TGL PRESENTED BY SOFI: THE BAY GOLF CLUB VS LOS ANGELES GOLF CLUB

February 9, 2026

Tommy Fleetwood

Tony Finau

Sahith Theegala

SoFi Center

Los Angeles Golf Club

Press Conference

The Bay Golf Club 11, Los Angeles Golf Club 5

THE MODERATOR: The match felt closer than the score. Tommy, Tony, first match back. Can you just talk about the atmosphere?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, it was great. It was great being back. Great being back with the boys and playing. I thought the atmosphere was great. Tony set the crowd up in the right way, and we just couldn't -- Tony did his job with the crowd.

We just couldn't quite build any momentum. It felt like we were always on the back foot. Every time we sort of did something right and got close, we just couldn't quite get over that hurdle. But it was great being back. I love being part of the team, and it was very enjoyable.

TONY FINAU: Yeah, it was awesome being back, just like Tommy said. I'd just echo a lot of what he just said. We had our chances, I felt like, to kind of swing the momentum and just wasn't able to do it today.

But overall, enjoyed the experience. It was nice to be in front of this crowd. I thought the energy was fantastic. Last time I was here was last year, but I really enjoy being a part of this team.

Happy that these guys were kind enough to just have me today.

Q. Tony and Tommy, did it take some time to get adjusted to the new holes and larger Green Zone? Did you have any time to prep?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, we had a good practice today, this morning. Yeah, I feel like we were prepared really, really well.

I thought the green was -- early on anyway, we definitely had some swinging putts early on, but overall, I think we were prepared really well. I think we liked the holes, and I think we knew what we wanted to do.

Yeah, I guess for as many good shots as we hit, we just couldn't capitalize on that and a few ones that didn't go our way or a few poor shots. But it's good. There's definitely a lot of variety.

But yeah, we had a good practice this morning.

TONY FINAU: I enjoyed the look of some of the new holes. The first tee shot, at least was a tee shot I hit last year. Outside of that, all the holes were brand new. It's fun to play those type of creative holes, and having watched some TGL this year, I was at least familiar with it that way, as well.

Overall, the creativity is pretty cool. Obviously simulator golf, if you translate that to a real hole, it's not really possible, so it's really cool that they get creative with it and just give us some different looks.

Q. Opposite you guys with The Bay, a couple of debuts with Ship, with Clanton. Tommy and Tony, if you were to give them the best advice at their stages in their career, what would you say to them?

TONY FINAU: I would just say keep doing what they're doing. They've gotten their careers off to a great start. The only thing they're looking is the experience, but these young guys, what I've learned from a lot of these guys coming out of college, they're not afraid of the spotlight. They're not afraid to win. They're not afraid to play well and be the star.

From what I'm seeing from Luke and Neal, I think they're great kids. I can call them that because they're younger than me. They're in their 20s. But they're great guys, and they have games to back it up.

I think they are both going to be special players on the PGA TOUR, and I don't know that I would really share anything with them other than you guys, make sure you have good people around you to guide you down your path onward to success.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, I agree with Tony. I think the most important thing for those guys is to keep doing what they're doing, and in no time, I think there's just so many examples of -- a lot of us have done it, but go searching for something that you feel like you want or lack in detriment to what you've already got. They've got so much.

You see them, it's amazing watching them play golf. They've got such a great attitude and passion for the game. I think just always protect that. It's great watching young players like that with the fire in them and how much they love it. As long as they protect that, they'll be fine.

Q. Tom, just talk about Shipley's debut tonight with the hole-in-one and then that clinching birdie.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Yeah, they're all against the shots that I had to play him, as well. He played great. All of the guys did. There was a lot of good shots.

But yeah, Neal had an unbelievable moment there with that hole-in-one. Yeah, he did tons of good stuff, and definitely, like, great moments at the right time, as well.

An amazing night for him. He had those few great moments, like I say, at the right time, and yeah, just a great night for him. Don't mind losing to that.

Q. Tommy, can you tell us about the technique to go 0 degrees of loft on Stinger?

SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, that was sick.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: I don't know how it was zero. Did it just stay on what the tee height was? I practiced it. We practiced that this morning, but I was generally three or four. But zero is pretty cool. I'm glad I got a chance to hit that shot and felt pretty comfortable with it. I think that hole is one of those great creative ones that we've got.

But yeah, I kind of have -- we all have a few different shots with our clubs and stuff, and I would always kind of call it like a bullet driver. There's one where I tee it down but one where I tee it up and hit it pretty straight. That was, like, just a very, very extreme version of it I felt that I needed there, so came off well.

Q. Was that mini-driver?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: No, that was driver.

Q. Tony, you started the night off hot with a Dougie on the first tee box. Was that premeditated? Was that spontaneous?

TONY FINAU: It was a little bit more spontaneous. I literally just told the LA team, we've got to go back to my roots. If we're going to come out with some heat, we've got to do a Dougie. The Dougie is something I'm very familiar with, have done it in the past. So I figured we'd hit it to kind of get things started this year.

Last year I did a little two step, west side two step, and this year I mixed it up a little bit.

I was just trying to get the crowd going and get some energy in the arena, and I think I did a good job of that. Unfortunately, like Tommy said, we weren't able to keep that momentum playing golf. But I love having fun. I enjoy dancing and throwing that in in the beginning I thought was all right.

Q. Tommy, it seemed like there was opportunities to throw the hammer later in the match. When you guys did, the 11th hole, the 13th hole as well with flex. Can you talk about what the process has been like to figure out when the right time is to throw the hammer for you guys?

TOMMY FLEETWOOD: Well, today I felt like we were -- it felt like when the opportunities arose to throw the hammer, it was, like, they were far enough ahead where if they just declined it, like one hole wasn't enough to end up winning the match. It was just always an awkward moment.

I actually think we were doing -- we definitely were doing the right things. We stayed patient with everything. For the majority of the time, and especially as you get later on, one hole wasn't going to be enough for us, so we had to sort of try and win a hole naturally and then try and press and throw it in blind so we had the chance of two, really.

That was just a frustrating situation to be in, but that was all that we could do, really. You had to stay in it right until the end to give ourselves a chance to win it, and it doesn't materialize. When you lose, it's like, maybe we should have done something different. Always in that situation it was just awkward and a bit frustrating, but it is what it is. I think we played that well, we just didn't hit the golf shots well enough.

Q. Sahith, as you've come out every single match that LAGC has had, how would you describe the urgency inside your team right now as the playoff picture is tightening?

SAHITH THEEGALA: Yeah, I think we want to win every match we play in, every hole we play in. I just can't say enough about how much these guys want it and the prep work put in and all that. I really appreciate being a part of that team.

Definitely stings to lose, but I think the nice thing is four of the teams make the playoffs, and I think we've done a pretty good job of staying in each match and winning as many holes as we can.

The next two are obviously going to be important. We're going to probably have to win at least one of them. I'm not sure how the standings exactly are shaking out, but I know we've won a lot of holes, which is good, in case of a tiebreaker. Yeah, the next two matches we'll definitely have a little sense of urgency. But I think all the prep work and how we've approached the matches is going to stay the same. I think we've kind of done our due diligence and it hasn't quite gone our way this season yet.

That's why I love there's four teams that make the playoffs. It feels like you're in it until the very end, and the best team will come out on top.