Patrick Cantlay looked a bit like the odd man out on Tuesday night in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
The quiet demeanor that he’s carried throughout his entire golf career didn’t necessarily fit in with the flashing lights, loud fans and high-tech golf simulators that make up the SoFi Center. He walked out behind Billy Horschel, who whipped out a massive silver chain from under his shirt and hit the “Dirty Bird” dance just moments before, without much of a smirk.
But Cantlay, Justin Thomas said later on during the match, “is our voice of reason.” He even stopped them from throwing a hammer at one point, because “it can only hurt us” — which left Thomas incredibly disappointed on the final green. But that seemed to pay off for the Atlanta Drive GC trio.
They rolled to a very solid 4-0 shutout win over Rickie Fowler and the New York Golf Club on the third week of the TGL season on Tuesday. That moved them to 1-0 on the year, while NYGC fell to 0-2. It was the first shutout match in TGL history.
NYGC’s struggles after their opening-week loss — Bay Golf Club cruised to a 9-2 win in the inaugural event earlier this month — largely continued this week. Cameron Young missed the landing zone on the hourglass-themed hole to start the night, which led to them falling behind instantly, and then Fowler chipped over the green at the fourth hole to land in the bunker. Atlanta then pushed its lead to two after an approach from Thomas left them with about six feet on the sixth hole.
Atlanta took a 2-0 lead through the triples section of the night.
Thomas had the advantage over Young in their two singles holes. He tapped in for birdie at the par-5 10th, and then he hammered a drive at the 13th — though Young still managed to outdrive him — to set up a deep birdie putt that rattled through the back of the hole and left Thomas grimacing on the green to tie.
Horschel followed suit at the 11th after Matt Fitzpatrick landed in a pair of bunkers and picked up a penalty, which pushed Atlanta’s lead to four. Those two tied at the 14th. Cantlay, after tying with Fowler on their first hole, kept it close at the last to secure their shutout win. They hit 65 feet of putts throughout the night.
Though it may not have been as exciting as the first two weeks of the new venture were, Thomas and his Atlanta crew handled business on Tuesday night. Tiger Woods will lead the way next week in his second match of the season.
Regardless, the Atlanta team is off to a great start. And Cantlay, despite his slow start amid the excitement that is TGL, rocked the chain by the end of the night. That dance, though, will have to wait.
“I knew JT would do it with me,” Horschel said on ESPN before hitting the Dirty Bird once again. “Whether I could get PC to put it on … he’s a team player. He always is and he always will be.”
