TGL PRESENTED BY SOFI: BOSTON COMMON GOLF VS LOS ANGELES GOLF CLUB

January 2, 2026

Justin Rose

Sahith Theegala

Collin Morikawa

SoFi Center

Los Angeles Golf Club

Press Conference

Boston Common Golf 7, Los Angeles Golf Club 5

THE MODERATOR: Welcome, Los Angeles Golf Club. Really entertaining match. Unfortunately come off on the downside of a 7-5 loss, but overall your first match back for season 2. Just initial thoughts on being back and also just the match as a whole.

JUSTIN ROSE: It was great to be back with the guys. I think as a team, we've always gone out there with good energy, good fun, good preparation. We've always come in, worked hard. I think we enjoy what it means to kind of all compete together.

We were so close, I think, in the early part of the match to kind of getting a stranglehold on it, and every credit to Boston and certainly Michael for the putts that they made with the hammer on them. That was kind of the key to the match today.

I felt like in all those hammer situations, they statistically were probably just in our favor and we kind of came off on the wrong side of all three of them, so that was the match.

SAHITH THEEGALA: I was just telling Rosey, it felt good to be competing again. It's been a little bit of a break since I've played in anything competitive, so it's just fun to get the juices going.

Like Rosey said, I think we had a really good chance all day to just kind of pull away and get a couple points ahead, and it just didn't go our way.

It was a bummer. I kind of feel like I gave away like three holes there where it wasn't too much of a sweat. I just kind of put them in the penalty area and gave them a free hole. Gives them a little bit of momentum, so that's one thing, just keep it in play.

But had such a good time again. These boys did so well, and it's just so fun going to battle with these guys.

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Yeah, what they said. It's fun to feel the adrenaline again. Boston team played great. Seeing Thor out there, I don't think any team has made that many putts on top of us. It's frustrating, but it was nice to see a couple roll in for us at the beginning.

But like Rosey said, we didn't get the momentum we needed on our side. Even when we threw the hammers when we thought they were good times, they made putts, we missed ours. It happens, though.

Q. Piggybacking on what Justin and Collin said about the hammer, I thought you guys threw some really strategic solid hammers, but they just made the putts. How much have you guys put into the hammer strategy? Atlanta has been really solid with that, and they've got a secret weapon: Ben with the team management. Have you guys been talking about the hammer strategy, because it's seemingly really important.

COLLIN MORIKAWA: Rosey and I were talking about it on our entrance up today. Look, I think our team has got a lot of smart guys where I think we understand when it's necessary, when it makes sense.

I know on our 14th hole, my putt from 15 feet, odds weren't really in our favor, but if we make it, then we're in the lead and we have a chance. That flips the whole script.

Look, I think we have a good rhythm and just feeling it out when to throw it. I wanted to throw it when Rosey was chipping on the driveable one.

JUSTIN ROSE: Collin actually wanted to throw it maybe before Rory hit his second shot, which would have been a good time to do it because as soon as Rory --

COLLIN MORIKAWA: He was 198, you know? But you don't know. Odds of him hitting it to, what did he hit it, six feet? We can be on a range all day and not hit it to six feet. So props to them.

But no, I think we have a good understanding of when we should throw it. It's just really backfired -- not backfired, but we just didn't take advantage, and in this kind of format, you have to take advantage of the hammers.

Q. For Sahith, you were tasked with hitting some of the more interesting tee shots, Stinger, Lone Pine where you have to hit it low, Cenote. I watched you warm up, and you were hitting a bunch of different trajectories and shot shapes. Is that something you really like about this league, being able to pull off different shots and be artistic out there?

SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, I love it, especially the way I grew up hitting shots. Basically I envisioned a tree in my way on the range, and I would shots around it, over, under, whatever it is. It was awesome that the guys trusted me with those kind of crazy shots, and I had a really fun time hitting them in practice. Actually hit them a little bit before today, as well.

Yeah, I felt really comfortable over those shots. I feel less nervous than I do on a normal stock shot on those shots. It's just a way to let my creativity take over. Unfortunately I just didn't execute on a couple of them.

The Stinger one is definitely tough. You hit it a little low on the face, it just rises a little bit. I'd say it's 10 feet lower than my normal kind of low driver that I hit on the course, and that one just was essentially the one I normally hit on the course and hit the rock there.

But yeah, it's so fun to see the whole designs kind of evolve how they have from last season, and I think it's a good mix of some really standard common holes and holes like that, and I think it keeps it really interesting for the viewers.

Q. A couple of changes from last year's season to this year's season, as mentioned, Cenote, Stinger, the new holes and the new green. What were your overall takeaways from your first match of the season with the new changes?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I thought the changes were great. I thought the new green was rolling well. It maybe felt a little quicker. I don't know if it was mean to be. It felt a little quicker today.

And then I think a little bit more strategy. There was a couple of pin placements at the bottom of those hills that if you do overshoot, to actually putt it down the hill and to keep it within gimme change is not easy, so there's a few pin placements you really need to respect and a lot more options for the designers, I think.

THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thanks for coming in, and good luck in your next match.