Clutch chip-ins (and Billy Horschel) spark Atlanta Drive’s second TGL victory

Atlanta Drive GC looked to continue their hot start to the 2026 TGL season as they dressed Billy Horschel, Chris Gotterup, and Patrick Cantlay, while the Bay Golf Club had their season debut and sent out Shane Lowry, Ludvig Aberg, and Wyndham Clark.

Gotterup was in for Atlanta for a second straight game as Justin Thomas and Lucas Glover continue to recover from their offseason injuries.

LPGA Announces WTGL Arrival

During this match, we saw LPGA CEO Craig Kessler announce that the inaugural WTGL season will debut in the winter of 2026.

Eleven-time LPGA winner Lexi Thompson was present for this match and was interviewed during the broadcast as well. Earlier in the day she played the 'Cenote' hole and reiterated that this league will help to spotlight the women's game and grow it with the top golfers' personalities on display.

Triples

The Bay Golf Club had a tough first matchup as they teed off against the defending champions, who had already played a match. The Bay's rust was apparent early as both Aberg and Clark put their shots into the penalty area on the second hole.

They bounced back nicely by being in position to win the next two holes; however, they made the decision to throw Hammers when they were clearly going to take the hole. Atlanta made the easy decision to decline those holes, leaving the Bay with only one Hammer for the rest of the match.

The match was turned on its heels on the 6th hole, when the Bay had a nine-foot birdie putt while Atlanta had a difficult chip from off the green. Gotterup had to have his feet in the bunker while hitting this shot so the Bay was fairly confident that they were about to take another point. However, after hitting the chip, Gotterup said, "I clipped it", but the ball found its way into the hole.

Atlanta subsequently threw a Hammer which the Bay declined to tie the match at 2-2. After this hole, any momentum that the Bay had disappeared.

On the 8th hole, Aberg put another ball into the penalty area to give Atlanta another point as they went ahead 3-2.

On the 9th hole, the Bay appeared to be on their way to winning a point to tie the match as they had a four-foot putt for birdie. Once again, Atlanta responded with Patrick Cantlay (who we actually saw smile twice on the evening) chipping in from over 41 feet for birdie. Clark was able to make his putt to tie the hole as the Bay trailed by one point going into the Singles portion of the match.

Singles

Shane Lowry led off the 10th hole by handing Billy Horschel a rare Singles loss for him as the Bay threw their last Hammer. This tied the match but not for long as Atlanta would retake the league on the infamous 'Stinger' hole.

Aberg once again put his tee shot in the water while Gotterup used a 1-iron to hit a great shot underneath the rock to ultimately win the hole. On the following hole, Atlanta threw a Hammer to force the Bay to concede or attempt to make a nine-foot putt to halve the hole. The Bay declined the Hammer to go down 5-3 with three holes to play.

As we have seen multiple times in the TGL's short history, yet another match ended with Billy Horschel's putter.

With Lowry being in for par, Horschel had a seven-foot putt to end the match for Atlanta, and yet again, there was no doubt. With the match being over, the teams still compete for the entire round, as 'Holes Won' is a tiebreaker to determine who gets in the playoffs if two teams finish with the same amount of points.

Gotterup defeated Aberg again, and Clark was able to win the last hole for the Bay with the final score being 7-4 in favor of Atlanta.

Looking Ahead

Jupiter Links (0-0-0) makes their season debut against New York Golf Club (0-1-0) who are looking for their first win. Jupiter's roster is comprised of Max Homa, Kevin Kisner, and Akshay Bhatia, who is making his first appearance in the TGL. New York is sending out Matt Fitzpatrick, Cameron Young, and Rickie Fowler. This game will take place on Tuesday, January 13th at 7:00 EST on ESPN.