The first match of the TGL Finals went the way of Los Angeles Golf Club, which battled through a back-and-forth match with Jupiter Links to win 6-5. LAGC now takes a 1-0 series lead into Tuesday night’s finale, set to feature as many as two matches (if necessary) to determine the league’s second champion.
Los Angeles winning Match 2, set for 7 p.m. ET, would give the club its first TGL title. Jupiter will need to win twice on Tuesday to claim the championship in comeback fashion.
The de facto home team will get a major boost for that match, as captain Tiger Woods announced he will be in the lineup and play for the first time all season, making his return from back surgery in October 2025 to help Jupiter try and keep its season alive.
Monday night’s Match 1 was not exactly a dazzling display of golfing excellence, as both teams took turns making sloppy mistakes that cost them points.
LAGC took an early 1-0 lead, but Jupiter moved back in front 2-1 after Sahith Theegala and Tommy Fleetwood missed putts to tie from inside 4 feet on back-to-back holes. Justin Rose picked them up on the 8th hole with a chip-in birdie from 35 feet after both teams missed the green to tie the match going to the final hole of triples.
Jupiter went back up, 3-2, on the par-5 9th hole after Theegala found a waste bunker off the tee that forced a layup, and LAGC decided to decline a hammer thrown by Jupiter after reaching the greenside area in two.
In singles, Rose continued to keep L.A. in the match, tying the affair 3-3 with a win over Max Homa on the first hole after Homa took his turn missing a short putt, lipping out a 3-footer for the tie. Tommy Fleetwood gave L.A. a 4-3 lead on the next hole after Tom Kim hit a woeful drive way off line, forcing a layup on the long par 4, Alpine. He went into rough, and L.A. threw a hammer that was declined.
However, that lead was short-lived after Theegala missed the giant ramp on the par 3, Cenote, and went in the water. Kevin Kisner finally hit a good shot that ramped to 6 feet from the cup, and L.A. conceded after Theegala put his third into the bunker to even the match once again at 4-4.
Jupiter reclaimed the lead on the 13th after Homa drove the green and Rose missed the latest short putt for birdie, giving Jupiter a 5-4 lead.
After some scratchy golf, the best sequence of the match arrived on the short par 3, Cliffhanger. Kim stuffed his tee shot to 6 feet before Woods threw the hammer, forcing L.A. into a tough decision. A loss on the hole would drop the match, but if they declined, the best they could do on the last hole is force sudden death. They accepted, and Fleetwood tucked a wedge inside Kim’s tee shot to flip the pressure.
Both players made their birdie putts, and the match shifted to the final hole with Jupiter up 5-4. L.A. threw the hammer before the tee shots, turning it into a two-point hole to give them a chance at the win if Theegala could beat Kisner on a par 5, where he had a significant length advantage.
That played out to L.A.’s favor, especially after Kisner’s 3 wood off the tee ran through into the rough, while Theegala carried the cross bunker with driver to leave an iron in. Kisner chunked a 7 wood from the rough into the rough again, and Theegala found the green. After Theegala left his eagle putt just short, Kisner nearly chipped in for a birdie to tie the hole and win the match, but it slid by on the left side and gave L.A. the 1-0 lead going into Tuesday night.
Both teams will hope to be better when meeting in Match 2. As Homa so astutely stated on the 12th hole, “This is an awful match,” but in the spirit of March Madness, it was close despite poor execution, and thus, made for an exciting finish.
Kisner did produce one of the best shots of the night with his tee shot on Cenote, but he otherwise struggled. He certainly wasn’t the only culprit in Jupiter failing to close out the match, as both Kim and Homa left shots out there at the SoFi Center on Monday night. After the rough opener, Jupiter will make a major lineup adjustment for Tuesday’s action with Woods stepping into the lineup for the first time this season.
Perhaps the biggest challenge for Jupiter is that L.A. likely won’t play as poorly as they did in the first match either, as all three of Rose, Theegala and Fleetwood had their struggles. Theegala was wild with the driver on a few occasions, and none of them were sharp with the putter, but they were still able to grind out a win and take control of the best-of-three Finals.