Around the Links: Road to the Masters and TGL finals

With just under two weeks left until the first major of the year in The Masters, it’s becoming crunch time for golfers to get their game ready for Augusta National.

After a chaotic Players’ Championship just two weekends ago, last weekend’s Valspar Championship ended in a final round between three golfers looking for their first wins in a very long time.

Viktor Hovland led the pack at Innisbrook Resort’s par-71 Copperhead Course heading into championship Sunday, tied with Jacob Bridgeman and Nico Echavarria at -7.

Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth were hanging around the top of the leaderboard, heading into the final round at -5 and -3, respectively.

While it would take a big day for Thomas and Spieth to get into true contention, one showed up on Sunday while the other imploded.

Spieth had a relatively quiet front nine but then butchered his chances of contending by following a birdie with a brutal triple bogey at the par four 16th, causing him to finish +1 on the day and placing him tied for 28th overall to end the tournament.

Thomas, however, came out firing with a -3 front nine, placing him at -8 on the tournament through that point. Hovland also started hot, getting a birdie on the first hole and the third, but a bogey on the seventh meant that he also finished the front at -8.

Echavarria was also at -8 at one point, but two bogeys on the final three holes of the front placed him at -6. Bridgeman’s front nine was about damage control, as a double bogey on the fourth was followed up by two birdies to also place him at even through nine.

On the back nine, Echavarria took himself out of contention by following up a birdie on the 11th with three more bogeys, giving him a +3 74 on the day. Hovland, Thomas and Bridgeman all kept their foot on the gas pedal, with each golfer netting three or more birdies on the back nine.

The deciding factor of the tournament was the final three holes. Going into the 16th, Thomas led the three at -12 after firing four birdies in five holes. Hovland was second on the leaderboard at -10, with Bridgeman just behind him at -9.

On the final three holes, Bridgeman would bogey the 16th, birdie the 17th and par the 18th, making no progress on the leaderboard at all. Hovland birdied the 16th while Thomas made a brutal mistake in bogeying the hole, tying the two heading into the 17th.

Hovland stayed hot, netting a birdie on the par three, while Thomas settled for par, giving Hovland the lead at -12 going into the 18th. Both golfers would bogey the closing hole, giving Hovland the victory over Thomas.

With a victory at the Valspar, Hovland ended a year-long win drought that spans back to his memorable back-to-back wins of the BMW Championship and Tour Championship in 2023. For Thomas and Spieth, this continued what is almost a three-year winless streak.

Thomas had more golf to look forward to as the TGL Championship began the very next day, with his Atlanta Drive squaring off against the New York Golf Club in a best of three series.

Monday’s match opened with Thomas, Billy Horschel and Patrick Cantlay taking on Cameron Young, Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffle in triples. Scoring began on the second, with Atlanta taking the hole, followed by another point on the fourth.

New York would answer back quickly, taking back-to-back holes to tie it up and finishing the scoring for the front nine. Coming out of halftime, New York would throw “The Hammer” on the first hole of singles, winning the hole to net them a two-point lead over Atlanta.

Atlanta would follow that up with another “Hammer” throw on the next hole, with Horschel drilling a crucial putt to tie the match again.

Young would defeat Thomas on the 13th, but Horschel would once again come in clutch for Atlanta, tying it on the 14th to allow Cantlay to win the 15th and give the Drive the 1-0 lead in the series.

Tuesday’s match began with crickets, as no scoring was done between the two teams for the first six holes. Then, just like on Monday, New York took the seventh and eighth holes, giving them the lead going into halftime.

New York then took the tenth hole, going into the final four holes with a commanding 3-0 lead. Horschel tied Fowler on the 11th, but then Atlanta began to rally. Cantlay took the 12th hole and Thomas won the 13th, cutting New York’s lead to just one with two holes to play.

Horschel and Fowler faced off on the par three 14th, with Horschel’s tee shot finding the green and Fowler finding the bunker.

Atlanta then threw “The Hammer,” and despite New York’s tough positioning on the hole, they accepted. Fowler then left himself four feet for par, putting even more pressure on Horschel to make his 17-foot putt for the lead.

After all of the theatrics the Drive has pulled off this year, Horschel added just one more to their highlight reel, sinking the putt for the lead. After a tie on the final hole, Atlanta won the first-ever TGL Championship, closing out a successful inaugural season for the league.

The Texas Children’s Houston Open began on Thursday, and as of Friday, the second round was delayed due to lightning, but Scottie Scheffler leads at -11 after tying his course record of 62.

Dylan Sechrist is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email dks5749@psu.edu.