Billy Horschel bidding to make Presidents Cup debut

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Billy Horschel has become a cheer dad.

Almost every afternoon of late, he’s been going to cheerleading practice with his daughters, Skylar and Colbie, and he’s learning to spout the lingo -- cartwheels, walkovers, handsprings -- like a pro.

And with any luck, the two girls will get to lead some cheers for their dad in Charlotte next month at the Presidents Cup. Horschel currently ranks 11th in the U.S. standings with the top six after the BMW Championship making the team automatically and Captain Davis Love III completing the squad with six picks the day after the FedExCup champion is crowned at the TOUR Championship.

Horschel, who won the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday in June, has four weeks left to make his case. It’s a familiar position for the passionate 35-year-old who has yet to represent the United States in either the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup. The automatic qualifying period for this year’s U.S. squad ends Aug. 21, eight days before Love makes his picks.

“I think for the last decade now, … I've had a chance come this time of year to always make a team,” said Horschel. “You know, when it comes down to it, I just maybe haven't played well in that summer session to have a chance to make the team automatically or give myself a little better chance.

“I've had somewhat of an OK finish to end the year or just been too far back and just haven't been picked.”

Horschel, who won the 2014 FedExCup and has seven PGA TOUR victories on his resume, dearly wants to make the U.S. Team that will play before a sellout crowd at Quail Hollow Club on Sept. 22-25. In addition to the win at Muirfield Village, he has 10 top-25s in his 15 made cuts this season. His five top-10s also include runners-up at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and in the TOUR’s lone team event, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where he paired with Sam Burns, who’s a lock to make this year’s U.S. squad.

“I think (this is) probably the best situation I've been in my entire career to make a team right now, so I've just got to go out there and play really solid golf and I think if I do that, then hopefully I can make my first team, which would be really cool,” he said.

Horschel said Love, the three-time Wyndham champ who is playing in Greensboro this week, reached out to him by text recently, checking on his schedule and suggesting they get together for dinner one night.

Love said Horschel would bring a “lot of energy, a lot of passion and a hot game” to his team. He remembers that it was Horschel who contributed to a change in the U.S. Ryder Cup team’s qualifying process after Horschel won the final two events of the 2014 season. His victories came after Tom Watson made his Captain’s Picks to complete that year’s Ryder Cup team, whose loss to Europe inspired the formation of a task force.

“We want Billy to get hot again because when he's on a roll nobody makes birdies faster than him,” Love said. “But what we want and what I've been saying about the distractions in the game right now, we know we're going to get 12 guys that really want to play, and Max Homa and Will Zalatoris and Billy Horschel, guys like that, Brian Harman, they're passionate about the PGA TOUR and they're passionate about playing the Presidents Cup.”

The way Horschel sees it, the onus is on him to play well over the next four weeks. Greensboro is a good place to start the stretch run – he likes the Donald Ross layout and has four top-11 finishes in his last five starts here, including solo second to Jim Herman in 2020.

“I think the guys know me very well, I've been out here for 13 years and I think Davis and Zach (Johnson, next year’s Ryder Cup captain) and other assistant captains know the type of person I am, know my game very well, know what I can bring to a team and so now it's just, it's my job to play well enough so I can be picked or make the team automatically,” Horschel said.

Horschel said the hardest U.S. Team to miss out on was the 2018 Ryder Cup, captained by his good friend, mentor and fellow Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida resident, Jim Furyk.

“I remember … he had a Ryder Cup dinner at his house with the 25 guys and wives, I believe, and I sort of said to him, Tabitha and Jim, I said, I really want to make this team,” Horschel said.

Unfortunately, he didn’t play well over the summer but he did have two T3s and a runner-up in the FedExCup Playoffs to make a strong case.

Even with the hot finish to the year, Horschel was still 32nd in the standings when the automatic qualifiers were determined. Furyk’s picks for the matches at Le Golf National outside Paris went to Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Tony Finau.

“That was a tough one, because I was playing really well at the time,” Horschel said. “I thought the course fit me really well, but the other guys had played well, had played better for the majority of the year than I had. So, I don't fault Jim for the picks, but … that was a tough one because I really wanted to make the team because of Jim.”

Horschel represented the United States three times as an amateur – at the 2007 and ‘08 Arnold Palmer Cup and at the 2007 Walker Cup. But the Presidents Cup is a whole different animal, and Horschel is focused on improving his position and wearing the red, white and blue again.

“To be able to wear those colors and play golf and hopefully be victorious in bringing some joy to the United States, you know, and show that we can all get along in different venues and different avenues, I think that's what I love to do,” Horschel said. “So if it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't. I'll still survive, and I'll get ready to hopefully make the Ryder Cup team the following year.”