McEwan: Billy Horschel a reminder that everybody hurts sometimes

The first time I saw Billy Horschel, if I’m being totally honest, I wasn’t hugely impressed.

It was the 2007 Walker Cup at Royal County Down. Fresh from winning the silver medal in the Open at Carnoustie, Rory McIlroy was making his final appearance in the amateur game in front of a passionate, partisan home crowd.

For company in the Great Britain and Ireland team, he had Lloyd Saltman, Rhys Davies and Danny Willett amongst others.

Horschel, meantime, was a standout in a star-studded ‘Star Spangled’ side. Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Webb Simpson, Chris Kirk, Kyle Stanley, Colt Knost – Buddy Marucci’s side was endowed with a spectacular array of talent, and 20-year-old Horschel was one of the main men.

Marucci sent him and Fowler out together on a dank, grey, opening morning. With his ‘Cantona’ collar, peacock strut and buzz-cut hairdo, he looked more ‘Boleyn Road casual’ than aspiring tour pro. He was brash bordering on obnoxious.

After he and Fowler comfortably dispatched of Saltman and Davies that first morning, he was all fist pumps and holler as he took down McIlroy in the afternoon’s singles. Oh, how he revelled in defeating the ‘hometown favourite boy’, as he described him afterwards.

First impressions count, no doubt – but not for everything.

Whilst Fowler turned professional amid a huge fanfare and Johnson enjoyed immediate success on tour, Horschel’s transition to the paid ranks had neither. He flip-flopped between the PGA Tour and Web.com Tour for several years before finally breaking through at the 2013 Zurich Classic.

Since then, he’s added six more wins, reached a high of 11th on the world rankings and banked almost $35million. Notwithstanding a major record that shows only one top-10 finish from 38 appearances – and that coming on his second start – he’s built an covetable career through grit and graft, overcoming significant issues both on and off the course in the process.

He’s also an open book in a library full of belt-bound, hard-to-read tomes. From his love of West Ham United to dislike of LIV Golf, we know more about him than we do most professional golfers.

The reason I mention all this is because Horschel has, contrary to my original presumptions, become of the most endearing figures in the game. He’s a fabulous interviewee and rarely, if ever, shirks media duties. It’s no great burden to stand in front of reporters after shooting a 64. Almost nobody does it after an 84. Even a quick dissection of a 74 is apparently beyond the wit of some.

Not Horschel. After carding a 12-over opener in his Memorial Tournament title defence yesterday, he tearfully took to the podium.

“My confidence is the lowest it’s been in my entire career,” he admitted. “I’m making a big number on every single hole it seems like.”

"I'll go out there and give it my all like I always do."

Transparency and raw emotion from defending champion Billy Horschel after an opening round 84. pic.twitter.com/4Cx7r6hmPL

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 2, 2023

Whilst hard to listen to, never mind watch, Horschel’s candour provided a compelling window into the mental vulnerability of even those who make the game look easy. It is easy, lazy even, to assume that, because they are more lavishly talented and better compensated than us mere mortals, that are imbued with an equally extraordinary reservoir of fortitude and resilience.

It’s a slack narrative. They’re only human, operating at the same mercy of fate and fortune as the rest of us. If there is a difference, it’s that they work in full view of a watching and often mercilessly critical world. Put yourselves in their shoes and see if “tHe MiLlIoNs iN tHe BaNk mAke Up FoR iT” when multiple ‘NameNumbersFlag’ accounts on Twitter come at you with total impunity simply because they can.

Accessibility and exposure has made people operating at the top-level of sport soft targets for abuse. Exhibit A: the angry mob that attacked football referee Anthony Taylor and his family at an airport yesterday following the Europa League final between Roma and Sevilla.

Is it any wonder these figures retreat from public view and resist engagement with ‘normal people’, further driving a wedge between them and us? That’s the opposite of a solution.

Perhaps it’s easy to appreciate Horschel’s humility and humanity because it has become increasingly rare. It needn’t be. It shouldn’t be. We’ve surely now evolved beyond mental health being a taboo subject. Or maybe we’ve not.

Regardless, whilst painful for him, Horschel should be lauded for his honesty in the face of adversity, his capacity to be comfortable even when uncomfortable.

Here’s hoping his comeback is greater than his setback.

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor