Billy Horschel seemed to prove a real point at the BMW PGA Championship, with the American making an eagle on the second play-off hole to pip Rory McIlroy to the title at Wentworth.
Billy Horschel picked up his second victory of the season at the BMW PGA Championship, with the 37-year-old playing the 18th hole in four under par on Sunday alone to get his hands on the trophy for a second time in his career.
Certainly, Jim Furyk may be wondering if he made a mistake not picking Horschel for the Presidents Cup, with Horschel moving into the top 20 in the world rankings. He has arguably been in much better form than a couple of those who will be involved at Royal Montreal in the coming days.
It has definitely been one of the best years of Horschel’s career, with the 2014 FedEx Cup champion also finishing in the top 10 at both the PGA Championship and The Open. Of course, he led at Royal Troon heading into the final round.
Billy Horschel backed to win a major after his BMW PGA Championship victory
Horschel will surely have his sights set on taking that next step. He will be desperate to make his Ryder Cup debut in 2025, but he will also want to win a major title. And speaking on Sky Sports after the BMW PGA Championship, Wayne Riley suggested that he has the ability to claim one of the sport’s four biggest prizes.
“Billy’s got a game for Augusta, he’s got a fantastic game for around there. Who’s going to beat Scheffler? I don’t know around there. But, Billy Horschel, I was thinking that on the 12th green today what you’ve just asked me, has he got a game for a major? And I went straight to a green jacket,” he said.
“Yeah, of course, you win a championship like this and win what he has won, you’ve got a game for anything. It’s just have you got the bottle to hold a major aloft, I think he has.”
How Horschel has performed at The Masters down the years
Interestingly, Horschel’s record at The Masters is underwhelming. He has finished in the top 25 of the majors on 10 occasions during his career, with only one of those coming at Augusta National. He has one top 10 finish at each of the other three events, while his best finish in the Georgia pines is tied 17th – back in 2016.
But you can see why Riley has seen his performance at Wentworth and felt that he has a game suited to Augusta National, with the tree-lined fairways, and the superb putting which won Horschel the title.
However, Horschel is clearly going to require a big improvement if he is going to indeed get across the line at Augusta.
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