PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — The Tiger squad is back for another game under the spotlight inside the SoFi Center. Truth be told, this is probably a good thing for the boys of Southeast Florida. Some team members need reps to be more competitive in the league. Match 5 will take place tonight Los Angeles Golf Club and Jupiter Links Golf Club Starting at 7pm ET on ESPN. The Jupiter Lynx took early leads of 2-0 and 3-1 in Round 4 against New York GC last week. Believe it or not, this was the first time JLGC held a two-point lead in SoFi. Unfortunately, New York had seven unresolved points in the final 11 holes. ah. The PGA Tour loves to talk about competitive parity. Oddsmakers believe Los Angeles has a 62% chance of winning tonight, based on the opening money line (LAGC -165).
Match 5 will be the fourth week of competitive play in Season 2. Although the standings have not yet begun to completely separate, we are starting to see some standout performances. Los Angeles lost its first match against Boston Common Golf. They can’t afford to lose tonight if they want to get the No. 1 seed from Season 1 again in the SoFi Playoffs. If the Jupiter Lynx lose, they haven’t won a game since January 27 of last year! Although LAGC is highly favored on the books, it is simulator golf. Los Angeles will be without their best player, Tommy Fleetwood, as he just played in Dubai last weekend. Midseason games are where teams begin to make their case for postseason play. It’s time to break out the match 5s.
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Event format/course/starting lineup
TGL tells you that Tiger Woods will be on the field and using the microphone for our education and entertainment. Following the broadcast aspect of last week’s incident, I agree that his insight was very good. It helps when there are more voices than just Matt Barry running the news. Along these lines, Roberto Castro has been a great addition to the television cast. Castro played a large role in the development of TGL gameplay. Roberto’s company (Captech) designed the software that TGL uses to compete. Akshay Bhatia will replace Tiger for the second time. Bhatia was a breath of fresh air for the Jupiter Lynx in the fourth game. Indoor simulator golf should be right around the corner for the 23-year-old. Los Angeles will field the same lineup used in Game 2, in the same order. The starting lineup is as follows.
lineup card 🏌🏻♂️
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Match 5 play order and singles matches!
Los Angeles (-165): Justin Rose, Collin Morikawa, Sahis Segala
Jupiter Links GC (+130): Max Homa, Akshay Bhatia, Kevin Kisner
Los Angeles GC is honored
Justin Rose vs Max Homa (Hole 10, 13)
Collin Morikawa vs Akshay Bhatia (11, 14 holes)
Saheeth Segala vs Kevin Kisner (Hole 12, 15)
Team Manager: Carl Smith (LAGC), Rob McNamara (JLGC)
Tommy Fleetwood (LAGC), Tiger Woods, Tom Kim (JLGC) absent
TGL will be introducing a new hole tonight. Gil Hanse’s second design wasthe last toll. We’ve all been looking for a Golden T-style challenge to test players’ shot-making skills, and this post-apocalyptic design delivers just that. Similar to the Stinger tee shot challenge, a large dilapidated bridge sits directly between the tee and green of this 240+ yard par 3. Players are forced to shape their tee shot from left to right through the remains of two stone bridge supports. Immediately my mind starts thinking about playability. Sahis Segala and Kevin Kisner are the first two TGL players who have to operate the ball through the uprights. We know that Kisner is good at attacking objects in the SoFi Center. This could be the perfect opportunity to rely on the triples talent Seagala.
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scorecard 📝
Match 5 course details.
The total yards on tonight’s design scorecard is 6,027 yards.
Team Hall at LAGC and Showtime are in 9th place.
JLGC’s team hole, The Jup Life, is in 4th place.
The average fairway success rate for this scorecard is 63%.
The home team has yet to lose its signature hole in the first four games!
Introducing the new hole “The Last Tall” (par 3, 205 yards) designed by Gil Hanse
Average length: Par 3 (190 yards), Par 4 (434 yards), and Par 5 (581 yards).
Three of the new holes in Season 2 will be contested in singles: Stinger (Hole 11), Cenote (Hole 12), and Stone & Steeple (Hole 15).
LAGC played 8 of the 15 holes on tonight’s match 2 scorecard.
JLGC played seven of the five holes in these matches last week.
LAGC and JLGC played five of these holes in the Season 1 match. LA won 12-1.
yard book
These two teams met in Match 2 of Season 1. LAGC was up 5-0 after four holes. They gathered two hammers early and never looked back. Los Angeles finished the triples with an 8-9 record and fell to 8-1. The West Coast men’s team then won four of the six singles holes. Same lineup, same order. Woods, Kisner, and Homa were taken behind the woodshed and left there. Could tonight’s result change? He will be able to contribute to the Jupiter Lynx by playing two weeks in a row. Getting off to a strong start with 3 wins and 1 loss last week should also give them confidence. Is that determination enough to defeat one of TGL’s strongest teams? Here’s my take.
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Match breakdown match 5
You don’t need to be a TGL technical designer to determine competitive advantage. This book alone was enough to determine the matchup for Game 5. Los Angeles GC is one of the most accurate teams in TGL, if not the most accurate. They ranked second in fairway hits and secured over two-thirds of GIR in Season 1. Tonight’s course is a contest of accuracy. The Match 5 layout will give you a tough test from the tee. Players hit 63% of fairways (on average) across these 15 holes. Combine this with an average GIR rate of 62% and it will test how close each team is. The Jupiter Lynx were accurate last week against NYGC. This trend must continue. The odds are heavily in LAGC’s favor, as their team is made up of players who hit the fairways and greens game after game, week after week, on the PGA Tour. Max Homa and Kevin Kisner haven’t been big accuracy merchants in recent months.
Digging a little deeper, JLGC still struggles with hammer plays. In the first game of Season 2, we won by -3 points. The only hammer point they earned was a rejected challenge. Tiger Woods throwing the hammer is further proof that JLGC sees no real benefit in double-down moments. Both teams have considerable experience playing these holes. Five of last year’s 15 holes were each played in Season 1 competition, and at least seven holes on tonight’s card have already been played in Season 2. Some of the triples tee shots certainly catch my attention and may offer an opportunity to get better odds. Segala vs. Kisner will take place at the brand new Last Tall and Home LA Hall Showtime. The ninth hole is a 588-yard par 5 that belongs to Hollywood hitters. Saheeth’s average driving distance at SoFi Arena was 320 yards. Kevin is 288 years old!
Once the odds are announced, I’m going to lead the triple LAGC after 6 or 9 holes. I support 9, but it all depends on the odds. I will briefly explain the singles.
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Rose vs Homa: No player in JLGC earned H2H points in Season 2. In fact, Homa is 0-3-3 on the season and has yet to earn a singles point. Sterling (Hole 10) doesn’t seem to have an advantage between the two players, but Bluebonnet (Hole 13) tends to have an outright winner. A short, easy-to-drive par 4 favors more accurate roses and the ability to score from close range.
Morikawa vs. Bhatia: I predict both players in this matchup will hit within 8 feet on the penultimate hole, On the Rocks. The two are tied on the 14th hole, but Stinger definitely prefers the left-hander to set up his shot. Neither has hit a Stinger tee shot yet, but I would love to see Bhatia bring home a point here.
Segala vs. Kisner: Segala won 50% of the single holes he played in Season 1 (4 of 8 holes). Cenotes are not great betting holes because the roll of the ramp is unpredictable. The final hole of the night is a 592 yard par 5. Saheth will have a huge advantage off the tee, but I don’t think Kevin’s concentration will be strong even after the match is already over. Segala will make a birdie at the end and will continue to win H2H.
Game 5 was won by Los Angeles Golf Club. If you don’t care about match odds, we recommend splitting the match into several parts. I’m going to choose one (or two) of the following prop bets to strengthen my bank account. LAGC leads after six or nine holes, scores the most points in triples, and scores the most points in singles. Which one exactly? That depends on the odds announced Tuesday afternoon. My preference is for the money line to be positive or close to negative half-way (-110, -120, etc.).
Match 5 Winner – LAGC vs. JLGC
*- Odds from BetMGM
