Billy Horschel met them at the 17th tee on the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course on Tuesday morning. A veteran and his service dog.

But the meeting wasn’t meant to take Horschel’s mind off one of the most daunting shots on the PGA TOUR. He was there to present a $30,000 check to K9s for Warriors courtesy of the Horschel Family Foundation.

Dan Clavel, a Navy veteran, and his rescue dog, Nola, then walked inside the ropes with Horschel as he finished his practice round in advance of THE PLAYERS Championship. Nola, a golden retriever, is named for New Orleans, the city where Horschel won his first TOUR event. Last year’s dog sponsored by the HFF was a yellow lab called Roscoe, named after the street where the former FedExCup champ and his wife Brittany were building a home.

Tuesday marked the second straight year the HFF has shined a light on the organization, which was started in 2011 by David Duval’s stepmother, Shari. K9s for Warriors seeks to unite specially trained rescue dogs with veterans suffering from PTSD, traumatic brain injury or military sexual trauma in an effort to prevent suicide.

For Horschel, it’s a “beautiful win-win” situation.

“I love the military,” he says. “Without their selfless sacrifice to protect my family, I wouldn't be able to live in this free world to be able to play this game of golf that I love so much. And so, it's a great organization that's helping save animals from shelters but also training them, and then pairing them with veterans that are struggling, coming back from reintegrating into regular society.”

The meeting on THE PLAYERS Military Appreciation Day was just one part of a busy week for Horschel and his family.

The HFF was also hosting the Mental Health Professionals Appreciation Day with Optum at the 17th Green Chalet on Wednesday. Once THE PLAYERS begins, Horschel will continue his charitable endeavors by donating $1,000 for every birdie and $5,000 for each eagle to Feeding Northeast Florida through his #DriveOutHunger campaign.

Those three initiatives fit neatly into the mission of the Horschel Family Foundation and support its four pillars of healing, hope, honor and health. The non-profit was launched in October of 2023 at the PGA TOUR’s Global Home where Brittany Horschel, the founder and president, shared her journey overcoming substance abuse. The HFF partnered with the TOUR to create the PAR program – which uses privacy, access and resources to provide a path for its constituents seeking help from addiction and mental health issues.

“We were going to start a foundation when my wife was ready to be able to give more time,” Horschel says. “Obviously, trying to raise three kids and everything else, it takes up a lot of time. But when she could give more support to getting this foundation off the ground and running, that's when (we did).

“With my wife having dealt with depression and alcoholism – she's been nine years sober in May – so that's a really big reason for starting the foundation to sort of tie everything in but also tie in the mental health and addiction side of our foundation and to continue to help more people that we come across.”

Executive Director Brad Nelson, who is Brittany Horschel’s brother, says the organization strives for impact giving that will really make a difference for the charities it supports. One of those is the Betty Griffin Center, which will receive $100,000 over the next four years to provide hope and healing for victims of domestic and sexual assault. The HFF also sponsors AJGA and APGA Tour events to grow the game.

A week like this one at THE PLAYERS brings everything into focus.

“When we do these events, especially when there's a lot of eyes, you realize how appreciative the people that are receiving the donations of the services are,” Nelson says. “And that's the best part is when you see the impact that you're having. And it's a lot of fun, and it's motivating as well to keep going, to keep doing more. …

“We're just excited about where we're going to be in 10 years. Look what we've been able to do so far. …It's exciting. It's a privilege to be a part of, and it's also humbling in the same manner. It's a mix of emotions is what I'm trying to get across.”

The Horschel’s commitment to their community has attracted national attention, as well.

Horschel will be honored by the Golf Writers Association of America in April with its Charlie Bartlett Award for contributions to the benefit of society. Other winners of the award included Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Tiger Woods, to name a few. The couple also received the 2025 Deane Beman Award given by the Jacksonville Golf Association for their charitable endeavors.

More than 100 people are expected for Wednesday’s Mental Health Professionals Appreciation Day. The invitations did not just go to doctors and therapists but also to the people behind the scenes who help people on their journeys to recovery.

“The addiction problem, it's bigger than just the addiction aspect of it,” Nelson explains. “There's a lot of different things that come into it, like anxiety, isolation, unhealthy relationships, social media, doomscrolling. There are all these things that are leading people into addictions.

“It takes a team from multiple organizations to really start addressing this. And that's when Brittany was like, I'd really like to honor the people that are working in these facilities, the day-to-day workers, the ones that almost get forgotten kind of behind the scenes. She really wanted to make them feel special.”

While the Mental Health Appreciation Day and K9s for Warriors donation are in their second year at THE PLAYERS, Horschel and his wife have been involved with Feeding Northeast Florida for nearly a decade. Horschel even came back to TPC Sawgrass the day after THE PLAYERS was cancelled by COVID to help load concession food into trucks so it could be distributed to the food insecure.

Knowing people – especially children – were going hungry in their community was almost too much to bear.

“That’s what really touched our hearts because we were just right about to have Skylar, our first daughter, our first child,” Horschel says. “And to think that there's kids out there that aren't getting the proper nutrition to grow, to be able to focus to in school and to learn and just to grow in life, it really opened our eyes to wanting to help out this local food bank in Northeast Florida. …

“When people talk about food banks and everything, they think homeless, which that's rightfully (so), but there's a lot of people out there that are trying to make ends meet and they're working several jobs. And after paying the electricity bill and a car insurance and everything, the last thing that's always left on the burner is food. And so, the local food bank is helping sort of meet that little middle point. … So, the more that we can help out Feeding Northeast Florida to make our community food secure, that's our goal.”