2025 TGL regular-season standout Wyndham Clark and his Bay Golf Club fall in 2026 opener to defending champs
By Gary Baines – 1/6/2026
Wyndham Clark should have been in his element — at least by indoor golf standards — on Tuesday on ESPN.
Last season, the Colorado Golf Hall of Famer won more holes and points than anyone else during the regular season of TGL, the made-for-TV indoor, simulator-based league. But then he had to miss his Bay Golf Club’s playoff match — due to a neck injury — and BGC fell 9-3 to eventual champion Atlanta in the semifinals at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
On Tuesday, Bay Golf Club played its 2026 regular-season opener — again against the champs on national TV. But the king of the 2025 regular season and his team couldn’t keep pace as Atlanta’s Patrick Cantlay and Chris Gotterup each chipped in en route to a 7-4 victory over Clark and the Bay Golf Club. Billy Horschel made an 8-foot birdie on the third-to-last hole to clinch the win.
The Bay Golf Club was tied after 10 holes — of the 15-hole match — but Atlanta (now 2-0) won the next four holes before a birdie from Clark on No. 15 left it a three-point final margin.
Ludwig Aberg, who with Shane Lowry joined Clark on the Bay Club, hit three shots into penalty areas in an uncharacteristically rough performance. For his part, Clark was up and down, setting up hole wins on Nos. 3 and 15, but hitting into the penalty areas on 2 and 8.
“We gave them too many holes, didn’t we?” Lowry said. “Too many balls in the water. Good thing they’re free.”
After winning its first four matches in TGL — all last year — the Bay Golf Club has lost its last three, the final two in 2025 and this year’s season opener.
In TGL, players hit full shots — off real grass and sand — to a simulator screen, before moving to a short-game area, which includes putting on an adjustable green. The holes are often of the exotic variety.
“This is golf but it’s not golf,” Clark said. “It’s kind of like a game, and I think why not treat it like a game and make fun holes. (That’s) my take, at least.”
Like last year, the Bay Golf Club’s “caddie” on Tuesday was Josh Seiple — a Valor Christian alum like Clark.
Next up for the Bay Golf Club and Clark is a match with Boston Common on Jan. 26 at 5 p.m. (MT) on ESPN2.
For details from Tuesday’s match, CLICK HERE.
Women’s TGL Coming Next Winter: Also on Tuesday, it was announced that starting next winter, there will be a women’s variation of the TGL, dubbed the WTGL. Teams “of LPGA Tour stars” will compete, though no specific players were announced. Like the TGL, the WTGL competitions will be held at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com