Cantlay Drains It, Schauffele Lips Out as Atlanta Drive Takes Finals Match 1 Over New York, 6-5

Two putts from 6 feet, 6 inches. Same distance, same stakes, back to back. Patrick Cantlay went first and poured it in. Xander Schauffele needed to match it to force overtime, and the ball caught the right edge and spun away. Atlanta Drive GC beat New York Golf Club 6-5 in Match 1 of the first SoFi Cup Finals on Monday, March 24, 2025, at SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and now sits one win from the inaugural TGL title.

It was the best match of the season by a distance: an eagle, a Hammer accepted on a 9-foot eagle putt, a Hammer thrown after a player overheard teammates debating it, and a finish that came down to the final stroke.

The Matchup

Atlanta went with the trio that carried it all season, Billy Horschel, Justin Thomas and Cantlay. New York countered with its hot hand lineup of Schauffele, Rickie Fowler and Cameron Young, the group that knocked off top-seeded Los Angeles a week earlier. Atlanta arrived off a 9-3 semifinal rout of The Bay and owned a 4-0 win over New York from January.

The stakes were real. The champion splits $9 million, $2.25 million per player, and the runner-up shares $4.5 million.

Both teams took winding roads here. Atlanta finished the regular season 4-1-0 as the No. 3 seed, losing only to The Bay before beating The Bay in the semifinal. New York finished 2-2-1 as the No. 4 seed, the last team in, and has not lost in regulation since January. It was a meeting of the league's most consistent team and its hottest one.

Triples: Trading Blows

Atlanta threw the first Hammer of the night on the second hole. New York faced an 11-foot birdie chance, Atlanta had about four feet. Fowler wanted to take the bet. Schauffele pointed out that tour players make fewer than half of their 11-footers, and New York declined, conceding the point. It was a fascinating window into how New York thinks: analytical, patient and willing to give up a point to avoid giving up two.

Then Atlanta caught a break that bordered on absurd. On the par-5 fourth, Riptide, Horschel mishit a 3-iron from about 230 yards. The ball barely cleared the penalty area, bounced off the rocks and settled on the green nine feet away. Cantlay rolled in the eagle putt, and Atlanta led 2-0.

New York answered immediately. On the par-3 fifth, Set in Stone, Fowler hit the closest tee shot on that hole all season, stopping it about four feet away, and Schauffele made the birdie to cut it to 2-1. On the sixth, Flex, Horschel skulled a chip across the green, Atlanta could not save par and New York tied it 2-2.

The last three holes of Triples were halved. All square at the turn.

Two Hammers, Four Points

Singles opened with a haymaker. On the par-5 10th, Sterling, Young hit a 190 mph drive and then an iron from 220 yards to nine feet. New York threw its first Hammer of the night, and Atlanta accepted. Young made the eagle putt, and New York led 4-2 for the first time all match.

What happened on the 11th, Loot on the Line, will be replayed for a long time. Fowler made par. Horschel had a birdie putt from about 11 feet to win the hole. Thomas and Cantlay were discussing whether to throw the Hammer when Horschel overheard them. "I got it," Horschel said. "I'm making it." Thomas threw the Hammer, New York accepted, and Horschel buried the putt for two points. Tied 4-4.

Cantlay put it plainly afterward. "That was really the momentum turner, I thought, for the match," Cantlay said. Schauffele, looking back on the decision to accept, was blunter. "Questionable Hammer decision," Schauffele said.

The Closing Stretch

Cantlay and Schauffele halved the 12th. On the 13th, Young beat Thomas again after Thomas made bogey, and New York went up 5-4. Schauffele tried to throw a Hammer on that hole, but it came as Thomas was setting up to putt and was ruled too late, so it counted for one point instead of two. That ruling would matter.

Horschel squared it on the par-3 14th. Horschel stuck the tee shot to about five feet, Atlanta threw the Hammer, and New York declined, even with Fowler facing a 10-foot birdie try. Atlanta took the point to tie it 5-5.

The 15th was a mirror. Both teams missed the green in two. Both chipped to 6 feet, 6 inches. Cantlay putted first and made it. Schauffele needed to make his to send the match to a shootout, and it lipped out on the right edge. Atlanta 6, New York 5.

By the Numbers

Atlanta threw Hammers on the second, 11th and 14th holes and came away with points on all three: two declines and Horschel's putt. New York used only one of its Hammers all night, cashing it for two points on Young's eagle, and had a second ruled too late. Both teams made an eagle. Atlanta won five holes to New York's four. The difference was one 6-foot putt and one Hammer timing violation.

Horschel was the engine. The mishit 3-iron that set up the eagle, the 11-footer after calling his own shot, and the tee shot on 14 that forced New York to blink. Thomas threw the key Hammer and kept the mood loose. Cantlay made the two biggest putts of the night.

New York's Hammer Math

New York's decisions deserve a closer look, because they decided the match as much as any swing. On the second hole, the analytics-driven decline was defensible: an 11-footer against a 4-footer is a losing bet more often than not. On the 11th, New York accepted with Fowler already in for par and Horschel staring at a makeable birdie. Schauffele later called it questionable, and the result proved why. On the 14th, New York declined again with Fowler holding a 10-foot birdie try, choosing the guaranteed one-point loss over a coin flip for two.

Each call can be argued on its own. Together, they meant New York surrendered four points across three Hammer holes without ever making Atlanta hit a putt for two under real pressure, except the one Horschel told everyone he would make.

Series Status

Atlanta leads the best-of-three series 1-0. Match 2 is Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN, with a winner-take-all Match 3 at 9 p.m. ET if New York wins.

New York, at least, has been here before. "This isn't something we haven't already faced this season," Schauffele said. The team started 0-2, needed a win-and-in victory over Boston Common to make the field and then beat the No. 1 seed. Schauffele also insisted the gap was small. "The golf was plenty good enough to have won the match tonight," Schauffele said.

The Take

Monday was everything TGL promised to be when it launched in January. Big shots, real-time decisions with real consequences, players talking each other into and out of bets, and a finish that came down to two identical putts. Atlanta won because its best players made their putts when the Hammer was out, and because New York's other big Hammer came a beat too late.

New York's analytical approach has carried it this far, and it will need one more comeback. Atlanta, meanwhile, has done this all season: patient early, decisive late. One more night like Monday and the first SoFi Cup goes to Atlanta.

For more, see the PGA TOUR recap (opens in a new tab).

Sources: TGL, PGA TOUR, CBS Sports, The Associated Press. More TGL coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: TGL.