TGL Match 14-15 preview: What’s at stake in final regular-season tilts

Back-to-back matches Monday and Tuesday night will determine who is in the TGL playoffs and who stays home.

Boston Common Golf, after a thrilling overtime victory over Jupiter Links on Sunday night, has locked up the No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs. Atlanta Drive GC, the defending SoFi Cup champion, will also be back in the playoffs as it hunts for back-to-back titles.

But each of the four clubs in action over the next two days — Los Angeles Golf Club, New York Golf Club, The Bay Golf Club and Jupiter — have some work to do if they want to firm up a spot in the playoffs.

Here’s everything you need to know for the final two matches of the TGL regular season:

The matches

Los Angeles Golf Club: Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, Collin Morikawa (sitting: Sahith Theegala) vs. New York Golf Club: Cameron Young, Rickie Fowler, Matt Fitzpatrick (sitting: Xander Schauffele)

The Bay Golf Club: Ludvig Aberg, Min Woo Lee, Wyndham Clark (sitting: Shane Lowry) vs. Jupiter Links GC: Max Homa, Tom Kim, Kevin Kisner (sitting: Akshay Bhatia, Tiger Woods)

Notes

Match 14: Los Angeles vs. New York

• Los Angeles will be bringing out three of the best golfers in the world ranking with Fleetwood, Rose and Morikawa (Nos. 3, 4 and 5).

• Los Angeles is looking for its third win of the season and second in a row after defeating Atlanta on Feb. 23. It is third in the standings and has a near 80 per cent chance of making the playoffs.

• Los Angeles will clinch a playoff spot with a win and it is bringing out its heavy hitters. When Rose, Fleetwood and Morikawa have been grouped together this season they are 2-0, outscoring opponents 13-5. Rose and Morikawa have already won on the PGA Tour this season while Fleetwood is the defending FedEx Cup champion.

• New York returns to the SoFi Center after losing both legs of a doubleheader on Feb. 24.

• New York can stay alive with a win over Los Angeles, but it also needs Jupiter and The Bay Golf to finish the season with four points or less and then to win the ensuing tiebreaker.

• Los Angeles can stay alive with a loss to New York, but will need to win its own tiebreaker in that scenario.

• New York and Los Angeles met twice in Season 1, splitting the series 1-1.

Match 15: The Bay Golf Club vs. Jupiter Links GC

• This is a big one. The final match of the second season of TGL sees a place in the playoffs on the line — a win for either team guarantees a spot in the semifinals on March 17.

• The Bay lost its first two matches of the season but bounced back with consecutive victories over Los Angeles and New York.

• Lowry is sitting for The Bay after suffering a heartbreaking defeat Sunday at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches, where he was up three with just three holes to play and ended up losing by two.

• Jupiter also lost its first two matches of the season before defeating Atlanta. It faced off against Boston Common Golf Sunday night in a thrilling back-and-forth battle but fell just short in overtime.

• Kim, who won the final hole Sunday against Boston to force OT, will play his second match of the season alongside Kisner and Homa.

• Tiger Woods is once again unavailable to play — although there was some chatter he would tee it up — but he will be mic’d up and in the mix for Jupiter once again.

Path to the playoffs

The Bay: Beat Jupiter (in regulation or OT) or lose to Jupiter in OT and have New York beat Los Angeles in regulation (March 2) or lose to Jupiter in regulation and New York beats Los Angeles in regulation (March 2) and win a tiebreaker over both New York and Los Angeles.

Jupiter Links: Beat The Bay in regulation or beat The Bay in OT and New York beats Los Angeles in regulation or win tiebreaker over The Bay or lose to The Bay in OT and New York beats Los Angeles in regulation and win the tiebreaker over both Los Angeles and New York but if Jupiter loses to The Bay in regulation it cannot make the playoffs.

League standings

Broadcast details

Los Angeles Golf Club (2-2-0) vs. New York Golf Club (1-3-0): March 2, 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT, Sportsnet, Sportsnet+

The Bay Golf Club (2-2-0) vs. Jupiter Links GC (1-2-1): March 3, 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT, Sportsnet, Sportsnet+

Matches will be broadcast exclusively in Canada on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+

All matches will be played at SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., with the capacity for 1,500 fans in seating that’s wrapped around the playing area — creating a ‘greenside’ experience.

How it works

• Triples – nine holes – three players per team competing in an alternate-shot format.

• Singles – six holes – one-on-one, head-to-head competition for the entire hole. Each player from each team plays a total of two full holes during the session.

• Overtime – if the match is tied after 15 holes, the teams will play a best-of-three, closest-to-the-pin competition to decide the winner, with the hole location and orientation of the green remaining unchanged from the final/15th hole of the match.

• The shot distance in OT will be between 25-50 yards and decided pre-match by the match official. All players will play from the same spot. The ball must finish on the putting surface to be eligible.

Points distribution

For each match, teams can be awarded up to two points towards their regular-season total based on the following:

• Win in regulation = 2 points

• Win in overtime = 2 points

• Loss in overtime = 1 point

• Loss in regulation = 0 points