In the first round of the TGL Finals, Los Angeles Golf Club battled back and forth against Jupiter Links, winning 6-5. LAGC takes a 1-0 series lead into Tuesday night’s finale, with up to two games (if necessary) scheduled to be played to determine the league’s second champion.
A victory for Los Angeles in the second game, scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, would give the club its first TGL title. Jupiter needs two wins on Tuesday to make an upset and win the championship.
As the de facto home team, as the captain, you will receive a big boost heading into the match. Tiger Woods announced to join lineup Playing for the first time all season, he returned from hip surgery in October 2025 and helped Jupiter keep the season alive.
Monday night’s first game wasn’t a dazzling display of golf excellence, as both teams took turns making sloppy mistakes that cost them points.
LAGC took an early 1-0 lead, but Jupiter fell back to the lead at 2-1 after Saheeth Segala and Tommy Fleetwood missed tie-breaking putts from within 4 feet on back-to-back holes. After both teams missed the green, Justin Rose turned things around with a chip-in birdie from 35 feet on the eighth hole, and the match went to the final triple hole.
Jupiter trailed 3-2 after Teagala found a waste bunker off the tee on the par-5 ninth hole and was forced to lay up, but LAGC decided to deny Jupiter’s thrown hammer after reaching the greenside area for two.
In singles, Rose continued to lead LA, beating Max Homa on the first hole, and Homa missed a short putt and hit a 3-footer to tie the score, 3-3. After Tom Kim hit a disastrous drive off the line and forced a layup on Alpine’s long par 4, Tommy Fleetwood gave LA a 4-3 lead on the next hole. He falls into the rough and LA throws a hammer but is denied.
But that lead didn’t last long as Segala missed a huge ramp on the cenote’s par three and ended up in the water. Kevin Kisner finally hit a good shot that came within 6 feet of the cup, and Segala put his third shot into the bunker, giving LA a run and the game once again tied at 4-4.
Jupiter regained the lead on the 13th when Homa hit the green and Rose missed the final short putt for birdie, giving Jupiter a 5-4 lead.
After some rough golf, the best part of the match arrived on a short par-3 cliffhanger. Kim squeezed his tee shot to 6 feet before Woods threw the hammer and LA had to make a tough decision. If they lose on that hole, the match is abandoned, but if they decline, the best they can do on the final hole is force sudden death. They accepted, and Fleetwood pushed his wedge inside Kim’s tee shot to deflect the pressure.
Both players made birdie putts, with Jupiter leading 5-4 going into the final hole. LA threw a hammer before the tee shot, turning it into a two-point hole and giving Tegara a chance to win if he could beat Kisner, who had a significant length advantage on the par-5.
In particular, after Kisner hit a 3-wood into the rough off the tee, Segala carried his driver across a bunker, leaving him with an iron. Kisner hit his 7-wood into the rough again, and Seagala hit the green. After Segala came within inches of making an eagle putt, Kisner chipped in for birdie to tie the hole and nearly win the match, but it slid to the left, giving Los Angeles a 1-0 lead heading into Tuesday night.
Both teams will be hoping to be even better when they meet in the second game. “This is a bad game,” Homa said sharply on the 12th hole, but in the spirit of March Madness, the match was close despite the poor performance and had an exciting finish.
Kisner produced one of the best shots of the night with his tee shot at the cenote, but otherwise struggled. He certainly wasn’t the only reason Jupiter couldn’t close out games, as Kim and Homa both hit shots Monday night at SoFi Center. After a rough opening game, Jupiter made a major lineup adjustment for Tuesday’s game, with Woods expected to be in the lineup for the first time this season.
Perhaps the biggest challenge for Jupiter is that L.A. probably won’t play as badly as they did in the first game, as Rose, Seagala and Fleetwood all struggled. Segala made some wild plays with his driver and wasn’t as sharp with his putter, but he was still able to pick up the win and clinch the best-of-three final.
