Billy Horschel felt misunderstood. Now? He feels free — and hungry

THE SCENE: Talking Tour life (and TGL) outside the Lodge at Torrey Pines just after a practice round at the 2026 Farmers.

This interview originally ran in GOLF Magazine. Horschel isn’t in the field at this week’s Players but finished T13 at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, his best result thus far in 2026.

Dylan Dethier: You’re back and healthy and playing your 17th PGA Tour season. At least I think you’re healthy. How do you feel kicking off the year?

Billy Horschel: I feel amazing. I mean, I got my card out of college at 22; I’ve been thinking about that knowing I turn 40 this year. I don’t feel 39, but when I look at these kids coming out now that are under 30 — even Scottie [Scheffler], he’s been at this a while but he’s still 29 — it’s awesome to be competing. I would say when I got out here the average age was 34, 35, and I’d say there were 30 or 40 guys that were in their 40s still competing at a fairly high level. Now there are maybe 15 of those guys? But I still love it. I still have a fire and a drive to be great. And, sure, there’s a monotony to parts of the PGA Tour, doing it over and over, the daily routine to prepare, but all I want to do is go play and compete.

DD: Do you remember what motivated you when you first came out? And is that different from what motivates you now?

BH: Obviously, when you’re first on the PGA Tour, you want to show you have the game to belong, to compete, to win. But the goal has always been to put my name on trophies next to guys I’ve looked up to, from Tiger to Phil to Ernie to Greg Norman, Fred Couples, Jack, Arnie — all these guys. That’s still the same. I’ve obviously proven myself to be a good player over this time, but there’s an end to the road at some point, and you want to make sure you accomplish the goals that you set for yourself when you first got out here.

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DD: From the outside, though, the end to that road doesn’t seem to be anywhere close. Some of your biggest moments have come in recent years: winning Memorial, winning BMW PGA twice, playing the Presidents Cup, contending in majors. What’s next?

BH: Listen, I still don’t think I’ve come anywhere close to tapping my potential. There’s a lot left on the candle. Unfortunately, when I’ve had a good season recently I haven’t carried that momentum to the next one. In 2022, I played really well, I won Memorial, I made the Presidents Cup team, I went into 2023 feeling really good — and then I didn’t play well. And then in 2024 I got some equipment stuff sorted out, I swung it better and won twice — Puntacana and BMW PGA at Wentworth — and made it back to the Tour Championship. Going to 2025 I was thinking, Hey, this is the year I finally get a major. But I got off to kind of a slow start, and when I felt like I was starting to turn the corner, hip injury. [Horschel missed several months.] So it’s been start, stop, start, stop. But I still believe. There’s still so much I want to do. I haven’t made it to the top 10 in the world ranking; the highest I got is 11th. I still can get there; I can get to the top five. Look, I’d like to say I could be No. 1, although realistically thinking about trying to chase down Scottie would be stupid. But I want a level of consistency for a period of time that I haven’t shown yet. That’s what I’m missing and chasing — that consistency and high-level play for the next two, three, four years, and then I’ll accomplish every- thing I want to.

DD: Did you have childhood sports heroes?

BH: There was Michael Jordan, and then I was a big baseball guy — Ken Griffey, Chipper Jones, I loved those guys. In golf it was Tiger, Freddie, Norman. Payne Stewart was in there because of his fashion and because he didn’t care what people thought. I always loved reading about those guys — their mentalities and perspectives, how they got better. I mostly learned from my parents, I think. They didn’t have one-liner pieces of advice, but they were great at showing, like, how you treat people, how you go about certain things.

DD: How about now? Maybe heroes isn’t the right word, but is there anyone you’ve spent time with whose work ethic you admire?

BH: Justin Rose comes to mind. Rosie has turned over every stone to be great, and he’s been disciplined in doing so. After he won the [2013] U.S. Open, I really studied him, paid attention to the things he did, and it gave me a little more belief. To see that he’d stuck to his process and how many good things came from it, that has helped me stick to my blueprint, knowing that if I continue to be disciplined day-to-day, great things will come.

DD: You’ve been one of the stars of TGL, and it’s clear from watching how much you’ve enjoyed it. You’re a wild man out there. What’s it been like to show off a different side of your personality?

BH: Man, TGL has been great. As I’ve said, I love the PGA Tour and everything we have out here. But it is a bit Groundhog Day. And so to have TGL, which is something you never thought could be a part of this — a unique format, a high-tech simulator league, playing with your friends and buddies who are unbelievable players? It sort of revitalizes you. It brings out an energy and taps into that feeling from childhood when you just wanted to go play golf. “Hey dad, take me to play.” That’s what it’s like going to TGL.

But my wife said it last year at a match: How you see me in TGL is the person I am a majority of the time. Look, I think I’ve been misunderstood a bit. I’m not afraid to admit that. On the PGA Tour, I’m very, very focused and very driven because this is something that I want to be really great at. That focus is a strength, but people can see how I react to stuff on the course and think I’m miserable or, like, I’m not enjoying my life out here or something. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I enjoy the hell out of this. It’s just that when I don’t play to the level I expect from myself, given the amount of time I put into it, I get upset with myself, and that comes off in a way that turns people off.

DD: That’s interesting and, I would think, challenging. Was there a moment you remember first thinking, Jeez, the perception of me is so different from the way I see myself?

BH: I think probably around the [2015] U.S. Open at Chambers Bay, when I made comments about the condition of the greens. I remember that was the first week Fox took over the U.S. Open, and they kept saying, “No, the greens are great! These guys are just missing three- and four-footers because of the pressure.” I thought that was wrong, so I said something. Look, it was the God’s honest truth: The greens weren’t championship-caliber. I played some good golf, I finished top 25, but I was frustrated that the putts I was hitting weren’t rolling true. I think people looked at me and said, “He’s a crybaby, he’s whiny.” And I’m like, that’s not me. But early in my career I let it affect me if public opinion was against me. I’d be on Twitter trying to defend myself. It took a while to realize that’s just lose-lose. So I don’t do that much anymore. I let people say what they want, and people that know me know what I’m like.

DD: As a Seattle resident, I’m legally obligated to tell you the greens at Chambers Bay have gotten a lot better.

BH: I heard that! Look, what people forget is I raved about the course, how cool it is — the views, the drama. But obviously that stuff gets thrown out. That’s okay.

DD: Is there some satisfaction, then, that fans love watching you cut loose on TGL?

BH: Listen, human nature — it’s nice that people are seeing me for who I am. But I have no interest in being, like, “I told you!” When I talk to kids, though, I tell them to be careful how they perceive somebody from the outside or on TV; they may be different in real life. I’ve gotten to know Vijay Singh, for instance. I live in Ponte Vedra [Fla., near Singh] and he’s been great to me. He’s a better guy than people give him credit for. Is he a media darling? No. But sometimes perception isn’t quite reality. I guess it goes both ways, though. Some people think, Oh, this guy’s a good guy. Then they get to know him and realize the opposite.

DD: Ooh, tell me some of those names!

BH: [Laughing] Maybe another time.

DD: There are big changes coming to the Tour with [new CEO] Brian Rolapp and the Future Competition Committee looking at the schedule going forward. As someone who’s been out here a while, what are you excited about — or afraid of?

BH: There’s give-and-take here, but I’m excited. Maybe I haven’t said it publicly after what happened at Chambers Bay, but for a decade I’ve spoken to leadership and said that the Tour needs to evolve. Our biggest sponsors are going to want the best players and the best value for their money, and that’s going to mean change. We can’t keep doing the exact same thing for 60-plus years. Some of these ideas — trimming back events and rethinking the schedule — have been kicking around for a while. Now is the time to implement them. Brian and his staff deserve credit. They’re working hard to create a schedule that will be more financially beneficial for the players, more exciting for the fans — it’ll boost the Tour and help it withstand any competition now or in the future. Living in Ponte Vedra, I see how hard people work behind the scenes at the Tour, so I have a lot of love for it.