New York dominates Jupiter to earn first victory

Golfers are a superstitious breed. They keep lucky ball markers for years, they swear off cursed clubs and always change something when things aren’t going well.

For a New York Golf Club team desperate for its first win in TGL presented by SoFi, switching up the intro music Tuesday certainly didn’t hurt ahead of a 10-3 win over Jupiter Links Golf Club.

Rickie Fowler, Matt Fitzpatrick and Cameron Young looked ready to go as soon as the trumpet hit with “Narco” playing them into SoFi Center, led by New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso.

“We did what we wanted to do coming out,” Fowler said. “We wanted to get out to a better start than we have and get ahead. That’s a lot more fun than the last two matches in here, for sure.”

After scoring two points in their first two matches combined, New York logged three in the first three holes Tuesday and raced out to an 8-2 lead in Triples. There was a noticeable focus and intensity from the group and they took the crowd out of the match right away.

That’s tough to do when Tiger Woods is on the opposite side. Woods, Kevin Kisner and Tom Kim struggled to get anything going early, falling victim to an early Hammer throw from New York for a two-point swing at the third hole to fall behind 3-0.

New York built the lead to 8-0 through eight holes and put on a show for their supporters, including Alonso, Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil and New York Yankees legend and first-ballot Hall of Fame pitcher CC Sabathia.

Jupiter finally got on the board after throwing the Hammer at the par-5 ninth, with Kim dropping a 12-footer for birdie. Woods added another point at the 10th when he birdied the par-5 Sterling for a Singles win over Cameron Young.

Woods also provide some comic relief late when asking for a yardage on his approach at Temple, the par-4 13th hole. Woods’ longtime friend and business partner Rob McNamara told him 99, as in, 199 yards.

The message was lost in translation and Woods hit pitching wedge 100 yards short of the flag, as his teammates fell over laughing.

“One of the most embarrassing moments of my golf career just happened,” Woods said with a big smile.

This was also the first TGL match for Woods without his mother, Kultida Woods, in attendance following her passing earlier this month.

“I think that she really enjoyed watching me play,” Woods said. “It was awesome to have her in the stands and watching us play, having the kids here and family and friends. It was a great moment and I’m definitely appreciative of her being here.”

New York picked up two points with the win and is now very much alive in the postseason race in fourth place with the top four teams in the SoFi Cup Standings making the playoffs. In the event of a tie, total holes won for the season will be used to determine the top four.

“I feel like we did play really well tonight,” Fitzpatrick said. “Just (want to) do a bit more of that next Monday and hopefully jump up a couple more spots.”

New York is back at it next week and looks to keep the momentum going at 5 p.m. ET Monday (Feb. 24) against Los Angeles Golf Club. Jupiter next plays at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday (Feb. 25), taking on The Bay Golf Club, which is undefeated and leads the league.