Fleetwood's Lip-Out Ends It as New York Stuns Top Seed Los Angeles 6-4 to Reach the First TGL Finals

Los Angeles Golf Club had not lost a match in regulation all season. It had made comebacks its trademark and earned the No. 1 seed by stealing a win from The Bay. On Monday night, the fourth seed flipped the script. New York Golf Club beat Los Angeles Golf Club 6-4 in the first TGL semifinal on March 17, 2025, at SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and the decisive moment came when Tommy Fleetwood's short birdie putt on the 14th lipped out.

Xander Schauffele threw two Hammers in Singles and cashed both. Rickie Fowler won the head-to-head with Fleetwood that mattered. And a team that started 0-2 is going to the first SoFi Cup Finals.

A Rematch With History

These teams met three weeks earlier, a match New York led 4-0 through 11 holes before Los Angeles stormed back and won in overtime. That loss was a big part of why New York needed a must-win against Boston Common Golf just to reach the playoffs. Los Angeles, meanwhile, had rallied past The Bay to lock up the top seed.

That first meeting is worth remembering because of how it turned. New York led 3-0 after Triples on a pile of made putts, including a long one from Cameron Young that ranked as the longest in TGL history at the time. Then Tony Finau, filling in for Los Angeles on a short-term deal, made a 10-foot birdie that changed the energy, Los Angeles won four points over the final four holes, and Morikawa won the closest-to-the-pin overtime. New York carried that one for three weeks.

New York went with Schauffele, Fowler and Young. Los Angeles countered with Collin Morikawa, Fleetwood and Sahith Theegala. Serena Williams, a Los Angeles co-owner, was in the building, and so was Keegan-Michael Key, who spent part of the night doing an impression of Penn State coach James Franklin.

Triples: Even, Then New York

Los Angeles opened with confidence. Both Morikawa and Schauffele found the fairway on the first hole, and Los Angeles threw the Hammer. New York declined, conceding the point for a 1-0 Los Angeles lead.

Fowler answered right away. Fowler's approach on the second set up a 5-foot birdie that tied the match 1-1. New York then went ahead 2-1 when Fleetwood missed a 6-foot putt.

Fleetwood made up for it on the par-3 fifth with one of the shots of the night. Fleetwood's 189-yard tee shot hit the flagstick and stopped about nine feet away. New York made bogey, Los Angeles took the hole and the match was level at 2-2.

The rest of the session tilted toward New York. On the eighth, Young hit the approach and Schauffele rolled in a 4-foot birdie for a 3-2 lead. The ninth produced a Hammer and a gem of a halve. New York threw before Fleetwood putted, after New York had already holed a 16-footer. Fleetwood calmly made an 8-footer to tie the hole and keep the deficit at one. New York went to Singles up 3-2.

Schauffele's Hammers

Singles is where New York won the match, and Schauffele was the reason. On the par-5 10th, against Morikawa, Schauffele threw the Hammer. Los Angeles declined and conceded the point, making it 4-2.

Fowler followed on the 11th, beating Fleetwood to push the lead to 5-2. Los Angeles finally got a Singles point on the 12th, when Theegala beat Young after New York declined a Los Angeles Hammer. That made it 5-3, and with the league's best comeback team on the other side, nobody in the building felt comfortable.

Schauffele made sure the nerves lasted only one hole. On the par-4 13th, Schauffele's approach finished about 30 feet closer to the hole than Morikawa's. Schauffele threw the Hammer again, Los Angeles declined again, and New York led 6-3 with two holes to play.

The Lip-Out

Los Angeles needed something big on the 14th, so it threw the Hammer, and New York accepted. Fowler had a 9-foot birdie putt to close the match outright and missed it, settling for par and leaving the door cracked. Fleetwood had about five feet for birdie to win the hole for two points and keep Los Angeles alive.

It caught the edge and lipped out. The hole was halved, and with only the 15th left and Los Angeles three down, the match was over. For a team that had lived on late drama all season, it was a cruel way to go out. Los Angeles took the 15th for the final 6-4 margin.

Fowler acknowledged that the ending broke New York's way. "They gave us a little gift there," Fowler said.

Voices

Morikawa did not hide from the result. "I didn't play great and I take responsibility on that," Morikawa said.

Theegala saw it a little differently. "I think we played really nicely and we had our chances," Theegala said.

Schauffele, who returned from a rib injury only two weeks earlier, put New York's season in perspective. "I think you look at how we started out, you know, it was a poor start," Schauffele said. "We thought it was possible but we knew it was gonna be a long road, so we're definitely happy to be here."

What It Means

New York started the season 0-2 and sat in last place in January. Counting Monday, it has gone 3-0-1 over its last four matches, and the only blemish was an overtime loss to the same Los Angeles team it just eliminated. Schauffele's return changed the math. In two matches back, Schauffele has thrown and cashed big Hammers at the exact moments New York needed them.

Los Angeles leaves the playoffs as the team with the best regular season and no title to show for it. The Hammer decisions told the story. Los Angeles declined two Schauffele Hammers in Singles, each time conceding a point rather than risking two, and both times New York banked the point. When Los Angeles finally needed to be aggressive on the 14th, it came down to one putt, and the putt did not drop.

It is a fair debate whether Los Angeles was too conservative. Declining a Hammer caps the damage at one point, which is sound math when you are behind on a hole. But declining twice against the same player in the same session handed New York two clean points without a fight, and in a match decided by two, that is the margin. Schauffele read it perfectly. Schauffele threw each time Morikawa was in the worse spot on the hole and let Los Angeles choose between bad and worse.

New York now waits for the winner of Tuesday's semifinal between No. 2 The Bay Golf Club and No. 3 Atlanta Drive GC. The best-of-three SoFi Cup Finals are set for March 24 and 25 at SoFi Center.

The Take

The playoffs reward the team that is playing best in March, not the team that was best in February. New York is that team right now. Fowler has been steady all year, Young is a dangerous ball striker, and Schauffele has given New York a closer who is not afraid to raise the stakes. That combination just beat the No. 1 seed in a format where the No. 1 seed thrived on late drama.

Whoever comes out of Tuesday's semifinal will be favored on paper. New York has spent two months proving paper does not matter much in this league.

For more, see the PGA TOUR recap (opens in a new tab) and ESPN's match story (opens in a new tab).

Sources: TGL, PGA TOUR, ESPN, CBS Sports. More TGL coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: TGL.