A resident of Jacksonville, Horschel spoke of the importance of doing well in his hometown event and how frustration had boiled over after his tee shot on the par-3 13th took a bad bounce and went into the water.

After hitting over the green from the drop zone, Horschel holed a 5-wood chip for bogey and then tossed his club in the direction of his caddie before walking away from the green.

Unfortunately for Horschel, his actions were captured on TV and, as a result, the American started to take some serious heat on Twitter – prompting a video response to admit that it ‘looked bad’ but that his caddie or playing partners Vijay Singh and 2018 Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk didn’t feel disrespected.

“Obviously, I was frustrated,” he said. “I holed it and I was just chuckling to myself afterwards, you know the golf gods they taketh and they giveth at the same time.

Clearing the air. Take it or leave it. #truthpic.twitter.com/ulLJHAo6qX

— Billy Horschel (@BillyHo_Golf) May 13, 2017

“I tossed my club at my bag. I didn’t think I’d toss it that hard but I’ve seen the video, it was harder than I wanted. But it was not at my caddie Josh – he knows that. We had a conversation and he reached out to me to talk about it to say he was cool with everything.

“It looked bad. But I was laughing saying, ‘Are you kidding me?’ type of deal. You guys can give me all the flak you want, that’s fine I take it all the time, but thanks to all the true supporters out there.”

Horschel hasn’t won on tour since his incredible two-week spell at the end of 2014 that saw him win the BMW Championship, Tour Championship and FedEx Cup.