The Boston team extends its dominance in the second TGL season, securing the top spot with the season’s highest win. McIlroy and Thorbjörnsen shine while The Bay struggles with jetlag and penalties.
On Monday evening at the SoFi Center, Boston Common Golf demonstrated their title ambitions impressively. In Match 6 of the second TGL season, Rory McIlroy’s team swept The Bay Golf Club 9-1. With this decisive victory, Boston climbs undefeated (2-0-0) to first place in the SoFi Cup standings, tying with the defending champions Atlanta Drive GC. For The Bay Golf Club, however, the loss marks a poor start to the season with a record of 0-2-0.
Even Start Turns Into Disaster
The match started closely, tied 1-1 after two holes. But from that point, two factors defined the game: Boston’s long drives and The Bay’s penalties. The Bay lost four points to Boston after finding the penalty area on holes 1, 5, 12, and 13. Especially bitter was losing the ‘Team Hole’ on hole 9, as The Bay became the first TGL team this season to lose their own Team Hole when Wyndham Clark missed a birdie putt from just about 1.5 meters.
McIlroy and Thorbjornson in Top Form at TGL
Highlights kept coming for Boston Common Golf. Rory McIlroy broke several tee distance records, hitting 327 meters on hole 10, surpassing the previous record by nearly 15 meters. He also set a personal best of 326.5 meters on hole 4. After the match, McIlroy praised his young teammate: ‘Michael has been a fantastic addition to the team and adapted very easily to this golf style.’ Michael Thorbjörnsen showed nerves of steel on the greens, improving his singles record to 3-0-1 with key moments: an eagle putt from 3 meters on hole 4 to halve the hole, a birdie securing a point on hole 12, and finishing with an eagle putt from nearly 5 meters on hole 15. Thorbjörnsen commented, ‘I’m just having a lot of fun. I don’t really think about whether a hole is worth two points… I just try to enjoy playing good golf out here.’
Frustration and Fatigue for The Bay
It was a night to forget for The Bay Golf Club. Shane Lowry, visibly struggling with the aftereffects of travel, did not make excuses but shared his state: ‘I’m quite tired… I spent 17 hours on a plane in the last 24 hours.’ Lowry summed up the team’s mood: ‘It wasn’t great, was it? Yeah, we just didn’t play very well. We fell behind early… for some reason, most of the evening felt like we were in a bad position.’ Despite the defeat, there was a small highlight for The Bay as Wyndham Clark set a new TGL record with a massive 340-meter drive on hole 6.