When Billy Horschel came to Austin for last year’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, he hadn’t won an individual PGA Tour event in nearly four years, his match play record was shaky and he wasn’t even a consideration for the Ryder Cup.
One week at Austin Country Club changed all that, however, as the 2017 FedEx Cup champion sliced through the field with relative ease, dispatching local favorite Scottie Scheffler in the final and ending his drought. He went on to win again on the DP World Tour later in 2021 and although he wasn’t a pick for Steve Stricker’s Ryder Cup team, he’s been a model of consistency this calendar year, finishing in the top 20 at four straight events before a nasty sinus infection forced him to pull out of the Players Championship two weeks ago.
Horschel says he’s kicked the infection and is eager to defend his title in Central Texas.
Before the defense begins, Horschel chatted with Golfweek about how iron play has been the key to his resurgence, how family life has balanced him, how he thinks the Texas Longhorns will “get their asses handed to them” in the SEC and how he longs to play in a Ryder Cup.