PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Billy Horschel made an 18-foot birdie putt down the slope and Patrick Cantlay clinched it with another clutch chip as the Atlanta Drive won the inaugural TGL title on Tuesday night by coming back for a 4-3 victory over New York.
Atlanta won both matches in the best-of-3 TGL finals that wrapped up the first season of the high-tech indoor league at the SoFi Center.
New York led the entire match and was up 3-2 on the 14th hole when Horschel delivered the biggest shot of the night. Atlanta threw a “hammer” challenge that New York accepted, making the penultimate hole worth two points. Rickie Fowler was in a bunker.
Fowler splashed out to 4 feet. Horschel faced a putt down a sharp ridge that broke two ways, and it turned back to the left and into the cup as Horschel raced off the green, threw his putter and his hat and screamed, “My (expletive) house!”
“Two feet out I knew it was in the hole, and I blacked out,” Horschel said.
New York threw a hammer challenge on the final hole making it worth two points. Cameron Young and Cantlay each missed the green on the par 5. Cantlay's pitch from 60 feet checked up and stopped a foot from the hole. Young had to make to force another match, and his pitch narrowly slid by the hole.
The Atlanta Drive won $9 million to share among Horschel, Cantlay, Justin Thomas and Lucas Glover, who was inactive for the three-man match.
New York received $4.5 million for Young, Fowler, Xander Schauffele and Matt Fitzpatrick.
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Billy Horschel hits his tee shot on the third hole during the final round of the Valspar Championship golf tournament Sunday, March 23, 2025, at Innisbrook in Palm Harbor, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
COTONOU, Benin (AP) — Voters in Benin cast ballots on Sunday to choose a successor to President Patrice Talon, who is stepping down after a decade in power, leaving a mixed legacy of economic growth, a growing jihadi insurgency in the north, and the suppression of opposition critics.
Romuald Wadagni, the 49-year-old finance minister and governing coalition standard-bearer, is considered Talon’s anointed successor for the seven-year term. Wadagni is being challenged by Paul Hounkpè, the sole opposition candidate.
Nearly 8 million are registered to vote across more than 17,000 polling stations in the West African nation. Benin had over 15 million people in 2024, and like many sub-Saharan African countries, its population is overwhelmingly young. Polls are expected to close at 4 p.m. with the results expected within 48 hours.
Turnout has been low in recent years, and polling stations in Cotonou, the largest city, were sparsely attended throughout the morning. The city was quiet as the election began, with public demonstrations banned on election day, but stores and streets remain open.
Analysts widely expect Wadagni to win after a parliamentary election in January, during which the opposition failed to cross the 20% threshold required to win seats, leaving Talon’s two allied parties in control of all 109 seats in the National Assembly.
Renaud Agbodjo, leader of the Democrats, was barred from competing after failing to secure a sufficient number of parliamentary endorsements — a threshold critics say was engineered to keep rivals out.
Wadagni has touted the country's economic growth during his decade as finance minister as his key strength. Benin’s economy grew 7% last year, making it one of West Africa’s steadiest performers.
“Ten years at the Finance Ministry have given him something rare in African politics: a quantified record — verifiable and difficult to dismantle in a serious debate,” said Fiacre Vidjingninou, political analyst at the Lagos-based Béhanzin Institute.
While Benin has historically been among the most stable democracies in Africa, opposition leaders and human rights organizations have accused Talon of using the justice system as a tool to sideline his political opponents.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have denounced a sustained crackdown on dissent under Talon, citing arbitrary detentions, tighter restrictions on public demonstrations, and mounting pressure on independent media outlets.
Protests over the rising cost of living sprang up in recent years, but the government and security forces clamped down on any dissent.
Beverly Ochieng, an analyst at the Control Risks Group consulting firm, told The Associated Press that, in the event of a Wadagni victory, the new government will likely continue Talon's policies aimed at positioning Benin as a stable investment environment, while facing a largely constrained opposition.
“Wadagni may want to avert a crisis in confidence by first consolidating power then engaging in dialogue with opponents to demonstrate goodwill,” Ochieng said.
In December, a group of military officers attempted to topple Talon’s government in a failed coup, the latest in a series of recent military takeover attempts across Africa. Most attempted coups follow a similar pattern of disputed elections, constitutional upheaval, security crises, and youth discontent.
Among the coup leaders’ key complaints was the deterioration of security in northern Benin.
For years, Benin has faced spillover violence in its north from neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger in their battle against the al-Qaida-affiliated extremist group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM.
The tri-border area has long been a hotbed for extremist violence, a trend worsened by the lack of security cooperation with Niger and Burkina Faso, both now led by military juntas.
Electoral officials prepare presidential ballot papers at a polling station in Cotonou, Benin, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Abadjaye Justin Sodogandji)
A woman is verified before casting her ballot at a polling station in Cotonou, Benin, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Abadjaye Justin Sodogandji)
A man casts his ballot at a polling station in Cotonou, Benin, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Abadjaye Justin Sodogandji)
A motorcyclist stands beside a billboard featuring presidential candidate Paul Hounkpe in Cotonou, Benin, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Abadjaye Justin Sodogandji)
Presidential candidate Romuald Wadagni greets supporters at a campaign rally in Cotonou, Benin, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Abadjaye Justin Sodogandji)
Road users pass in front of a campaign billboard for presidential candidate Paul Hounkpe and his running mate, Rock Hounwanou in Cotonou, Benin, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Abadjaye Justin Sodogandji)
