Patrick Cantlay, Billy Horschel, and Lucas Glover are all set to team up with Justin Thomas on the Atlanta Drive GC team for the inaugural season of Tiger Woods’ and Rory McIlroy’s tech-based league. The simulator league will launch on January 9th next year.
The Atlanta Drive GC is the second TGL team to announce its roster. Last week, Rory McIlroy was at Fenway Park announcing Boston Common Golf’s roster, which includes him, Keegan Bradley, Tyrrell Hatton, and Adam Scott. But does the Atlanta Drive GC fair well against the spectacular Boston team?
Exploring the Atlanta Drive GC Teammates
The team is owned by Arthur Blank, who is also the owner of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, which he bought for $545 million in 2002; his stake now amounts to a whopping $2.2 billion.
Justin Thomas was the first player to be picked up by a TGL team. The two time major winner is the team’s star player and although he hasn’t had a stellar year, he was chosen among the Captain’s picks for the US Ryder Cup team which caused quite a sensation owing to his poor performance during this season. But, despite backlash regarding his selection, Thomas went on to score 1.5 points in Rome, which was comparatively better than the performance of some of Zach Johnson’s other picks.
Patrick Cantlay, the current World No. 5, with his eight top-10 finishes this year, was also part of the losing Ryder Cup team, which was muffled up in a controversy regarding speculations that he was in a rift with his teammates regarding the desire to be paid for competing in the biennial tournament.
Cantlay denied such reports and went on to score two out of four points for his team. He also managed to win an intense clash against Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick after McIlroy got into a heated argument with Cantlay’s caddie, Joe LaCava.
While his teammates share a connection with the southern US (Thomas from Kentucky, Horschel from Florida, and Glover being a South Carolina native), Cantlay hails from California.
Billy Horschel, world no. 54, has won seven times on the PGA Tour and has had a cathartic year after shooting 84 at the Memorial Tournament in Murifield Village early in the year. He will be aiming to bring the strength of rebuilding himself to his team.
Lucas Glover, who stands at 31 in the World Golf Rankings, won the Wydham Championship and the FedEx St. Jude Championship back-to-back this year. He also managed to have five top-10 finishes this year, making him a strong asset to the team.
Besides Atlanta, the rest of the TGL includes teams from Boston, Los Angeles (owned by tennis sensation Serena Williams and her husband), New York, San Francisco, and Jupiter, Florida (co-owned by Tiger Woods).
As the launch date for the new league approaches, excitement regarding the teams and the innovative format is at an all-time high. And with McIlroy and Woods comparing the league to LIV Golf and using it to criticize the Saudi-backed league, the expectations from it come out pretty strong. Does this new league hold the potential to transform the sport of golf? Only time will tell.
