The Doubleheader Grind: What New York’s Rough Night Reveals About TGL’s Early Season Struggles

I’ve been around professional golf long enough to know that momentum is everything—and Tuesday night in Palm Beach Gardens, New York Golf Club ran face-first into a brick wall of it, courtesy of two teams playing with the kind of precision that makes you remember why you fell in love with this game in the first place.

Let me be clear: New York’s 5-3 loss to The Bay followed by a brutal 9-2 shellacking from Boston Common wasn’t just a bad night. It was a cautionary tale about what happens when you ask elite players to do too much, too fast, and without the kind of rhythmic consistency that TGL’s format demands.

The Doubleheader Trap

Back-to-back matches in a single evening sounds great on paper—maximum entertainment, maximum stakes. But having caddied for Tom Lehman through some grueling weeks on the PGA Tour, I can tell you that competitive golf eats mental energy for breakfast. Playing two matches in one night isn’t just physically taxing; it’s a different animal entirely.

What strikes me about NYGC’s situation is that they had to navigate this without their full arsenal. Cameron Young sat out the first match, which meant Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler, and Matt Fitzpatrick had to carry heavier loads. That’s not a complaint—it’s the nature of team golf—but it’s also worth noting when analyzing why things unraveled so quickly.

The Bay, meanwhile, came out swinging.

“After winning the first two holes, The Bay’s momentum continued into Hole 3. The team won a third consecutive hole, as Åberg made an 11-foot putt to give his team a 3-0 lead.”

That kind of start matters enormously in a short-form match. Ludvig Åberg is playing the golf of his life right now, and when you get a generational talent rolling early, it compounds quickly.

The Human Element Still Matters

One of the more charming moments of the evening actually tells us something important about tournament golf that analytics nerds sometimes forget.

“Even while at work, Lowry found a way to celebrate his daughter’s birthday with her. In the SoFi Center, Lowry presented his daughter with a birthday cake as the group in attendance with her joined in, singing ‘Happy Birthday.'”

Shane Lowry was in the middle of helping his team dominate, and he still made time for his daughter’s birthday. That’s the kind of presence of mind and emotional grounding that separates the best competitors from the rest. It didn’t hurt his play either—he was sharp all evening.

In my three decades covering the tour, I’ve noticed that the players who maintain perspective off the course often play better on it. They’re not weighed down by the pressure because they understand, viscerally, that golf is important but not everything. Lowry’s doing that calculus every single moment, and it shows.

Missed Opportunities and Small Margins

But here’s where New York’s night really fell apart: the moments where they had chances to tighten things up, and didn’t capitalize.

“Trailing 3-1 on Hole 7, New York had a chance to tie the score at 3-3. Following a first shot by Schauffele that left NYGC just under 12 feet from the pin, The Bay accepted a hammer throw by New York. With a chance to win the hole, Fitzpatrick missed the putt and the hole ended in a tie.”

That miss haunted me when I watched it replay. Fitzpatrick’s a major champion—he knows how to handle pressure. But that’s the thing about TGL’s compressed format: you don’t get to accumulate birdies and make up ground slowly. You need to make your chances count, and early. Miss one, and suddenly you’re chasing for the rest of the match.

The second match had similar moments. Adam Scott came agonizingly close on a 40-foot putt that looked destined to drop but died inches short. In traditional golf, you shake it off and wait for the next opportunity. In TGL, that miss contributes directly to a 9-2 beatdown.

What This Means for the Season

Here’s what I think matters most as we’re still early in the TGL schedule: New York has Xander Schauffele, one of the most talented strikers in the game. They have Rickie Fowler, a veteran who’s competed at the highest levels. Cameron Young is a legitimate rising star. This team, on paper, should be contending regularly.

But Tuesday night exposed something about how teams gel in this format. It’s not enough to have talent—you need rhythm, you need confidence in your teammates, and you need to avoid the mental collapse that comes when you’re playing your second match of the evening after already absorbing a loss.

The encouraging sign? Hideki Matsuyama made his season debut for Boston Common, which means that lineup’s getting deeper. Adam Scott showed redemptive character by bouncing back from that heartbreaker putt. And Ludvig Åberg continues to look like the real deal, not just a prospect anymore.

New York will regroup. Schauffele doesn’t lose confidence from one bad night. But they’ll need to figure out how to handle the doubleheader format better, because in TGL, unlike traditional golf, you sometimes don’t get a week to recover. You get a few hours and then it’s go time again.

That’s the format’s promise and its peril—and Tuesday night, New York learned that lesson the hard way.