanta got off to a winning start on the year and never looked back, with the right mix of skillsets and personalities to form a true championship contender.
The season began with a matchup against 0-1 New York. Little did anyone know we were watching an early Finals Series preview, with Thomas, Cantlay and Horschel coming through in a 4-0 victory. Atlanta began the match with the Hammer and never put it in play, shortly after which the Hammer rules were adjusted to give teams three Hammers at the start of each match.
Atlanta ripped off another victory in a 6-5 win over Los Angeles Golf Club to kick off a Presidents Day Tripleheader. They suffered their only loss of the season in the match that immediately followed, falling to The Bay Golf Club in a 6-5 nail-biter.
Atlanta has since won three straight to get into this position and has outscored opponents 18-4 over the last two – including a 9-3 upset win over No. 2 seed The Bay in the Semifinals.
New York Golf Club: Those paying close attention knew that New York would be a championship contender if they could just get into the postseason. That looked like a tall order earlier this season after an 0-2 start in which NYGC wasn’t competitive.
New York played in the very first TGL match on Jan. 7 and fell behind 6-0 through six holes in an eventual 9-2 loss to The Bay. NYGC failed to get on the board in their second match of the season, a 4-0 loss to Atlanta.
With Schauffele out due to injury, New York fought back and earned its first win in blowout fashion with a 10-3 victory over Jupiter Links Golf Club. NYGC won seven of the first eight holes and set the tone for the second half of the season.
While an Overtime loss to Los Angeles followed, New York dug deep and delivered in a must-win match against Boston Common Golf to secure the fourth spot in the playoffs. They kept it rolling with an upset win over Los Angeles in the Semifinals and now lead the league in a host of categories since the third regular season match, including holes won, points won and feet of putts made.
The Course
Teams will play different course layouts in Match 2 and Match 3 (if necessary). The Match 3 layout (which was also played in Match 1) has seen far fewer penalties accumulated on the year – eight compared to 26 in the layout for Match 2.
HOLE DESIGNS: Check out the full library of TGL holes
HOLE SPOTLIGHT
No. 13: Straight Up, Par 4
On Monday, Cameron Young won the point over Justin Thomas at Straight Up. On Tuesday in Match 2, it will be Schauffele taking on Thomas.