Rory McIlroy, Boston TGL team on brink of elimination after latest loss

Rory McIlroy’s Boston Common team now has an outside chance of making the TGL Playoffs after another loss.

When TGL’s inaugural season began, Rory McIlroy’s Boston Common team was the odds-on favorite to win the SoFi Cup at +350, per Keith Stewart of Read The Line. McIlroy has Hideki Matsuyama, Adam Scott, and Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley playing alongside him, all of whom are ranked within the top 30 in the world — oddsmakers listing them as the pre-season favorite made sense.

Yet, with only one match left in the regular season, Boston needs outside help to avoid elimination.

Justin Thomas, Billy Horschel, and Patrick Cantlay of Atlanta Drive beat McIlroy, Matsuyama, and Bradley 6-to-3, handing Boston their fourth loss. McIlroy and company now must cheer for The Bay, who faces a Tiger Woods-less Jupiter Links team on Tuesday night. Should Jupiter Links win, they will eliminate Boston from playoff contention. Only the top four teams qualify for the postseason, and Boston currently sits in sixth place — the cellar of the standings.

“We came in here really expecting to win,” Bradley said after.

“We got off to a bit of a slow start. We didn’t play that great at the beginning, but we picked it up at the end. Some good shots for the boys there on Atlanta to beat us at the end.”

The pivotal point of Monday night’s match came on the par-3 12th during singles. Boston and Atlanta were tied up at two apiece, with McIlroy and Cantlay facing off.

Measuring only 162 yards, Cantlay fired a laser to three feet away. McIlroy hit his approach just off the green, settling about 20 feet from the cup. Atlanta then threw the hammer, and McIlroy could not save par, giving the Drive a massive two points.

“The big turning point was obviously Patrick hit it in close there on the hole that we played, and then they threw the hammer, and I felt like I had to accept it,” McIlroy said.

“I wanted to at least have a chance to tie that hole and give it a good run with the chip. But then getting those two points and going 4-2 up at that point was obviously a big turning point.

“It was tough. We felt like we played pretty good. We hung in there in the triples, and just disappointed to not get the job done.”

Bradley then birdied the next hole, the drivable par-4 13th. But Thomas hit a spectacular wedge shot — one of the best in TGL history — to tie.

One hole later, Horschel and Matsuyama each hit terrific irons into the 142-yard par-3 14th. But Horschel’s ball settled about four inches farther away from Matsuyama’s. In match play, you want to putt first so that you can apply pressure to your opponent if you make it. Horschel did just that, and then Atlanta threw another hammer, upping the ante of Matsuyama’s birdie try. If he made it, they would halve the hole. A miss would give Atlanta two more points and, therefore, the win.

Matsuyama missed, which sent Atlanta to the playoffs and turned Boston into fans of The Bay.

“Hideki hit a great shot into the par-3 and hit a good putt,” McIlroy said.

“It just didn’t break to the right like we thought.”

A similar sentiment could be said about Boston’s inaugural campaign in TGL. Nobody would have thought that they would no longer control their own destiny at this point in the season. But that’s where they are, proving that anything can happen in golf — even indoors.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.