Robert TheodorsonIt was an exciting weekend of golf with The American Express and Dubai Hero Challenge showing off golf’s brightest stars in a season preview of what is to come!
TGL returns to action this Monday night, January 26, @ 7:00 PM ET when Boston Common (1 – 0 – 0) takes on The Bay (0 – 1 – 0).
The fifth match of Season 2 features two evenly powered squads that have the firepower to go all the way.
In their first match of the season, Boston scored their first-ever team victory against Justin Rose’s Los Angeles Golf Club, winning handedly 7 – 5 behind an all-star performance from Michael Thorbjornsen.
The Bay, statistically one of the most dominant teams from Season 1, looks to rebound after a tough 4 – 7 loss against the reigning champs, the Atlanta Drive.
Team Lineups and Featured Holes
Boston Common
- Rory McIlroy
- Michael Thorbjornsen
- Keegan Bradley
The Bay
- Shane Lowry
- Min Woo Lee
- Wyndham Clark
Fresh off his season opener at The American Express at PGA West, Min Woo Lee gets his first crack at TGL action this season.
Min Woo hopes to add a spark to a Bay club that found itself drastically underperforming in its season opener. The original trio of Lowry, Aberg, and Clark were inefficient against Atlanta, losing roughly two-thirds of total holes played.
Boston returns the same lineup from their first match against Los Angeles. Michael Thorbjornsen gets the nod once again with the noticeable absence of Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Scott for a second consecutive match. The good news for Boston is that Thorbjornsen took every advantage of his first TGL opportunity and led the squad to 1 – 0 record and currently holds the team lead in total points scored.
Featured Holes
- Storrowed (Boston Common Team Hole) Hole 4
- Cenote (Off the Backboard) Hole 5
- Bay Breaker (The Bay Team Hole) Hole 9
- Stinger (Tiger Woods Inspired) Hole 11
- The Last Hole (Post Apocalyptic San Francisco Par 3) Hole 12
Stinger is quickly becoming a fan favorite hole. Last week, Jupiter Links’ Akshat Bhatia hit an amazing stinger drive that is likely to make the cut for best shots of the year.
There are few players who can even handle the tee shot on Stinger without taking a penalty. There is however, a select few like Bhatia and Matt Fitzpatrick who are worth the price of admission.
For the second time this season, we’ll also see The Last Hole, an incredible Par 3 that requires the tee shot to go over or around the top of The Golden Gate Bridge.
Projected Top Performers
Boston
Normally, Rory McIlroy would be our undisputed choice for top performer, but remember that McIlroy will be on short rest having to travel back to Florida from Dubai in less than a day’s time. That jet lag combined with just having finished a relatively grueling DP World Tour tournament is extremely taxing on the body.
For that reason, we’re going with Michael Thorbjornsen who will be making his second consecutive substitute appearance.
Thorbjornsen was the most efficient member of Boston Common in their first match against Los Angeles. The substitute won 6 points in 11 total holes played including winning both singles holes played.
Thorbjornsen, like Chris Gotterup before him, has shown TGL teams and executives that it’s perhaps time to expand the rosters to include elite talents like himself.
The Bay
Wyndham Clark remains one of, if not the best, golfers in TGL. Despite the entire Bay squad having a rather rough first match against Atlanta, there’s plenty of reason to believe this team will bounce back, and big part of that will come from last season’s points leader in Clark.
We’re also expecting big things from Min Woo Lee who just finished some cross-country travel to get to the SoFi Center in time for his season debut. Dubbed Dr. Chipinski, watch for Min Woo to sink one, if not several, unlikely chip ins to boost The Bay’s fortunes!
Final Predictions
Monday’s matchup may serve as a preview for the TGL Season 2 finals as both teams are stacked and ready to make a run towards their first championship.
Slight advantage goes to Boston Common as Season 2 seems to be the year of the substitute player. Pair that with the fact that the entire Bay team is just finishing up their own tournaments: Lowry (Hero Dubai) and Lee/Clark (AMEX) – Boston will be the more rested and ready team.
