Atlanta Drive Declines Every Bay Hammer and Wins Anyway, 7-4 for a Seventh Straight Victory

The Bay Golf Club threw three Hammers at Atlanta Drive GC on Tuesday night. Atlanta said no to all three, and won anyway. The defending champions took a 7-4 win at SoFi Center on Jan. 6, 2026, in a rematch of last March's semifinal, and the formula was the same one that carried them to the first SoFi Cup: refuse to give away big swings, wait for your own moment, then make the other side pay.

The result pushed Atlanta Drive GC to 2-0 and alone atop the standings, and it extended the club's winning streak to seven straight matches dating to last season. The Bay Golf Club fell to 0-1 in its season debut.

Billy Horschel delivered the clincher with a seven-foot putt at the 13th, but the night belonged as much to Chris Gotterup and Patrick Cantlay, who each holed a chip in a moment that mattered. "We ham-and-egged it really well," Horschel said, per the PGA TOUR recap (opens in a new tab).

Hammers flying, Atlanta ducking

Cantlay was back in Atlanta's lineup after missing the opener, joining Horschel and Gotterup, the alternate who had already won two holes in his TGL debut against New York. Justin Thomas remained out. The Bay sent its usual trio of Shane Lowry, Ludvig Åberg and Wyndham Clark.

The early holes were loose. At the par-5 second, Clark's 9-iron flew north of 200 yards and disappeared into the virtual water, Åberg also found the penalty area, and Gotterup rolled in a par putt from nearly nine feet to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead.

Then The Bay went on the attack. It threw the Hammer at the third with the hole tilting its way, and Atlanta declined, conceding the point to make it 1-1. The Bay threw again at the fourth, Atlanta declined again, and The Bay led 2-1. It was a deliberate choice by Atlanta to bleed single points rather than risk two-point holes, and it was about to pay off.

Two chips that flipped Triples

The fifth was halved, and the sixth, "Alpine," looked like another Bay point. Clark hit a long drive, Lowry's approach set up a nine-foot birdie look, and Atlanta was scrambling. The Bay's putt slid by, and then Gotterup, playing his chip with his feet in a bunker, holed it. Atlanta threw its first Hammer of the night, and The Bay declined to make it 2-2.

Gotterup was candid about it afterward. "It was a lot of luck involved," he said, adding that Atlanta had to call a timeout because he did not know what he was going to do with the shot.

The seventh was halved. At the eighth, the par-4 "Temple," Gotterup found the fairway while Åberg went into the penalty area off the tee. Clark's third shot found trouble too, and The Bay conceded the hole. Atlanta led 3-2.

The ninth was Atlanta's Team Hole, "Fore-O-Fore," and TGL's own video crew noted the Drive cannot seem to lose it. The Bay had a four-foot birdie look and appeared ready to tie the match when Cantlay, facing a chip of more than 40 feet, knocked it in for birdie. Clark still made his putt to halve the hole, but the chip kept Atlanta in front at 3-2 heading to Singles.

Singles: Atlanta pulls away

The Bay used its final Hammer at the 10th, where Lowry was in control of his hole against Horschel. Atlanta declined again, and the match was tied 3-3.

That was the last time The Bay had a say in it. At the 11th, the par-4 "Stinger," Gotterup threaded a 1-iron under the overhanging rock, only the second player this season to pull off that shot cleanly, while Åberg went into the water again. Gotterup's par won the hole for a 4-3 lead.

The 12th was "Cenote," one of the unusual new holes in this year's rotation. Clark's tee shot landed on the green but could not be located by the tracking system, so officials measured from the hole by hand to place the ball. Facing a nine-foot par putt, The Bay saw Atlanta throw the Hammer and chose to decline rather than putt for two points. Atlanta led 5-3.

At the 13th, Horschel buried a seven-foot putt to beat Lowry. That made it 6-3 with two holes to play and put the match out of reach. Gotterup added a birdie putt at the 14th to beat Åberg for a 7-3 lead, and Clark won the 15th against Cantlay to make the final 7-4.

Why Atlanta keeps winning

The Hammer math is the story. The Bay threw three Hammers and got three points, all of them single points because Atlanta declined each time. Atlanta threw two and got two points, both declined. On paper that is even. In reality, Atlanta's refusals kept three extra points off The Bay's side of the board, and Atlanta threw only when it had already gotten the upper hand on a hole.

Atlanta led the league in Hammer point differential last season, and this was another clinic. The Drive also won Singles 4-2 and, per the PGA TOUR, came out of the night with a plus-25 point differential in one-on-one play at SoFi Center since the league launched.

Gotterup, in his second TGL match, has now been in the middle of five Atlanta points: the par at the second, the chip that set up the Hammer at the sixth, the drive that forced the concession at the eighth, the stinger at the 11th and the birdie at the 14th. For an alternate who was not on the club's original roster, that is a remarkable start. Horschel, characteristically, kept it short. "Really solid night," he said.

The Bay will look at the eighth, the 11th and the second as the damage. Three times a Bay player found a penalty area, and three times Atlanta got a point out of it without having to make anything dramatic.

That has to sting for a club that was the class of the league for most of last winter. The Bay went 4-1 in the 2025 regular season, beat Atlanta in their only regular season meeting, and earned the No. 2 seed before Atlanta ran it off the floor 9-3 in the semifinals. Tuesday was the rematch, and it played out the same way: The Bay had the better of the opening holes, then watched Atlanta's short game and decision making take over. Lowry, Åberg and Clark are too good to stay winless for long, but the margin for error in a five-match season is thin, and The Bay has already spent some of it.

Lexi in the house, and what is next

LPGA star Lexi Thompson was in the building, and she hit shots on "Cenote" earlier in the afternoon. Asked about women getting involved in the league this early, Thompson was bullish. "The women's game is moving in the right direction," she said.

In the standings, Atlanta sits at 2-0 and four points, ahead of Boston Common at 1-0. The Bay, Los Angeles and New York each have a regulation loss, and Jupiter Links has yet to play. Atlanta's next match is Feb. 2 against Jupiter Links. The Bay returns Jan. 26 against Boston Common Golf. The next match on the calendar, Jan. 13, brings Tiger Woods back to SoFi Center, mic'd up in support of Jupiter Links against New York while he recovers from surgery.

The official match page is on tglgolf.com (opens in a new tab). Atlanta's opener, a Horschel eagle at the last against New York, is recapped here.

Sources: TGL, PGA TOUR, CBS Sports, Pro Golf Now, Golf Post. More TGL coverage on Undrafted.

Seven straight wins, two different lineups, the same habits. Atlanta is not just defending a title. It is defending a way of playing this game.

Photo: TGL.