Billy Horschel very nearly became the Open champion last year at Royal Troon, with the American leading going into the final round.
Had Billy Horschel been told after round three at the 2024 Open Championship that he would post a 68 on Sunday in South Ayrshire, he would have been forgiven for thinking that he would be leaving the British Isles with the Claret Jug.
Unfortunately for Horschel, Xander Schauffele produced a masterclass to secure his second major.
Horschel’s record in The Open Championship has improved as the years have gone on. His two best results in the event have come since 2022. But it seems, just as he is getting to grips with the challenge, The R&A are considering some significant changes to The Open.
Billy Horschel suggests what would be the ‘stupidest’ thing to do with The Open Championship
As reported by the Associated Press last month, The R&A are weighing up taking The Open Championship outside of the United Kingdom for the first time, with Portmarnock in Republic of Ireland being looked at.
They did insist that there are no plans right now to take The Open further afield and outside of the British Isles altogether. And it appears that Horschel will be very pleased about that.
Speaking on Fried Egg Golf, Horschel was asked about the prospect of The Open being played away from the British Isles. And it is safe to say that his response was emphatic.
“The stupidest, fr—— thing I’ve ever heard. I’m happy if that goes viral,” he said.
“It’s like what I told Mike Davis after Chambers Bay. Obviously, I had comments about Chambers Bay. I thought Chambers Bay, the view, the golf course was really unique and really cool. My aspect was the greens, and he called me out of the blue two days after the US Open to apologise about the greens. They messed up and should have handled it better and not put us in the situation that we were all in. And then we had Erin Hills a couple of years later. I went to Mike after Erin Hills and I said, listen, I thought both those courses were really nice, they’re really cool. I’m not going to criticise them because there’s room for them to be played. As a US Open test, the US Open is about challenging every aspect of your game: driving to iron play to short game to putting. Let’s get back to what the US Open is. You have to drive the ball well to be able to play well. I like Pinehurst, and I’m okay with Pinehurst being in the rotation because I think it’s a little 50-50 in some of those lies when you get off the fairway, but you do have a benefit in hitting the fairway more than if you get off the fairway. But when we went to Chambers Bay and we went to Erin Hills, we were playing these big wide fairways – I consider myself a really good driver of the golf ball, may not be long, but I was fairly accurate, that was one advantage taken away from me.
“You’re going to move The Open Championship from links style courses, and if you play them on links style courses in other countries, it’s not the same as being played in the UK. I’m okay with going to Ireland and playing Portmarnock, I love that golf course, I think it’s great, I played it during the Walker Cup practice session. But to take it outside the UK, I just can’t think of a course outside of the [British Isles] that would fit the feel and everything that is The Open Championship. It’s asinine, and I hope it doesn’t happen. I hope it doesn’t. I’m old school, I always want to see it played in the UK.”
The venues set to host The Open Championship in the coming years
The next three Open Championship venues have been confirmed. Of course, Royal Portrush will host the event for only the third time ever next week.
Meanwhile, the final major of the year will head to Royal Birkdale in 2026 – nine years after Jordan Spieth‘s victory at the venue.
And the world’s best will descend upon The Old Course at St Andrews in 2027. So perhaps the golfing world may not have to wait too long for a brand new venue to enter into the rota.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
