FedEx Cup champion would bring punchy attitude - and top trousers...
Wednesday 17 September 2014 13:44, UK
It’s not often that you feel sorry for someone who has just pocketed $11million, but I do have some sympathy for Billy Horschel.
Billy has gone second, first and first at the Deutsche Bank Championship, BMW Championship and Tour Championship respectively to win the FedEx Cup – but he won’t be able to continue that form in the Ryder Cup having missed out on a wildcard pick.
That’s unfortunate for Horschel and certainly unfortunate for US captain Tom Watson, who I’m sure would love to have Billy on his team for the three days of madness at Gleneagles.
You can see why the picks were named earlier this month as it has given Tom time to work out potential pairings, but with all of the top American players figuring in the FedEx perhaps it would have been better to wait and see who is bang in form at the time.
That’s not to say that Hunter Mahan, Webb Simpson and Keegan Bradley won’t be good points scorers because I think they will be.
But Horschel is the red-hot guy in world golf and he’s not playing, a quirk that must please Paul McGinley and frustrate American fans.
Billy has all the pieces you need to thrive in the Ryder Cup and, much like Bradley, would bring a street-fighter attitude and really get into the spirit of the contest.
So if there is an injury scare for any of the US players you’d imagine he’d be the next cab off the rank.
I have been so impressed with him over the last few weeks and especially during his final round with Rory McIlroy at the Tour Championship on Sunday as he beat the Brit and Jim Furyk by three.
Rory didn’t put the hammer down like he has been doing lately and had a bad spell from the sixth hole onwards but Horschel never looked like folding and produced some great shots.
Rory didn’t put the hammer down like and had a bad spell from the sixth hole onwards but Horschel never looked like folding.
There were two beauties on the potentially card-wrecking 17th – a great drive and great second shot – and then he pinged a lovely tee shot onto the green on the last before two putting for the win.
Billy’s upsurge is even more impressive considering he looked lost after missing the cut at The Barclays – but I think his collection of garish trousers may have helped him get the job done.
I was surprised to see him go for a Ben Hogan ensemble in the middle of the Tour Championship, adopting some solid green and brown colours, and wondered if that could scupper him.
But he went for the tablecloth check on the final day and the rest is history.
Paul Casey was a winner at the weekend, too, claiming the KLM Open and it’s time he upped his consistency levels because he has been disappointing and not picked up enough top-10 finishes.
Casey has a settled home life with a partner and a child and his game is clicking so there is no reason he can’t push on – and I truly believe his very best game is good enough to win a Major.
You have to say that Paul has underachieved because he was right there with Justin Rose and Lee Westwood at one point and then kind of fell away but he can change all that because he is only 37.
Paul will be over the moon with his win and Andy Sullivan could soon be near the moon.
Sullivan shot a hole-in-one at the KLM Open on Sunday to earn a trip into space on a Lynx Mark I aircraft – but I would want to see quite a few successful missions before I felt brave enough to go up in it!
My ultimate reward should I get a hole-in-one would be, just for the craic, to own a top-class horse but alas I never managed to achieve that feat in my days on the European Tour.
I knocked one in on a par three pitch-and-putt but I’ve never got one on a proper golf course – though I feel it’s just around the corner.
Ha! Ha!
There are a few Ryder Cup players at the Wales Open and I’m going to go for one of them in Lee Westwood, who will want to impress ahead of Gleneagles having been handed a wildcard pick.
