Tony Finau’s TGL debut started with a dance and ended with a sensational come-from-behind finish.
Since Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood had prior commitments, Finau signed a one-match contract with the Los Angeles Golf Club to play in Monday’s match against New York. He danced his way to his first tee shot and looked as happy as ever to be at the SoFi Center.
But for the first 11 holes, the move to bring Finau in did not pay off. Finau, Collin Morikawa, and Sahith Theegala all wore frowns as they faced a 4-0 deficit. New York seemed to hole everything, with Cameron Young and Rickie Fowler holing the two longest TGL putts to date. Fowler’s long-range bomb came on the first hole, thus deflating Finau’s highly anticipated debut.
New York looked destined to grab their second victory of the season, too — it would have done wonders for their TGL playoff prospects. According to TGL statistician Justin Ray, Los Angeles had only a 2-percent chance of winning when Theegala stepped foot on the 12th tee.
“‘So you’re telling me there’s a chance,’ right? Famous Jim Carrey line,” Finau said after.
“It was so much fun. I really couldn’t have had more fun. We were playing fine in the beginning, even though we were in a deep hole.”
Indeed, Los Angeles still had a chance. Theegala then drained a 28-footer for birdie, giving Los Angeles its first point of the day. Finau then threw the hammer, thus making the par-4 13th hole worth two valuable points. After finding the fairway, Finau stuck his approach to nine feet away, drained the putt for birdie, and suddenly, Los Angeles had turned a 4-0 deficit into a 4-3 ballgame with two holes to play.
One hole later, Morikawa stepped up at the 170-yard par-3 14th and stuck his approach to six feet away. The two-time major winner then made the putt, knotting the score at four. Theegala and Fowler each birdied the final hole, a par-5, which set the stage for overtime.
TGL’s overtime consists of a best-of-three closest-to-the-pin competition from roughly 50 yards away. It’s a quick yet effective way to determine the winner, similar to how the NHL uses a shootout in regular-season games.
Finau went first and hit his approach 29 feet, six inches away from the hole — five inches closer than where Fitzpatrick hit his, thus giving Los Angeles the lead out of the gate. Then, Morikawa hit his attempt six feet away while Fowler could not get inside of that. Morikawa’s shot won the match, and Los Angeles clinched a playoff spot in the process.
“Sahith led us off by getting the first point,” Finau added.
“We were able to throw the hammer and I was able to hit a good shot and make a good putt, and then Collin tied it up, and it was fair game after that. So fun to be a part of matches like this. Momentum is a crazy thing in sports, and happy we ended up on top.”
It was not so fun for the other side, however.
“This one is a bummer because we got off to a good start, but those boys closed pretty hard on us, making some birdies in singles,” Fowler said.
“Yeah, it is what it is.”
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
