While FaceTiming Justin Thomas during the Atlanta Drive Golf Club’s TGL match on Tuesday night, Billy Horschel told the former Alabama All-American that the team had found his replacement in Nick Dunlap. But Thomas, who deemed that comment “rude,” still had a “Roll Tide” for his fellow Crimson Tide alumnus during the match.

With Thomas sitting out Atlanta’s match against Jupiter Links Golf Club on Tuesday, the Drive signed Dunlap to a one-game contract to complete the regular season. With Dunlap playing with Horschel and Lucas Glover, Atlanta posted a 9-1 victory over Jupiter’s Tiger Woods, Max Homa and Tom Kim.

Thomas will be back in Atlanta’s lineup when the Drive starts the inaugural TGL playoffs.

The playoffs begin at 6 p.m. CDT March 17, when the top-seeded Los Angeles Golf Club plays the fourth-seeded New York Golf Club. ESPN2 and ESPN+ will televise the match.

In the other semifinal, the second-seeded Bay Golf Club and the third-seeded Drive square off at 6 p.m. March 18. ESPN and ESPN+ will televise the match.

The best-of-three finals will start at 8 p.m. March 24, with the second match at 6 p.m. March 25, followed by Match 3 if necessary.

Since earning National Freshman of the Year and National Player of the Year awards in 2012 at Alabama and playing on the Crimson Tide’s 2013 NCAA championship team, Thomas has won 15 times on the PGA Tour, including the PGA Championship in 2017 and 2022.

Dunlap is in his first full season on the PGA Tour.

On Jan. 21, 2024, Dunlap stunned the golf world by winning The American Express as a 20-year-old sophomore member of the Alabama men’s golf team. He became the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event since Phil Mickelson in 1991. The victory gave Dunlap the opportunity to accept immediate membership on the PGA Tour.

Dunlap won again on July 21, capturing the Barracuda Championship to become the first player in PGA Tour history to win as an amateur and a professional in the same season.

In December, Dunlap received the Arnold Palmer Award, presented annually to the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.

The TGL is a golf venture from Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy that is playing its first season. The TGL features six teams of PGA Tour golfers competing in a league format at a high-tech venue with seating for 1,500 spectators in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Golfers hit shots off tee boxes with real grass, fairway, rough and sand into a 64-by-53-foot simulator screen until they’re within 50 yards of the cup on 15 named holes, including the Spear, Riptide and Serpent.

After that, the virtual golf switches to shots played at the GreenZone, an adaptable green featuring 600 underground devices to change the slope of the putting surface from hole to hole.

Each match features three players from each four-man team. They compete in an alternate-shot format for nine holes, then switch to singles competition for the final six, with each golfer playing two holes.

Dunlap played Homa on the individual holes on Tuesday night and came away with one point for a win on the 13th hole.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.