Billy Horschel Opens Up After a Career-Low Moment at the Memorial
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Among the more amazing aspects to Billy Horschel’s post-round interview on Thursday at the Memorial Tournament was the fact that he did it at all.
It is pretty rare for a player who shoots 84 to be requested, let alone agree, to talk after such a round. Horschel, as the defending champion, did a pre-tournament interview in which he explained in detailed some of the issues he’s been dealing with during a sub-par year.
Horschel’s issues played out in difficult fashion during the first round, as he made three double bogeys and six bogeys without a birdie to shoot 41-43-84. With an early-morning tee time the next day and an inevitable missed cut looming, it seemed reasonable that Horschel would go on his way.
But the 2014 FedEx Cup champion was asked to talk. Not only did he do so, he stepped behind a microphone at Muirfield Village’s media center. He was first asked a question about his alma mater, the University of Florida, who a day earlier had won the national championship.
And then came the question about his round, after which Horschel paused ... for more than 20 awkward seconds. He eventually explained his predicament and disclosed that “my confidence is the lowest its been in my entire career."
Horschel won the Memorial by four shots last year, made the U.S. Presidents Cup team and was ranked among the top 15 in the world. But most of this year has been a struggle.
Simply put, in an attempt to get better, Horschel got worse.
“The season’s been pretty bad, pretty abysmal, to tell you the truth," he said. “I haven't driven the ball very well. It's always been my strength. The iron play hasn't been great. It's been, it hasn't been great the last couple years. But when you drive the ball well in the fairway you give yourself more opportunities. I've been playing from spots I'm not used to. Iron play hasn't been good and it's been putting a lot of stress on the short game and putting to make up for all the issues with the ball striking.
“But thankfully Todd (Anderson, his coach) and I have been working hard at it, it's sort of just been trying to put the pieces a little bit together. We tried to make some changes in the offseason 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."
That was before the 84 on Thursday. Video of Horschel’s interview went viral and he received numerous texts and calls of support. Friday’s 72 included a triple-bogey 8 on a par-5 so there are still some issues, clearly. But it was nonetheless a strong improvement from the day prior and perhaps something for Horschel to take forward.