Remember the last spate of regular season matches in the TGL? New York Golf Club needing a victory in their final match to confirm their playoff spot, had motivating team news, ahead of the tie against Boston Common Golf. The return of Xander Schauffele from injury. Schauffele’s presence was more than enough for the New York GC, who fought hard to earn a 10-6 victory over Rory McIlroy’s team. The win not only gave Schauffele’s team a confirmed playoff spot. But it also allowed fans to have a view of Xander Schauffele on the course. A crucial facet of his game was in full display and even called out by Justin Thomas—the talking!
The talking was a huge focal point of a social media post from TGL, and Thomas, who plays for Atlanta Drive GC, took to Instagram to share the post as a story with the caption, “So glad the world is finally starting to see that Xander Schauffele is a real life talking Energizer bunny.” And now, the University of Alabama grad will face his trash-talking buddy in the finals of the Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy-led tech-based league. Yes, you heard that right!
Justin Thomas ready to face the trash-talking Xander Schauffele
The part of the matchup in the finals that Justin Thomas is looking forward to would be the constant dialogue Schauffele is going to offer. “Xander is just going to be like that little fly that’s just kind of constantly around your head and making noise. And you don’t know if he is talking to you, at you, himself, but he’s just going to be there.”
Thomas and Schauffele have been very good friends, on and off the course, easily evidenced by his Instagram story on Schauffele’s trash-talking. He even quipped at Schauffele after his 2020 Olympics Gold, stating, “…As soon as I saw him, I wanted to see it … it’s really cool. Obviously, I’m very jealous of anybody who’s won any other major or tournaments that I haven’t, but that might have been the most jealous of someone I’ve been.” This is something that shows the bond the duo shares.
The two-time major winner loves this side of the World No. 3, as according to Thomas, it makes the competition more enjoyable. “And that’s the Xander that we know and love and we’re with every week. We always enjoy, whether it’s money games playing with these guys and Xander, or in a TOUR event, or next week. It will be very enjoyable playing those guys, and we look forward to getting an opportunity to get some bragging rights on ’em, for sure,” added Thomas.
Both their teams were the lower seed in their semifinal matchup and are now set to face each other in a best-of-three series starting from March 24th. This will be the second time the two teams are meeting each other, after a very memorable encounter at the beginning of the season.
The replay of the infamous hammer match
The last time New York Golf Club and the Atlanta Drive met each other, an infamous rule change had to be enforced. The hammer rule is a special rule for the TGL. When thrown, it increases the value of a hole to two points, but if the opposing team denies the hammer, the hole is conceded by them, giving a point to the team that threw the hammer.
Back then, the Hammer would stay in possession of one team. It would transfer hands only if the team in possession used it. In the New York Golf Club’s match against Atlanta Drive, the Drive took an early lead. They then held on to the hammer they had, without using it. This meant that the New York Golf Club could not go for two points when they needed to and therefore was pushed to the backfoot. The NYGC ended up losing 4-0, and the TGL team noticed the drawback of the hammer rule.
Duly, the rule was changed. Now each team gets three hammers to use at any point they like, and two hammers could even compound the score of a hole to three points. “I can guarantee you we’re going to though the hammer this time,” Billy Horschel stated when asked about the strategy last time and the change of rule.
The Drive’s strategy expert Patrick Cantlay also feels that the new rule is extremely good for the league. It poses more challenges, and a lot more tactics come into play. “Yeah, the new hammer strategy I think has been great. It’s added a little wrinkle into the game, a little more strategy, and you just have to find the best three opportunities throughout the match to throw the hammer, and if you do, you have just that little bit of a competitive advantage.” The PGA Tour pro stated.
Hammer or not, both teams will be looking to create history by winning the first-ever edition of the TGL. Who do you have winning this best-of-three series? Is it the strong and solid Atlanta Drive? Or will Xander Schauffele and his New York Golf Club minions oust the Drive?
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