FEATURE
By Tom Cunneff
The opening match of TGL’s second season at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., on Dec. 28, was ostensibly a match between the New York Golf Club and the Atlanta Golf Club, but there were a few times when it was an all-Met Area affair. The 2015 MGA Player of the Year, Cameron Young, and the 2019 MGA Player of the Year, Chris Gotterup, who was a late-minute sub for Patrick Cantlay on AGC, went head-to-head numerous times inside the high-tech arena.
It started with each hitting the opening drives for their teams in the 15-hole match and ended with Young rolling in a 24-foot eagle putt on Gotterup on the 13th hole to win the second of their two singles holes. Gotterup got the better of Young with a birdie on No. 10, however, their other singles hole, even if he was a little conflicted.
“I was wearing a Yankees hat (this morning) and took it off and switched it coming in today,” said Gotterup after Atlanta’s 6-4 victory. “I’m a New Jersey guy. ... It was cool to meet the Cohen family before, too.”
The Cohen family owns the New York Golf Club, along with the New York Mets, of course. The limited partners on NYGC include some of the city’s all-time great athletes – Eli Manning, Derek Jeter, CC Sabathia, Michael Strahan, and John McEnroe, as well as Jimmy Fallon. Young is excited to wear the city across his chest, at least figuratively (TGL still needs to figure out the whole uniform thing).
That sea-saw dynamic was on full display during the opening match. After trailing 4–1 through 10 holes, Young and teammate Matt Fitzpatrick punched back, with Young draining the eagle on the drivable par-4 13th and Fitzpatrick burying a 21-foot birdie on the next hole to level the match at 4–4 heading to the last. On the final hole, AGC’s Billy Horschel poured in a 37-foot eagle putt before NYGC’s Xander Schauffele missed a 15-footer to tie. It was reminiscent of last season’s Finals, where Horschel’s clutch birdie broke New York hearts and delivered Atlanta the inaugural SoFi Cup.
But New York’s identity in TGL has been forged in resilience. The team, which also includes Rickie Fowler, started 0–2 last season before surging to the Finals with timely putting and disciplined shot selection under the shot clock. (The club also has the league’s coolest logo, the Blue Birdie, with a body made from a driver head while perched on a tee.)
Season 2 arrives with upgrades that affect both the aesthetic and the strategy: a bigger GreenZone with expanded pin locations and bunkering; Unity 6 graphics via Full Swing for more immersive environments; and six official “team holes” with city-specific backdrops. New York’s Big Apple – debuting as Hole 4 – gave the home team its first point of the match, punctuated by Young’s 336-yard drive down the fairway and Gotterup’s miss right into a gaping bunker. Atlanta answered with its own team hole, Fore-0-Fore, on Hole 9, tossing the Hammer and converting to enter Singles up 3–1. That tug-of-war, a battle over momentum measured in points and punctuated by strategic Hammer usage, is what makes TGL more volatile and exciting than your typical golf tournament.
The Hammer remains the league’s tactical accelerant, doubling the stakes when thrown and accepted. In the opener, New York matched Atlanta in total holes won (4–4) and split singles points (3–3). The difference was in Hammer value: Atlanta’s two Hammer holes yielded four points; New York’s two produced just one.
Players praised the redesigned GreenZone – chips are no longer into the grain – making around-the-green play fairer but not necessarily simpler. Expect more putts to drop, more risk-reward decisions to count, and more shots that demand precise trajectories this season. That was crystal clear on the new Stinger hole, which forces low tee shots under a rock outcropping roughly 50 feet off the ground. Schauffele and Horschel both clipped the rock after sailing under it in practice the night before – a reminder that TGL’s virtual course can tighten tolerances that make for a more dramatic broadcast.
The adjustments also extend to format and flow. Triples (Holes 1–9) remains alternate shot among each team’s three players, with Singles (Holes 10–15) offering head-to-head mini-matches that carry outsized weight. The six official Team Holes with localized visuals deepen the connection between team and city – and New York’s Big Apple is a perfect fit, a scene-setter with swagger.
Other new hole designs will also elevate the matches. Gil Hanse – joined by Beau Welling Design, Piz Golf, and Nicklaus Design – helped craft Season 2’s catalog with holes that push strategy, shot-making, and volatility. Stone & Steeple, the first Hanse-designed hole announced, nods to New England with Sahara-style bunkering, a rock wall down the left marked as a penalty area, and a church steeple and graveyard signaling that anything left is dead.
If last season was proof of concept, this season is refinement. The tech is cleaner. The visuals are richer. The holes are bolder. And the fan experience – earbuds for in-venue audio, improved screen graphics, themed team holes – turns a two-hour match into a shared atmosphere. Season 2 is designed for momentum – 15 regular-season matches spread across Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, and select Fridays, culminating in March playoffs. Every team plays five matches, and every point matters.
After trouncing Tiger Woods’ Jupiter Links Golf Club 8–3 on January 13, NYGC’s next test is February 24 against the Bay Golf Club, whose roster includes Wyndham Clark, Min Woo Lee, Shane Lowry, and Ludvig Åberg. The league itself continues to expand its footprint: doubleheaders in late February, a Motor City Golf Club franchise joining next season, and a WTGL for the best women golfers next season as well.
For New York, the mission is simple and exacting: embrace the city’s appetite for big moments and win more of them. The opener offered the reminder and the roadmap. The rest of Season 2 offers the chance to turn those margins into a banner raising of their own.