Billy

Horschel

Horschel had four top 10s in his 10 lead-up starts before winning the 2022 Memorial Tournament. He has just one top 10 in stroke-play events all season, this time around. “We tried to make some changes in the off-season to get better and unfortunately it didn’t work, went back to some of the old stuff and it’s just, it’s taken a little bit longer. But I’m starting to see some life, starting to see some more quality golf shots. My bad golf shorts aren’t nearly as bad anymore. So, yeah, its getting closer, it’s still not where I want it to be, but there’s life in the game finally.” Horschel is +450 just to post a top-20 finish this week so gamers should probably look elsewhere when filling out their rosters. If you trust his press conference confidence then it would be a good buy-low opportunity.

Horschel took it easier than usual in the lead-up to this week’s event, as he’s been dealing with illness over the last few weeks. “There’s a saying: Beware of the injured or sick golfer. I’m not like super, super sick, but I’m just not like a hundred percent. I think you just sort of, you’re a little bit easier on yourself. You’re sort of not worrying about everything.” He was steady (not spectacular) off the tee today with 9-of-14 fairways hit and then did his scoring from there. He opened on the 10th tee and caught fire with the flat stick early, pouring a pair of 30 footers. He had gained 2.7 strokes with his short game before then turn then dialed in his irons on the way into the clubhouse with +2.3 strokes gained approach on his homeward nine. If this co-lead holds then it would be his third career first-round lead or co-lead on the PGA TOUR. He remains on the hunt for a first win in his home state.

The Florida Gator missed the cut in two of his last three starts with a T32 at the WM Phoenix Open sandwiched in between. He wasn’t happy with the results so him and his swing coach abandoned some of the new ideas they were working with, “This past week we sort of abandoned what we’ve been doing the last couple months, realizing it was more of an effort; it wasn’t as easy to do. Went back to some of the older stuff, and what’s nice is some of the stuff that we were trying to fix, that we did, going to what we were trying to do this past off-season has sort of translated into going back to the old swing.” Horschel has finished T16 or better in four of his last six starts at the Honda Classic but is still searching for his first win in the Sunshine State.

The Florida Gator was making his season debut but was not rusty as he stayed busy with back-to-back top 10s on the DP World Tour after the TOUR Championship. He stayed hot this week in South Carolina despite a ho-hum performance from the putting. Horschel ranked 3rd in strokes gained approach (+6.6) this week but just T35 in putting. He was T6 at the midpoint but stumbled on Saturday with a 1-over 72. Horschel cleaned up nicely on Sunday with a tidy, seven-birdie effort which saw him miss just one fairway and two greens. Horschel will now have at least one week off as he’s not in the field for the Bermuda Championship.

The Florida Gator put on a ball-striking clinic last year at Wentworth. He ranked 2nd in strokes gained off-the-tee and 1st in strokes gained approach. He pelted 81% of his greens in regulation which was also tied for the best in the field. “It’s a great feeling. I sound like a broken record but I watched this event for many years on TV growing up. It was always the first week we got out of school. I watched early in the morning before I went to the golf course and to finally come here in 2019 and experience the event, I fell in love with the golf course, which I think I knew was going to happen.” Horschel twirled a T4 in his 2019 BMW PGA Championship debut so he is 2-for-2 in posting top 5s at the course.

Additionally, the 35-year-old Horschel is one of three players in the field who have a chance to move into the Comcast Business Tour Top 10, along with Will Zalatoris and Sungjae Im. Scottie Scheffler has clinched the No. 1 spot, which awards him $4 million, while the player that finishes No. 10 will earn $1 million. According to PGA Tour Comms, Horschel needs to win this week at Sedgefield CC in order to overtake current No. 10 Hideki Matsuyama. In the last 13 Tour seasons, only Webb Simpson (2011, 2018, 2019) and Jordan Spieth (2013) have played their way into the Comcast Top 10 at the final FedExCup regular-season event. Top 10s aside, Horschel fielded multiple questions regarding his desire to make a U.S. team for international competition, specifically the upcoming Presidents Cup: “There’s a couple things that are missing from what I would love to do in this game of golf and one of those would be to make an international team, a U.S. team, whether that’s a Presidents Cup team or Ryder Cup team, I’ll take whichever one comes. I think probably the best situation I’ve been in my entire career to make a team right now, so I’ve just got to go out there and play really solid golf and I think if I do that, then hopefully I can make my first team, which would be really cool.” Click on the link below to read Horschel’s full comments.

“Sometimes all the hard work and practice we put in, we don’t get results out of it, so it’s nice for this year, we start to see more results,” said the 35-year-old Horschel, a seven-time PGA Tour winner. “What my team and I have done over the last couple years, the changes we have made, to try and be more consistent, try and win the bigger events, it’s been nice to finally see. … The game has been solid, and I haven’t had to fiddle too much, and I’ve been able to focus on putting each week and that’s been a big help.” He also has two podium finishes on the season, finishing T-2 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and second at the Zurich Classic. In two starts since winning the title at Muirfield Village, Horschel missed the cut at the U.S. Open and was T-26 at the DP World Tour’s MBW International Open. He’s made one previous start at The Renaissance Club, finishing T-54 last year. Visit the link below to read Horschel’s full comments, including his thoughts on LIV.

The 35-year-old Horschel posted rounds of 73-71 at The Country Club to miss the cut by a shot. Just two weeks prior, the University of Florida alum won the Memorial for his seventh career PGA Tour victory. Horschel began the final round at Muirfield Village with a five-shot lead but struggled early Sunday. He had gone 49 consecutive holes without a bogey before the streak ended on No. 6, and he didn’t make his first birdie until No. 10. Leading by two on the 15th green, Horschel drained an eagle putt from more than 50 feet to extend his lead to four strokes. He finished at 13-under 275, four strokes ahead of runner-up Aaron Wise. On the season, Horschel has made 14 cuts in 16 PGA Tour starts with three runner-up results including a solo second at the Zurich Classic, T-2 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and a T-2 at the unofficial QBE Shootout in December. The 2014 FedExCup winner is aiming to make a little history this week and he looks to complete his collection of BMW titles: He’s won the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship in 2014 and the BMW PGA Championship in 2021. Victory in Munich would complete the set.

Horschel is arriving with a lot of momentum off a win at Jack’s Place. However, he caught up with the boys from Barstool Sports and talked about a finger injury, “caught it on the boat, Friday night.” He went on to say it’s still bruising but swelling coming down. Gamers will have to take his word for it when he says it’s no big deal. Horschel opened his U.S. Open career with a top 5 back in 2013 but has finished outside of the top 20 in each of his seven appearances since that debut.