FedExCup champion Billy Horschel looks to recapture magic at Bay Hill

 

There's a little bit of Patrick Reed in former Florida Gator Billy Horschel.

 

Horschel admitted as much Tuesday during a break in preparations for this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational. When asked about how Reed turned the negative energy from the European fans at last fall's Ryder Cup into positive results, he related a similar experience with Georgia fans during the Tour Championship in Atlanta last September.

 

"The fans (were) great out there, but you hear a lot of 'Go Dawgs,' " Horschel said. "You don't hear very many 'Go Gators.' For some strange (reason), people must think that's a great thing to say, 'Go Dawgs' to someone who's a Florida Gator."

 

Horschel had the last word: When he made his final putt to capture the title and the $1.4 million prize that goes with it, he turned to the crowd and performed the Gator Chomp in a moment that has since become a prominent scene in a PGA Tour commercial.

 

"It was spontaneous," he said. "I wasn't thinking about it, but it was a spontaneous moment. I'd heard enough 'Go Dawgs,' so I did the Gator Chomp. If they want to say 'Go Dawgs' to me, I can Gator Chomp right back at them."

 

Horschel's remarkable run in the FedEx playoffs, where he followed a second in the Deutsche Bank with wins in both the BMW and Tour Championship to collect just shy of $3 million in just under three weeks, gave him the right to do some celebrating, but he never got the chance.

 

"I had a kid (daughter Skylar) two days later, that's what I did," he said with a grin. "There wasn't time to celebrate. I'm not one to spend money; it wasn't like I went out and bought a car or anything like that.

 

"We did wind up buying a house, (and) that's because we needed a bigger house. We had a little one on the way and had the opportunity to buy a nice house, so that's what we did. (But) I'm not one to celebrate much, not (even) my birthday. I'm not that kind of guy."

 

The winner of only one PGA Tour event – New Orleans in 2013 – before that stretch and none since, Horschel couldn't be blamed if he looked back on it as something magical. But that's not how he regards it.

 

"(It) doesn't surprise me at all," he said. "Probably surprised a lot of other people what I did those three weeks, but I know how talented I am. Everyone around me knows how talented I am and how good I can be, and that was sort of showing what can be done in my career if I just believe in myself a little more and be a little less hard on myself."

 

Bay Hill brings Horschel, 28, full circle. Born and raised in Grant, a town of about 4,000 south of Melbourne, Florida, he recalled making the hour-long trip to Bay Hill as a teenager, when he and his high school buddies would show up to caddie for the amateurs in the Pro-Am.

 

"It's always a special place to come to, and I'm looking forward to playing well this week," said Horschel, who now resides in Ponte Vedra Beach.

 

While close friend and former Gator teammate Matt Every returns as defending champion, Horschel's two previous appearances have been less than memorable: He placed 75th in 2013 with an 85 in the final round, and 43rd last year.

 

Coming off his strong finish to last year – when most agreed he would have been picked for the U.S. Ryder Cup team had those selections been made later, as they will be in 2016 – Horschel has yet to get it going, with only one top-25 finish in 10 starts.

 

"The results haven't been what I'd like," he admitted. "Making a couple bad swings and missing a couple putts a round, that's sort of killing me out there."

 

After Bay Hill, he'll play San Antonio next week, then the Masters and Hilton Head.

 

"I need to clean it up, and when that happens, I'll start playing some good golf. I feel really good about what's about to happen in the next couple of months."

 

This article was written by Brian Biggane from The Palm Beach Post and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.