The First Double Hammer in TGL History Lifts The Bay Past Jupiter Links, 6-3

TGL invented the Hammer to make golfers sweat. On Tuesday night, The Bay Golf Club turned it into a weapon pointed straight back at the team that swung it first. Jupiter Links Golf Club threw a Hammer on the par-5 ninth, Min Woo Lee answered with a long iron to six feet, The Bay threw one right back, and Shane Lowry rolled in the eagle putt on the first double Hammer in league history. That one hole was worth three points, and it was the whole match.

The Bay Golf Club beat Jupiter Links Golf Club 6-3 on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, at SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., to move to 4-0 and take sole possession of first place in the SoFi Cup Standings. The Bay, with Lowry, Lee and Wyndham Clark on the card, still has not lost a match this season.

Two Teams Without Their Biggest Names

Neither side had its headliner. Tiger Woods sat for Jupiter, which went with Tom Kim, Max Homa and Kevin Kisner. Ludvig Åberg was inactive for The Bay, leaving Lowry, Lee and Clark to handle the night. If anything, the absences made the match a test of depth, and The Bay's depth looked a lot more comfortable.

The room had plenty of star power regardless. Andre Iguodala led The Bay into the arena, and Brooks Koepka, Breanna Stewart, Dallas Goedert and Smylie Kaufman were among the familiar faces in the crowd on a second straight night of TGL golf.

Jupiter came out swinging anyway. On the second hole, Kim nearly holed an 81-yard approach, and Jupiter threw the Hammer looking for a quick 2-0 lead. The Bay accepted and matched the birdie, so the hole was halved and Jupiter had burned a Hammer for nothing. It was the first sign of a theme for the night.

The Bay struck first on the par-3 third. Clark put his tee shot inside six feet and Lee rolled in the putt for a 1-0 lead. Lee then put on a show on the fourth, launching a 338-yard drive with 192 mph of ball speed, a TGL record.

Shank, Chip, Repeat

The fifth hole, a par 3 TGL calls Cliffhanger, delivered the most human moment of the night. Kisner's tee shot came off the hosel, and Kisner called it out immediately. Kim then nearly holed the next shot from well off the green, and Jupiter converted from five feet to tie the match 1-1. Kisner, never one to waste a self-own, needled himself after the fact. "Right where you wanted it!" Kisner said. "I gave you the whole green."

The Bay retook the lead one hole later, and Lee was the reason again. From 24 feet off the green on the sixth, Lee holed the chip for birdie and a 2-1 lead. It was Lee's second chip-in of the season, and nobody else in the league has more than one. TGL's social team has already nicknamed the short-game act Dr. Chipinski, and it is hard to argue with the branding.

Lee nearly did it again a couple of holes later, a near chip-in on the eighth that left the hole halved. The Bay held a one-point edge heading to the last hole of Triples.

The First Double Hammer

The ninth hole, the par-5 Boomerang, is where the night was decided. After a solid second shot from Kim put Jupiter in good position, Jupiter threw the Hammer. The Bay accepted. Lee, playing from the rough, then laced a long iron that finished six feet from the cup for an eagle chance. With that look in front of them, The Bay threw its own Hammer on top, the first double Hammer TGL had ever seen. Jupiter stayed in the hole, which was now worth three points.

Lowry made the six-footer for eagle. The Bay went from 2-1 to 5-1 on a single stroke, and the TGL account summed it up in two words: "DOUBLE HAMMER."

The sequence was a lesson in TGL's betting math. Throwing a Hammer is a statement of confidence, but it also hands the other team a chance to raise the stakes. Jupiter threw when Kim's second shot looked good. The Bay waited until Lee's ball was six feet from the hole. One side bet on position; the other bet on a putt it was very likely to make.

Singles Was a Formality

Down four with six holes left, Jupiter needed something wild in Singles. It got one hole of hope. Kim beat Lee on the 10th, and The Bay declined Jupiter's Hammer rather than risk two points, conceding the hole for one. That made it 5-2.

The next three holes were halved, and with time running out on Jupiter, the result was locked up. Kisner beat Lowry on the 14th to make it 5-3, and Clark closed the scoring by beating Homa on the 15th for the 6-3 final.

On paper, Jupiter won the Singles session 2-1. In practice, The Bay played it exactly like a team protecting a big lead: no unnecessary risk, decline the Hammer when it makes sense, and let the clock work.

Lowry, asked about the night, kept it simple. "We really wanted to win and keep our winning streak going," Lowry said.

The Standings Picture

The Bay is now 4-0-0 with eight points, one point ahead of Los Angeles Golf Club (3-0-1). The Bay had already clinched a playoff spot when Los Angeles came back to beat New York Golf Club in overtime on Monday, and now it controls the race for the top seed. A win over Los Angeles on Monday, March 3, would lock up No. 1.

Atlanta Drive GC (3-1-0) also clinched on Monday with a win over Boston Common Golf, which leaves one playoff spot for three teams: New York (1-2-1), Jupiter (1-3-0) and Boston (0-3-1). Jupiter sits fifth with two points and finishes its regular season against Atlanta on Tuesday, March 4. A win there, plus help elsewhere, could still get Woods' team into the semifinals.

Homa did not sound like a player ready to concede anything. "It sucks to take an 'L' but at the same time ... we do get another shot at it next week," Homa said.

It has been a choppy season for Jupiter. The team lost 12-1 to Los Angeles in its debut, beat Boston in overtime and then fell 10-3 to New York before Tuesday. The Bay, by contrast, has stacked wins over New York in the league's first match, Atlanta and Boston, and now Jupiter, without ever looking like a team in a hurry.

The Take

The Bay is the best team in TGL right now, and Tuesday showed why in miniature. It wins the holes it is supposed to win, it makes the short putts that matter and it reads the Hammer better than anyone. Jupiter used its first Hammer on a hole it could only halve and its second on a hole where The Bay held the better ball. The Bay's big Hammer came with a six-foot eagle putt already teed up, and it turned into three points.

There is also the Lee factor. A record ball speed, a 24-foot chip-in, a near second chip-in and the long iron that set up the double Hammer, all in one night. Lowry and Clark are the steady hands. Lee is the guy who makes the building get loud.

Jupiter, meanwhile, has one more chance and a must-win against a playoff team. Without Woods on the card Tuesday, the margin for error was thin. Next week it is gone.

For the official breakdown, see the TGL match recap (opens in a new tab) and the PGA TOUR recap (opens in a new tab).

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

Photo: TGL.