Billy Horschel’s victory in the 2014 PGA Tour Championship continued two brief but discernible trends among the event’s most recent winners.
For the second straight year, the “hot” guy in the FedExCup Playoffs won both the Tour Championship and the FedExCup.
Last year it was Henrik Stenson, who came into the Playoffs off consecutive finishes of second, second and third in the British Open, WGC-Bridgestone and PGA Championship and won the Deutsche Bank Championship a few weeks before the Tour Championship.
Horschel waited a little longer to begin his hot streak, which was considerably shorter in duration than Stenson’s. After a mostly unimpressive showing throughout the 2013-14 season, Horschel was 69th in the points standings coming into the Playoffs opener in New Jersey. He missed the cut that week, dropping him well below 70th on the points list, the cutoff for making it to Denver for the third of four tournaments in the FedExCup Playoffs series.
Needing a strong showing in the Deutsche Bank Championship to advance, Horschel tied for second behind Atlanta area resident and former UGA golfer Chris Kirk, letting a chance to at least get into a playoff slip away when he hit a poor approach shot into the par-5 18th hole at TPC Boston.
Undeterred, Horschel came right back the next week and won the BMW Championship at Cherry Hills, and came into the Tour Championship second on the points list behind Kirk. Horschel continued his torrid stretch of play, posting four rounds in the 60s for a third straight week to finish with an 11-under 269 total and a 3-stroke victory at East Lake over Jim Furyk and Rory McIlroy.
It was a very profitable three-week stretch of golf for Horschel, who took home almost $3.5 million for 12 days of exceptional golf, and received the $10 million FedExCup bonus on top of that.
Horschel is also the third Tour Championship/FedExCup champion in the last four years who is in his late 20s/early 30s and was born, raised and attended college in a state that borders Georgia. Brandt Snedeker (2011) and Bill Haas (2012) also fit that description, with the trio also falling a bit short of the status held by some of the previous FedExCup winners (Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Furyk).
The 27-year-old Horschel, a 2009 graduate of the U. of Florida, has played just four seasons on the PGA Tour, emerging in 2013 after struggling through his first two years. He enjoyed a similar stretch of sizzling play last year, tying for second, third and ninth in consecutive tournaments before scoring his first professional victory in New Orleans.
All four of those tournaments came in a five-week stretch surrounding the Masters, which he failed to qualify for despite nearly winning in both Houston and Sam Antonio the two weeks prior to Augusta. He made one more appearance in the national spotlight last year, contending in the U.S. Open and tying for fourth, but was not heard from again until closing out the season with a tie for seventh in the Tour Championship.
Until almost winning the Deutsche Bank Championship, Horschel was mostly a non-factor in the 2013-14 season, with a pair of sixth place ties in the Tournament of Champions and Memphis his only top-10 finishes.
After missing the cut in the Barclays, Horschel said he was ready to for the 2013-14 season to end the 2014-15 season to start.
“I wish this season would be over,’ he told his wife after that tournament. “I want 2014-15 to start just because it’s been a year I haven’t wanted and I I just want a fresh start because things haven’t been going my way.
“I went to the Deutsche Bank knowing I need to play well here to get to go to Denver. Let’s get to Denver first and then we’ll worry about getting to the Tour Championship.”
Horschel took some flak from both golf commentators and on social media after his dismal second shot on the 72nd hole in the Deutsche Bank, but shrugged it off and responded with an outstanding effort the next week in the BMW. He shot 7-under 63 in the third round to take a 3-stroke lead to the final day, and closed with a 69 to win by two over Bubba Watson.
After being among the leaders for each of his last seven rounds in the Playoffs, Horschel was paired in the final group with Kirk for the first round at East Lake.
Horschel began the round with eight straight pars before carding birdies on four of the last 10 holes for a bogey-free 66 to share the lead with Kirk, who also shot 66 without a bogey. The two have been playing together since their college days, and were teammates at both the Walker Cup and Palmer Cup.
They led Watson, Furyk, Jason Day and Patrick Reed by a shot, with Matt Kuchar, Zach Johnson, Cameron Tringale and Haas all shooting 68.
Horschel followed with another 66 to lead Kirk, Day and McIlroy by two shots after 36 holes. He was again even par after eight holes, this time with two bogeys on his scorecard, and for the second day in a row was 4-under for his last 10. McIlroy’s 65 was the low score on the day.
In the third round, Horschel was paired with McIroy, with the two players squaring off in the 2008 Walker Cup. They split two singles matches, with Horschel teaming with Rickie Fowler to defeat McIlroy and his partner in alternate shot.
Birdies at 8 and 9 gave Horschel a 3-under 32 on the front nine and a 3-stroke lead, but a pair of bogeys on the back and a McIlroy eagle at the 15th left the two tied at 9-under 201 after McIlroy shot 67 to Horschel’s 69.
Furyk was two off the lead after a 67, followed by Fowler, Day and Justin Rose at 204, with Rose shooting a second straight 66.
Horschel never wavered during the final round, hitting 16 greens in regulation and making just one bogey in a 2-under 68 after driving in the rough on the 10th hole. After McIlroy holed an 18-foot birdie putt on the fourth hole, Horschel matched him with an 11-footer, and took the lead for good when he hit his second shot from 235 yards on the long-par fifth to 19 feet and holed the putt for birdie.
A missed birdie opportunity at the par-5 ninth and a bogey at the 10th by Horschel kept him from adding to his lead, with Furyk pulling into a tie when he almost pitched in for eagle at the 15th. But Horschel also birdied the 15th from a greenside bunker, and preserved his slim lead with a 30-foot par saver at the 16th after just his second missed fairway on the day.
Furyk, who has struggled down the stretch when in contention in recent years, missed the green and his 12-foot par putt at the 17th and three-putted the 18th for bogey. He shot 69 to fall into a second place tie with McIlroy, who birdied three straight holes beginning at the 15th for a 71 that included a costly six-hole stretch from 6 to 11 in which he was 5-over par.
McIlroy’s downfall began when he pulled his tee shot in the water at the par-3 sixth for a double bogey. A wild drive at the ninth resulted in the first of three straight bogeys as fell five behind Horschel. McIlroy hit his approach inside two feet for his third straight birdie at 17, and wound up tied for second when Furyk bogeyed 17 and 18.
Kirk, Day and Rose all shot in the 60s the final day and tied for fourth at 7-under, followed by Ryan Palmer at 6-under, Fowler at 5-under, and Sergio Garcia, Gary Woodland and Adam Scott at 4-under. Russell Henley was 12th at 3-under and Matt Kuchar was the only other player to break par for 72 holes, placing 13th at 2-under.
With his tie for fourth, Kirk finished second in the final FedExCup standings to earn $3 million from the $35 million bonus pool. McIlroy finished third, followed by Furyk and Watson.
Horschel came away with the biggest bonus check ($10 million), with three weeks of brilliance more than outweighing an otherwise forgettable year.
“I’m thrilled to be the FedExCup champion and the Tour Championship champion, especially with the year I’ve had,” Horschel said. “The Playoffs are the biggest besides the majors we have on the PGA Tour. That’s when the light shines the brightest, and I was able to rise to the occasion and get the job done.
“It gives me so much confidence, so much thrill to accomplish something like this, especially with the guys I was going against.”