Min Woo Lee's Eagle Chip and Wyndham Clark's Hammer Lift The Bay Past Atlanta Drive 6-5

Ludvig Åberg won the Genesis Invitational on Sunday. On Monday afternoon he was back at SoFi Center, and The Bay Golf Club kept right on winning. Min Woo Lee chipped in for eagle in his TGL debut, Wyndham Clark cashed in a Hammer on the 13th, and the Bay held off Atlanta Drive GC 6-5 in the second match of the Presidents Day tripleheader on Feb. 17, 2025, in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Atlanta, a few hours removed from an overtime comeback against Los Angeles, rallied from three down to tie the match 5-5 on the 12th. The Bay answered with the last word, and Justin Thomas' long putt to force overtime on the final hole came up just short. It was Atlanta's first loss of the season and the Bay's second straight win.

Lee Arrives With a Bang

The Bay's lineup was Åberg, Clark and Lee, with Shane Lowry sitting out. Atlanta made a change of its own, with Lucas Glover making his TGL debut in place of Billy Horschel alongside Thomas and Patrick Cantlay.

The Bay jumped to a 3-0 lead in a hurry, and the signature moment came on the fourth hole. Clark noticed Lee did not have the right club for his shot, called a timeout and ran to fetch it. Lee then chipped in for eagle. Åberg summed up his new teammate perfectly. "It seems like every time we miss the green, he just gets a big smile and tries to chip it in," Åberg said.

Atlanta answered on the very next hole. With the Bay already in for a conceded par on the fifth, Thomas threw the Hammer before his 13-foot birdie putt and then rolled it in. That two-point swing cut the lead to 3-2 and announced that Atlanta, tired or not, was not going away. "I'm tired again," Thomas joked early in the match, but his putter did not look it.

Glover had a chance on the sixth to win a Hammer hole and flip the lead, but he missed. The teams kept trading blows, and Glover made up for it on the ninth by chipping in to close out the Triples session, leaving Atlanta just one point behind entering Singles. Lee also set a league ball-speed record on the ninth with a 191 mph tee shot, which is a fun number to drop on anyone who thinks simulator golf is soft.

Singles: A Back-and-Forth Finish

Clark opened Singles by beating Cantlay on the 10th, doubling the Bay's lead to two points. The 11th was halved, and then Thomas went to work against Lee on the 12th. He threw the Hammer, made a clutch putt and delivered a two-point swing that tied the match 5-5 with three holes to play. For the second time in one afternoon, Atlanta had erased a deficit late.

This time, the Bay had an answer. On the 13th, with Clark holding the upper hand on Cantlay, the Bay threw the Hammer mid-hole. Atlanta declined, conceding the hole and one point rather than risking two. That made it 6-5.

The last two holes were tense. On the par-3 14th, Åberg nearly made an ace, hitting his tee shot to within inches, but the hole was halved. On the 15th, Thomas had a long putt to win the hole and force overtime. It came up just short. Bay 6, Atlanta 5.

The Decline That Decided It

Atlanta's Hammer strategy had been brilliant all day. In the opener, it threw its last one before the tee shots on 13 and turned a three-point deficit into one. Here, it threw on the fifth and the 12th and got two big swings from Thomas. But when the Bay turned the Hammer on Atlanta at the same 13th hole, Atlanta's choice was harder.

Clark had the edge on Cantlay when the Hammer came out, which is exactly when a Hammer is most effective. Declining guaranteed Atlanta would trail by only one, and it kept two holes left to find a point. Accepting risked going down two with two to play. The decline was defensible. It just did not work, because Atlanta never won another hole.

Count it up and the Hammer touched at least four holes in this match: Thomas on five and 12, the Glover chance on six and the Bay's throw on 13. In a one-point game, every one of those decisions mattered, which is exactly the kind of strategic texture the league promised when it launched.

That is the cruel math of TGL. A Hammer thrown with an advantage forces the trailing team to choose between bleeding one point now or risking two, and the Bay timed its throw perfectly.

Stars of the Afternoon

Lee could not have scripted a better debut. The GreenZone rewards imagination around the greens, with players chipping off real grass and turf onto a green that tilts and rotates between holes, and Lee plays the short game like he is daring the hole to stop him. The eagle chip-in on four, the record ball speed on nine and a fearless energy that clearly fits this format made him the story of the match. The Bay now has four players who can all win holes, and Lee looks like he might be the most natural TGL player of the bunch.

Clark was the closer. He fetched the club for Lee's eagle, beat Cantlay on 10 and won the deciding point under the Hammer on 13. Åberg, playing a day after winning the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines and flying across the country, played steady golf and nearly made an ace on the 14th. After the match, Thomas told Åberg, "Glad you finally won something," before adding, "Happy for you." The trash talk among these players is half the fun of this league.

For Atlanta, Thomas was magnificent again, with the Hammer putts on five and 12 and the near-miss on 15 that would have sent a second straight match to overtime. Glover's ninth-hole chip-in was a nice welcome to the league. Cantlay, who won the overtime shootout earlier in the day, could not hold off Clark.

Standings and Stakes

The Bay improved to 2-0 with four points, tied with Atlanta for second in the SoFi Cup standings behind Los Angeles. The Bay opened its season with a 9-2 rout of New York and has now won twice without a loss.

Atlanta dropped to 2-1 with four points after splitting the first two matches of the tripleheader. Its earlier result that day was a 6-5 overtime win over Los Angeles, so the day still produced a split and two points.

There was no rest for the Bay, which was scheduled to close the tripleheader that evening against Boston Common Golf. Atlanta was set to face Boston on Feb. 24.

With the top four of six teams heading to the playoffs, the race at the top is getting crowded. Los Angeles, the Bay and Atlanta were separated by a single point after this match, and every one of them looked capable of winning a SoFi Cup. Further back, Jupiter Links had two points, Boston one and New York none, so the gap between the top three and the rest of the league was already starting to look real with the regular season at its midpoint.

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, Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports. More TGL coverage on Undrafted.

The Bay leaves unbeaten with a new weapon in Lee. Atlanta leaves with a split and a reminder that the Hammer cuts both ways.

Photo: TGL.