Boston Common Golf has finally knocked the monkey off its back.
In their first TGL match of the league’s second season, the squad of Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley and alternate Michael Thorbjornsen earned the first triumph in team history, topping Los Angeles Golf Club, 7–5, on Friday night.
“Obviously, it’s been a long time coming for Keegan and I to get a win,” McIlroy said afterward.
McIlroy is one of the founders of the tech-infused golf league, yet Boston went 0–4 in its inaugural season, finishing in last place.
TGL’s second match of its second season treated viewers with a back-and-forth contest. Boston fell early after Thorbjornsen failed to get out of the bunker on his first-ever hole at the SoFi Center. However, he bounced back three holes later, tying the lead with a 10-foot putt after LAGC’s Sahith Theegala chipped in from 70 feet.
The two squared off again on the 12th hole, and Thorbjornsen made a 17-footer to give his team a 6–5 advantage. Then, the 24-year-old Massachusetts native sealed the victory with a 15-footer.
Ball Frogs!! 🐸 pic.twitter.com/wPpnigbiC2
— TGL (@TGL) January 3, 2026
Thorbjornsen was called upon to round out Boston’s lineup, with team members Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama unavailable to tee it up Friday. And, playing for his hometown team and entering the arena wearing a Drake Maye jersey, he became the first player in TGL history to make four putts from more than 10 feet in a match.
“Michael and I, we had a bunch of these putts in practice,” said Bradley, whose team made 87 feet in putts. “He had a couple where he’s like, ‘I know exactly what these do.’ It’s a big bonus.”
McIloy added: “This guy to my left [Thorbjornsen] was a stud tonight, and he was the star of the show.”
A big part of Boston’s win was that they were 3–0 with the hammer, despite being last in hammer points last year.
“We have a little different strategy for accepting and throwing hammers,” Bradley said, “a little bit more data-driven.”
On the contrary, LAGC was the regular-season champion last season, going 4–0. But Theegala, Justin Rose and Collin Morikawa started 2026 by succumbing to Boston’s first-ever win.
“I think we had a really good chance all day to just kind of pull away and get a couple points ahead,” Theegala said, “and it just didn't go our way.”
TGL’s next match is Tuesday, Jan. 6, between The Bay Golf Club and Atlanta Drive GC.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Rory McIlroy’s Boston Commons Golf Gets First-Ever TGL Win Behind Alternate’s Heroics.
