From 4-0 Down to the Playoffs: Tony Finau and Los Angeles Stun New York 5-4 in Overtime

Standing on the 12th tee down 4-0, Los Angeles Golf Club had about a 2 percent chance to win, according to TGL's own numbers. Three holes later the match was tied, and two overtime shots after that, Los Angeles had a 5-4 win over New York Golf Club and the first playoff berth in league history on Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, at SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Sahith Theegala started the rally with a long birdie, Tony Finau converted a Hammer in his one-match cameo, and Collin Morikawa tied it on the 14th before sealing the shootout. New York, which had record-setting putts from Rickie Fowler and Cameron Young early, never won another hole after the 10th.

Triples: New York's Putters Catch Fire

Los Angeles came in shorthanded. With Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood unavailable, the club signed Finau to a one-match contract to play alongside Theegala and Morikawa. Finau made an entrance, crip-walking on the first tee in a nod to co-owner Serena Williams and getting his tee shot off just before the buzzer.

New York had the hot hands. On the opening hole, Fowler rolled in a birdie putt of 36 feet, 7 inches, the longest made putt in TGL history at that point, to win the hole and take a 1-0 lead. Three holes later, Young topped it with a 38-foot, 6-inch make on the fourth to halve the hole and claim the record for himself.

Los Angeles tried to swing the momentum on the eighth by throwing the Hammer, and New York accepted. Matt Fitzpatrick answered by holing a 10-foot par putt to halve the hole and protect the lead. New York finished the Triples session up 3-0, and the putting gap was the story.

Fowler's record lasted about three holes, which tells you how dialed in New York was early. A month earlier, this same New York trio could not buy a putt in a 4-0 loss to Atlanta. Here, its two longest makes of the season came in the first four holes, and Los Angeles spent the entire Triples session chasing. For a team fighting to hold the last playoff spot, it was exactly the start it needed.

Singles: Down 4-0, Then a Flood

Young made it 4-0 on the 10th, beating Finau with a birdie in the opening Singles hole. The 11th was halved. Los Angeles was staring at its first regulation loss of the season.

Then Theegala went to work on the 12th, rolling in a 28-foot birdie putt against Fowler to cut it to 4-1. "You know you're gonna get on runs. You just gotta wait for your time," Theegala said afterward, and this was the start of one.

On the 13th, a par 4, Los Angeles threw the Hammer and New York accepted. Finau let the shot clock run down, called a timeout, then hit his approach to nine feet and made the birdie putt. That was two points and a 4-3 game with two holes to play.

The par-3 14th, Set in Stone, finished the comeback. Morikawa stuck his tee shot to six feet against Fitzpatrick and made the putt to tie the match 4-4. Theegala and Fowler halved the 15th, and the match went to overtime with Los Angeles holding all of the momentum.

The Shootout

TGL's overtime is a best-of-three, closest-to-the-pin contest, and Los Angeles needed only two shots. Finau went first against Fitzpatrick and finished about 29 and a half feet from the hole, beating Fitzpatrick by roughly five inches. Morikawa followed against Fowler, spun his shot back to about six feet, and Fowler's settled at 9 feet, 7 inches. Los Angeles won the shootout 2-0 and the match 5-4.

"It feels like a college basketball game right now," Theegala said, and the noise in the building backed him up.

Why the Comeback Worked

The math tells the story. Los Angeles needed four points over the final four holes to force overtime, and it got exactly that in three holes thanks to the Hammer on 13. Throwing it in Singles with Finau in a good position, and New York choosing to accept, was the single biggest swing of the night. A two-point hole turned a three-point deficit into a one-point game, and suddenly every New York player was the one under pressure.

New York's acceptance on 13 will be debated. Up 4-1 with three holes left, declining would have conceded only one point and kept a two-point cushion. Accepting put two points on Finau's approach, and he delivered. Earlier, New York had accepted a Los Angeles Hammer on the eighth and survived because Fitzpatrick holed his par putt. Late in the match, the same gamble did not pay off.

There is also a broader trend here. Los Angeles has now played in two of the league's three overtime matches, losing to Atlanta and beating New York, and the three-Hammer format has made late comebacks feel possible in a way the first month of the season did not.

Finau Makes the Most of His Cameo

Finau was the story of the night for Los Angeles. He lost the opening Singles hole to Young, then won the most important hole of the match under the Hammer and delivered the first overtime point. For a player signed for one match, it was a remarkable contribution. "I'm so impressed with the place," Finau said of SoFi Center.

Theegala's 28-footer started it all, and Morikawa provided the tying birdie and the clinching shootout shot. Los Angeles has now shown it can win in blowouts and in comebacks, with or without Rose and Fleetwood, and that kind of depth is exactly what a team wants heading into a postseason.

For New York, this one hurts, and it is worth remembering how good the first 11 holes were. New York led after every hole from the first through the 13th, held a four-point lead with four to play and looked every bit like the team that had just routed Jupiter Links by seven. One Hammer accepted at the wrong moment and one tee shot to six feet flipped all of it.

The final ledger still stings. Fowler and Young set back-to-back putting records, and Fitzpatrick's par save on the eighth was clutch. But New York did not win a hole after the 10th, and two shootout shots decided its fate.

Standings and Stakes

Los Angeles improved to 3-0-1 with seven points, moved into first place in the SoFi Cup standings and became the first team to clinch a postseason spot in TGL history. Its last match was a 6-5 overtime loss to Atlanta Drive on Presidents Day, so it has been on both sides of the shootout now.

New York fell to 1-2-1 with three points, picking up one for the overtime loss, and remained in fourth place, the last playoff spot. It came into this match riding the momentum of its first win, a 10-3 rout of Jupiter Links, and the extra point could prove valuable in a tight race for fourth.

Both teams had one regular-season match left. Los Angeles was scheduled to face The Bay Golf Club on March 3 in a fight for the top seed, and New York was set to face Boston Common Golf later that day.

The official recap is on the TGL match page (opens in a new tab), and PGA TOUR's recap is here (opens in a new tab).

Sources: TGL, PGA TOUR, Field Level Media, CBS Sports. More TGL coverage on Undrafted.

Los Angeles leaves with a playoff ticket and proof it can climb out of any hole. New York leaves with a point, two records and a long week to think about the 13th.

Photo: TGL.