Tommy Fleetwood's 'genius' move sends LA to TGL Finals | D'Angelo
· Yahoo Sports
PALM BEACH GARDENS — Tommy Fleetwood's mind was racing after seeing Billy Horschel's putt roll 6-feet past the 14th hole at the SoFi Center.
With a spot in the TGL Finals on the line for Los Angeles Golf Club, Fleetwood had every scenario lined up.
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"I just felt like, when Billy had hit it to where he was, our Hammer became useless, effectively," Fleetwood said, knowing LA would not use its hammer on the final hole having the lead over Horschel and the Atlanta Drive.
Fleetwood then laid out three possible scenarios — Atlanta declining the Hammer, Atlanta accepting and Horschel making the putt and Atlanta accepting and Horschel missing — and none would have put LA at a disadvantage with one hole remaining.
"Yeah, it was all Tommy," said teammate Sahith Theegala, the one who actually had the Hammer in his back pocket.
Justin Rose, the primary reason LA even was in that position with clutch putts from 24 and 16 feet during the match, called it "genius" after saying he had no clue what was happening.
"I was unaware of it," he said. "Next thing I knew the thing was on the ground. So it was like, 'What the hell's going on here?' So I'll let the boys explain."
Fleetwood gladly took over from there.
"It just felt like the right thing to do," Fleetwood said. "It obviously gave them a pretty tough decision to make. Maybe I got lucky with thinking the right way at the right time."
No luck involved. Not with the way LA eliminated the defending TGL champions to advance to the best-of-3 finals that starts March 23 against Jupiter Links, who defeated Boston Common in the second semifinal on March 17.
LA, a 6-4 winner after trailing 4-1 after seven holes, had this match sealed as soon as Horschel and teammate Patrick Cantlay disagreed on whether they should accept the Hammer.
LA had Atlanta just where it wanted.
Horschel was reluctant to accept the Hammer, knowing if he missed it the match was over since it would have given LA a three-point lead with one hole to play. Cantlay had more faith in Horschel than Horschel had faith in himself and clearly believed Atlanta should accept the Hammer, even saying to Horschel, "If you want to decline it go ahead."
"I back myself every time from inside 10 feet anywhere," Horschel said before explaining why he didn't. "But, you know, it just needed to be declined at that point so we could at least have a chance to still tie the match going to the last hole."
LA clinched its first trip to the finals when Fleetwood tied the final hole in his singles matchup with Chris Gotterup.
Los Angeles advances to TGL Final behind Justin Rose putting
The win had Fleetwood, Rose and Theegala smiling and fist-pumping as they walked off the green, and then facetiming teammate Collin Morikawa, who was home recovering after withdrawing from The Players Championship with a bad back.
"Rosie was saying, 'make sure you don't throw your back out fist pumping too hard,' " Theegala said.
It was a celebration none of three really knew how they would handle.
"When TGL started, all of us can honestly say nobody knew what to expect, but we wanted to be a part of it," Fleetwood said. "Because you didn't know what it was, what it was going to be like. I think very quickly you become close, you become a team, you play for each other, and you're competitive, and it's a really cool thing.
"Holing that putt (and) being able to look at the boys and know that we made it to the final, that was awesome."
One thing Fleetwood knew to expect was Rose coming up clutch in big situations. The two Englishmen twice were paired in fourball during the Europeans victory at the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in September, and twice defeated their U.S. counterparts, one of those being the team of Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau.
Rose made a 24-footer and a key birdie putt that week. He started making those clutch putts in the 2012 Ryder Cup with a 50-footer on the 17th hole that helped him defeat Phil Mickelson.
"He has a way with them," Fleetwood, 35, said about the man 10 years his elder.
"I love watching him go through his process and the way that he goes about it and the way he hits his putts. I've been lucky enough to be his partner before and watch him hole putts at the perfect moments, and he did that two or three more times tonight."
It was Rose and Fleetwood who had a quick discussion on the course as LA was digging a hole at the start of the match.
Rose told his teammates he can recall many times the last two years they led by three points and suddenly were in a tight match.
Fleetwood agreed and then told Rose and Theegala to just keep hitting good shots.
And those good shots led to one Hammer that got LA into its first TGL Final.
Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: LA Golf Club reaches TGL Finals with win over Atlanta Drive