Atlanta Drive GC broke open a close match with six points during singles play to defeat Jupiter Links GC 9-1, ending Tiger Woods’ first season of TGL on Tuesday in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Woods’ Jupiter franchise and Rory McIlroy’s Boston Common Golf were eliminated from playoff contention thanks to the Monday results. Atlanta (4-1-0, 8 points) wound up as the third seed and will face The Bay Golf Club, the second seed, in the semifinals in two weeks.
The other playoff clubs are No. 1 seed Los Angeles Golf Club and No. 4 New York Golf Club, who will meet in the other semifinal.
Woods and McIlroy co-founded the virtual golf league and got it off the ground in 2025 after the league’s debut was pushed back a year when its purpose-built facility was damaged by storm winds in late 2023.
“I’m proud of my teammates, I’m proud of what we have built here and the excitement that we were able to bring to Jupiter and more importantly to the game of golf,” Woods said on the ESPN broadcast following the loss.
Jupiter (1-4-0, 2 points) fell behind 2-0 early in triples Tuesday night but got on the board when Nick Dunlap, playing on a one-match contract for Atlanta, hit a drive out of bounds at the sixth hole. Jupiter “threw the hammer” seeking to double the points on the hole. Atlanta instead declined the hammer and conceded the hole for one point.
Atlanta got the point back on the next hole and carried a 3-1 lead into singles. After Jupiter’s Tom Kim drew with Atlanta’s Billy Horschel and Woods split with Atlanta’s Lucas Glover, Max Homa went up against Dunlap on the par-3 12th hole and hit into a bunker. Homa failed to save par and Dunlap won the point.
After Horschel beat Kim for two points at No. 13, Jupiter, in desperation mode, threw the hammer to start Woods’ battle at the par-3 14th against Glover. When Glover hit his tee shot to 10 feet and change from the pin, he upped the ante and threw the hammer to raise the value to three points.
Jupiter accepted, but Woods’ tee shot sailed well over the green, and Atlanta won the hole going away.
–Field Level Media
