Billy Horschel, with 12 words from a professional loser tells us a little more
Billy Horschel hits his tee shot Sunday on the first hole at Royal Troon.
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Billy Horschel did not win.
Then he found another one who didn't.
Thriston Lawrence would be he won the Open Championship, however. He fired a six-under 65 in Saturday's third round to put him in contention. It was released on Sunday's final match. It led to Sunday's final round. The driver is torn all over Royal Troon. He shot a 68 on Sunday that, perhaps in another Open, would have finished the job. But Xander Schauffele was talented. And Lawrence was tied for fourth, three shots behind the winner.
The 27-year-old South African has played in majors before, seven of them, and played on the weekend in his last two Opens. He was a four-time winner on the DP World Tour. But what happens on Saturday and Sunday? Career changing factors.
Still, Lawrence was collected, at least in the way he spoke to the news people.
“It's like any other tournament,” he said Sunday afternoon. “When you are in the lead, you always think about winning. But the meet today, that was my mindset, I'm going out to try and win. So taking the lead or being one or two shots back doesn't change the mindset or the game plan or anything. Like I said, it's a normal Sunday, and yes, the Open Championship, my first major final, first in the top ten, but still, a tournament, just a big tournament, a top tournament.”
Horschel also almost won. Shot a 69 on a Saturday afternoon in weather you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. He left last Sunday with Lawrence. In a gray shirt, dressed like he's here to win. He scored a 68 in the final round and finished with three straight birdies, or, put another way, how it should finish the majors. But he couldn't catch Schauffele and tied for second, two behind the champion.
An inheritance was to be made. Horschel earned millions. He won tournaments. But not a big one. He wanted it so much that the 37-year-old from Florida said he touched her first. He learned to be cool, though. He said that he had uploaded a picture of what it would be like to be given the big trophy.
“I've worked my whole life to be in this position,” Horschel said Saturday afternoon. “Listen, I've been leading many times going into the last round. Obviously this is key. It means more. We all know that. We know what this means to everyone. I know what it means for my legacy in the game of golf and what I want to do and accomplish.
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“But I'm happy to be here. I wanted to be here all my life. I'm finally here. I embrace it. Like I said [Golf Channel’s] Todd Lewis, the thing that I did this year, and I did a better job this week of you, or I tried to do a better job, is to kind of show myself with a trophy before I go to bed every night, I think. I held that trophy at the age of 18, going out into the crowd and being congratulated as the Open champion.
“That's what I'm going to do again tonight, and hopefully that will happen tomorrow. If it doesn't happen I will get back in shape and work hard to get back to a situation like this again.”
And now you will. He didn't win. Nor did Lawrence.
Horschel apparently was, though. This was not his first major. This was not his first major tragedy.
But it was because of Lawrence. After Sunday's game, Horschel spoke to reporters. He said he had watched her for the past few years. He knew his resume. He thought he had the perfect game. He thought he was about to return to the big league. He thought he would be playing on the PGA Tour soon.
“He's a really good player,” Horschel said.
So he found Lawrence after that. This moment was captured by the social media team from Today's Golfer, a golf magazine based in England. A few others stood nearby.
Horschel told Lawrence what he told reporters.
“It's just a matter of time until you're used to getting out there.”
What do you think about this?
After being disappointed, do others zoom in? They do it. Can Horschel have it? He couldn't. Did he do it? He didn't.
Did it say something about him? We think you can answer that.
Notably, the two pros have met again, at the PGA Tour's 3M Open in Minnesota. Thursday, Horschel starts at 12:43 pm local time, Lawrence about 90 minutes later.
I'm back at it.
“I think I did a better job in the majors the last three or four years,” Horschel said Wednesday. “I felt like it was just the way I handled the majors, just the way I prepared, the way I wrapped my head around what to do – not how I prepared for the majors because I felt like I always prepared well, but just the mental side of it. I always felt that I had to be a perfectionist, I needed to play perfect golf to win the emergency. Like I said, a couple of years ago, three, four years ago I was feeling like I was a little bit off and I think that was about 2020 Winged Foot, I played really well, I think I was in the top five with 27 holes to go and I didn't play well, I didn't handle that situation well . But since then I've just felt the feeling I have and the mind I have been in a better place.
“Sometimes it takes a long time to see the results of that. It's great to finally see those results, it's great to finally get validation for all the hard work we've been trying to do. No, nothing different. I said maybe a little more belief and honestly going into that week I really believe I can win and I see I can win.”
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