Justin Thomas led the Atlanta Dive GC to a 9-3 victory over Shane Lowry’s The Bay on Tuesday to set up a showdown with New York in the inaugural TGL Golf Finals Series next week.
Atlanta had entered the par-three 12th with a 5-2 advantage when Patrick Cantlay sealed the win by making his putt with three holes to play.
They will now move on to face Xander Schauffele’s New York after they knocked out No 1-seeded Los Angeles with a 6-4 win on Monday night.
“They are starting to play well at the right time,” said Thomas. “I like our team and I like our chances. I’m excited. It’s gonna be a lot of fun.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Rory McIlroy was shocked by Justin Thomas’ lucky bounce during the second TGL semi-final
The Bay had been without former US Open champion Wyndham Clark, dominant in multiple statistical categories in TGL this season, after he was ruled out due to a neck injury that saw him withdraw during The Players Championship last week.
That meant Thomas, Billy Horschel and Cantlay of Atlanta took on Lowry, Min Woo Lee and Ludvig Åberg, the latter trio of which did not convert a putt until the 14th hole with the match already over.
Atlanta were leading 4-2 through nine holes when Thomas was gifted a lucky bounce to help him avoid a hazard to the right of the green from his iron shot at the par-five 10th, paving the way for him to edge out Lowry with a two-putt par.
“That is the luckiest bounce I’ve ever seen,” said Players Championship winner and league co-founder Rory McIlroy.
McIlroy featured briefly on commentary having seen his Boston Common team miss out on the playoffs following their 10-6 loss to New York.
“Shane [Lowry] was talking about Wyndham having FOMO [fear of missing out],” said McIlroy. “I’m certainly having a lot of FOMO. I wish I was out there playing instead of watching.”
With victory for Atlanta, it means that neither of the top two teams in the SoFi Cup regular-season standings will advance to the best-of-three Finals.
“Our team’s played well most every match,” Cantlay said. “We’ve had a lot of close matches and hit shots when we needed to, just like tonight. We’ll take that into next week and I think we’re all excited for the final.”
What’s next?
The best-of-three Finals Series will take place on Monday March 24 (11pm GMT) and March 25 (11pm GMT) before a series decider – if needed – on March 26 at 1am.
Who will win the inaugural TGL season and the SoFi Cup? Watch every match of the 2025 and 2026 seasons exclusively live on Sky Sports Golf. Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW.
