Article body analysed
Max Homa and Tiger Woods relax during a recent TGL match. Greg Lovett / IMAGN Images Can the TGL’s So Fi Center handle a Taylor Swift appearance? We just might find out Sunday night. Golf is on an amazing run of incredible athletes and popular celebrities promoting the game. Congratulations to the team at TGL for adding NFL player celebrity Jason Kelce to the ESPN broadcast on Sunday night. Jason took his invitation to the next level when, during a recent episode of the “New Heights” podcast he hosts with his brother Travis, he extended an invitation to the Kansas City Chiefs tight end to join him Sunday. I doubt Taylor joins the brothers on this jaunt, but I did see Tom Brady in the Sofi Center last week! With all of golf’s current popularity, don’t blame me if it happens. Advertisement This is the final week of TGL’s regular season, with three matches scheduled to wrap it up and the top four teams in the standings gaining entrance into the So Fi Cup playoffs. Boston Common Golf (3-1) and the Atlanta Drive Golf Club (3-2) have clinched two of those spots. The remaining four teams all have a mathematical chance of picking up one of the two remaining blank spaces. The Los Angeles Golf Club (2-2) leads the contenders with a 78 percent chance of getting in. If Boston wins on Sunday night or loses in overtime, it will earn the No. 1 seed, making for quite the turnaround and the biggest story of TGL’s Season 2 after the team did not win a match in Season 1. Who else may have an advantage to pick up one of those coveted playoff spots? Jupiter Links Golf Club (1-2) owns a losing record, but also has two matches in week 9. Win both, and its in! Sunday night’s original audience draw was not Kelce’s commentary. TGL was looking for a Tiger Woods versus Rory Mc Ilroy tilt to start the final week of Season 2. Both titans of TGL will be in the building, but Rory will be the only one competing. Mc Ilroy leads off a strong lineup for his team’s fifth match and will hit the first tee shot. He will be individually matched up against Akshay Bhatia, who has been a spark for Jupiter Links GC. Speaking of sparks, Tom Kim will be making his Season 2 debut in Match 13, going against another passionate player in Keegan Bradley. This is my featured H2H in this contest. There’s no bad blood between these two, but each brings a ton of emotion to the So Fi turf. From an experience perspective, Bradley is the only TGL player to have competed in every match for his club. Kim, on the other hand, will see eight new Season 2 holes in this match. Kim and Max Homa are also competing all weekend in the Cognizant Classic. Without a decent amount of prep time, Boston Common holds an edge in course experience. The Match 13 scorecard also favors the Ballfrogs. At 5, 943 yards, this selection of 15 holes presents a very difficult driving test, with players hitting these 10 fairways 56 percent of the time. Boston Common leads the league in driving accuracy and distance, and there is going to be a bunch of daylight between its average off the tee and that of Jupiter Links. We know all too well how that has worked in Season 2 for both squads. To compound the advantage, Boston Common is also ranked first in mid-range putting efficiency, meaning putts between 10 and 30 feet. Convert those birdies and win holes, which is why Boston is also tied for the league lead in Triples points won with 16 in four matches! Jupiter Links leads the league in greens in regulation percentage (GIR), but I still worry about the fatigue factor. Kim and Homa are concentrating on their PGA Tour position while the Boston boys are sitting back waiting. Match 14 on Monday night features the Los Angeles Golf Club against the New York Golf Club (1-3). NYGC lost in the So Fi Cup Finals less than a year ago, and now faces the most arduous climb to the cup playoffs after suffering two difficult losses last week to The Bay GC and Boston Common. The Bronx Bombers must shake it off and play their best match of the season because LAGC is bringing back its OWGR lineup after disposing of defending champion Atlanta Drive GC last Monday night, 7-3. If LAGC continues to use the lineup card of Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood and Collin Morikawa, it might be the favorites to take it all. All three players are ranked in the top five in the world! With this starting lineup in play, Los Angeles easily becomes the most accurate team in the league. That gives it an advantage on a Match 14 scorecard that has caused havoc over TGL’s recent history. This collection of 15 holes has caused 43 penalty strokes. Considering seven of those holes did not even exist in Season 1, that’s cause for concern. New York GC is ranked fourth in Driving Accuracy and (LAGC second) and fifth in GIR% (LAGC fourth). Those Los Angeles rankings stem from multiple Season 2 lineups. Morikawa and Fleetwood are archetype players for this format. Combined with Rose, they have been almost unbeatable in alternate shot. LAGC is tied with Boston for first in Triples points won. New York must get off to a quick start. Both teams are excellent around the greens, with NYGC ranked first in scrambling and LAGC ranked second. I believe this matchup comes down to the H2Hs, and lineup choices. My featured individual matchup is Morikawa versus Cameron Young. The former has a 5-3-8 singles record as compared to the latter’s 6-10-4 career resume H2H. Diving deeper, these two will match up on two par-3 tee shots and five high-leverage approach opportunities. With Morikawa’s iron game back to major championship caliber, Young must win those moments for NYGC to have a chance. Advertisement The Los Angeles Golf Club continues to make a statement by putting out this incredible collection of recent winners. Rose, Fleetwood and Morikawa have won a total of five times worldwide in the last eight months! Just a fortnight or so from now, do not be surprised if you see LAGC competing against Boston Common Golf for the So Fi Cup. Pick Boston Common in Match 13 and Los Angeles in Match 14 to win. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle