Wie West's near-ace and Lee's lucky bounce: how LA won WTGL's first match

Los Angeles Golf Club won the first WTGL match 3-1 over New York Golf Club on Sunday at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and the league's official highlight package shows how few holes actually decided it. The league's match page confirms the 3-1 final and that it ended on the 15th hole.

Michelle Wie West, Alison Lee and Gaby López played for Los Angeles. Rose Zhang, Linn Grant and Lydia Ko played for New York, Front Office Sports reports.

The triples holes

WTGL matches run 15 holes: nine Triples holes of alternate shot, then six of Singles. Each hole is worth a point, and throwing the Hammer raises the stakes by one. The other side can accept or decline and give up the hole.

Hole 3. With the match still scoreless, the hammer came out on the par 3. Grant's par putt just missed, and that was worth two points to Los Angeles.

Hole 5. On Cenote, where TGL's men usually play to the funnel, Lee went straight at the green and hooked her shot into the penalty area. New York threw the hammer, Los Angeles declined, and New York had its only point: 2-1.

Hole 7. Wie West nearly made the league's first ace. Her tee shot finished just off the pin, and the broadcast caught her in disbelief. Grant answered with a birdie from off the green, and New York threw the hammer. Lee then made a putt of 4 feet, 11 inches to halve the hole. Still 2-1.

Singles

Hole 11. Lee's tee shot looked like trouble until it bounced off the rocks and settled just off the green, north of the pin. Los Angeles threw the hammer, New York declined, and it was 3-1.

The finish. On the last hole the hammer was thrown before the tee shot, so two points were on the line and Grant needed a birdie to tie. She missed, and Los Angeles closed it out 3-1.

Off the course

Wie West came out of retirement to play WTGL. "It feels really surreal," she said on ESPN afterward, per Front Office Sports. She was less happy on the 13th, where a 98-yard wedge spun back to the bottom of the green. "That wasn't a spinny shot," she told teammates. After the match she called the technology "pretty accurate" and said adjusting to it is "definitely a learning curve."

ESPN joined about 15 minutes late because the Arkansas-Virginia men's basketball game ran long, and Zhang hit the league's first shot just as coverage switched over. The match took just over two hours. Owners Alexis Ohanian and Serena Williams watched from the sellout crowd.

Los Angeles is back Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 8 p.m. ET on Ion against Motor City Golf Club, which makes its debut with Jeeno Thitikul, Ronnie Yin and Lexi Thompson. Wie West, Aki Iwai and Kiara Romero are slated for LA, per WTGL.