Subpar - Billy Horschel Interview: Going head to head with Rory at the Walker Cup, Winning the Tour Championship

Episode Date: February 9, 2021

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar, 5-time PGA Tour winner Billy Horschel joins former PGA Tour pro Colt Knost and his close friend and on course rival Drew Stoltz for an exclusive, in-studio, interview. The winner of the 2014 FedEx Cup talks how he ended up playing at the University of Florida, his head to head showdown with Rory McIlroy at the Walker Cup, and the putting tweak that led to his biggest payday.

Hello world. Welcome to another week of golf subpar, Colt Nost and Drew Stultz. And Slees, I think it's safe to say we're both playing a little hurt today. But I left it all out on the field. I'll say that. It's my debut. I wanted to give it all heart all the time. And I feel like I did that. You could probably hear it in the voice. It's not ideal. But left it all out there, played to the whistle, whatever other sports cliches you can throw at it. I gave it 100. At all times. Waste management, Phoenix Open Week takes it all out of us.

You said it best this morning on the radio. It's like this week for us is like it's like a trip to Vegas, right? You're looking forward to it. You're looking forward to it. You show up day one. Everybody's ready to go. You put the pedal down. And then about two days later, you haven't let off the pedal.

And you're like, all right, there's still five more days. I got five more days of this. I don't know how much longer I can last. So you're going on adrenaline. But man, it was cool to have fans back. We had 5,000. It felt like more than that, honestly, at times. But there was actual, literal, you know, some buzz for the first time around.

when Brooks hold the chip on 17. You could hear that all the way back. I was on 16T. You could hear on 16T, 15 green. It was cool to have just, even if it's just a little bit of, you know, ambiance at the tournament again. Yeah, I know the players really enjoyed it.

It's nice to make a putt and actually have somebody react to it, give him a little wave and all this. But what a performance by Brooks Kevka coming in clutch as he always does. When he gets in the mix, he normally gets it done. And, I mean, just an incredible back nine on Sunday,

was able to end up getting the title. I mean, there's definitely a few guys that woke up Monday morning I'm probably a little frustrated, that being most likely, I would imagine, Zander Shafley, James Hahn, and our guy, Jordan Spieth, who got himself in the mix, was tied for the lead heading Sunday, and just never seemed to be comfortable all day. Yeah, I mean, if you look at that leaderboard going in, you know, on Saturday night, there you got Jordan Zanderson at 18, and if you had told either of them, hey, 200 tomorrow

gets it done. I mean, they wouldn't have believed you. I think you and I thought 23, 22, somewhere in that mix, because they were up there, and just neither of them got it going all day. It was awesome to see Jordan Spee's take some steps and put himself in the 54-hole lead, playing in the final group that last day. Still some issues with the driver, even on the Saturday where he shot 61. Like he played from the desert four different, I think he made four birdies from the desert. So there were still some things going on.

But just to see Jordan take some baby steps, get a little shot of confidence, have something to build on going forward. Like, hey, at least some of the stuff I'm doing is working. I put myself in that position. It was awesome to have them out there. But at the end of the day, Brooks is just one of those guys. Seems like any time he's in the mix or near the top, he's one of the few guys that doesn't beat himself. Yep. He's a last two times he's played the waste management at Phoenix Open. He's hoisted the trophy. Took a little break after the first time he won, but I don't know why the hell he doesn't come back every year.

I was going to say if you won the last two, and you don't keep showing up after that, I don't know what more you want. But yeah, this obviously suits him very well. Yeah, but congratulations to Brooks. And also want to send our condolences to our guy Justin Thomas and his family. I lost his, Justin's grandpa Sunday morning, like not too long before Justin teed off in the final round. I know it was a very difficult day for him and his family, but just wanted to let them know we're thinking about him. Yeah, it's one of those deals like Justin found out, I guess, on Saturday night, played on Sunday. And it's just one of those things like Justin was very, very poised to make a run,

especially when you look at what the winning score was. But there's just more going on with a lot of these guys than what meets the eye. When you're watching them on TV, you don't know what's going on behind closed doors. And obviously that news hit Justin pretty hard. And I know that Sunday was really tough for him. So unfortunate for him and thoughts and prayers with JT right now. That was tough. And speaking of someone,

It's got a lot going on. Our guests this week, Billy Ho. Billy Horshiel, he is all over the place. I love the guy. Has a lot of energy. Likes to talk, just like we do. Kind of had to mute his microphone a couple of time, being like, hey, this is our show. I love when we get these guys on that want to go, man.

You get him a question and you get all the answers. You get all the stuff. Billy, super nice to come. And that's one of the cool things about this week is a lot of guys are in town. The hard part is squeezing in as many as we can with their schedule and with ours, too. but Billy coming in talking about a little FedEx Cup, a variety of different things. Billy all time coming on here.

He's great. Let's get to it. Here's Billy Horsho on Golf Subpar. All right, ladies and gents, we have a large guest with us today. He is Florida Gator Legend, five-time PJ Tour winner, and also a winner of a little event.

We in the Biz like to call the FedEx Cup. He is Billy Horshaw. Welcome to the show, brother. Thanks, thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to this, but to be honest, we might have a problem. because I know this is a podcast and we're supposed to talk, but you and I like to talk a lot.

This man ain't scared of the microphone. We might have to turn his off at some point so the people can hear us every once in a while. I've been knowing the talk about a little bit once in a way. I like it. That's okay with me. Yeah. You know what I mean? I'm happy to just tap out for a little bit, let Billy go.

Yeah, let Billy Hoare go. You give you on the right subject that could go on for several hours. What subject would you like? I'm not going to say, I'm not going to say there's many subjects I could go on for hours and not, even be interrupted once. All right, well, let's go back to some of those younger years and start off and see where this thing goes, but you grew up in Grant, Florida. You weren't very highly recruited coming out of high school, but you found yourself at University of Florida with Coach

Buddy Alexander. Take us through some college years. I mean, three-time first team All-American, and I know you and Coach Alexander are very, very close. He's meant a lot to you. Yeah, he was a big, important part of my journey to the PJ tour, how I became, you know, the player I am today, or got to the player I am today. You know, growing up in Grant Florida, I was a good player, I was a good junior player. I mean, I guess in the state of Florida, you know, there's a lot of good players in the state of Florida. And my buddies in my class were better than me. You know, they were going to UCFs, FSUs, you know, USF.

And I didn't have a scholarship. I had a scholarship to the community college where I lived at Bavard Community College, which was a very good junior college, one of the best golf programs. and somehow buddies watched me play nine holes or a practice round at our state finals for high school golf in November we had talked a little bit before then watched to play nine holes and then

talked to the following week and he offered me a scholarship which was a book scholarship. I mean it's $400. It's not a lot of money at all. And there was a little discussion with my parents because we didn't have much money and it was going to cost a lot of money to go to University of Florida

And so there was a little bit of discussion. I cried because I thought my parents were trying to stop me from going to the University of Florida. I'm not going to lie. I literally cried and I yelled at my parents. But, you know, they just had to figure out the finances. Thankfully, I was a good academic student so my education could be paid for through our bright futures. And I took the journey up to Gainesville. And it's one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life.

I wouldn't be here if I was not in Gainesville learning from Buddy Alexander. playing alongside Matt Evry. Okay, first off, you played alongside him. You didn't learn anything from Matt Every. I learned how to gamble very well. I learned how to throw clubs very well. I probably learned some bad things from him. I learned some good things as well.

But, you know, when I came in, there was James Vargas, Brett Stegmar, Matt Evry, guys that were really great college players. And James Vargas was the number one junior player when he went to Florida. They were seniors, obviously, but, you know, just playing alongside them and getting better and getting ragged on.

Jesse Mud was here, who was a hell of his talent. We had their team, our team was really good. They had Ryan Cochran, Russ Cochran's son. You know, I was a kid who probably was really on the bottom of the totem pole and somehow was able to make the first event and then didn't miss the event the rest of my career and became a cocky little kid

and got my own ass handed to me once or twice by Jesse Mud. Not on the golf course, but playing flag football and doing some other stuff. He's a big boy. I've never seen anyone. Well, I mean, I can't say I haven't seen anyone. I've never seen anyone take me by the throat, put me up in the air. Next thing you know, I may have done it at 360 and I was down on the ground and he was on top of me. I'm like, what just happened in a blink of an eye?

He was a big boy. I wish I had known that. I'd have given him a call and gotten some real. Got the real story by the whole thing. I'm telling you what, he is, obviously he's very athletic and very strong, but I mean, he's country strong. I mean, his hands are just so strong and what he's able to do. I mean, it's unfortunate he wasn't able to make it because he's such a great talent.

Yeah, book scholarship, but I didn't even know Florida had books down there. Ah, things, dude, I did that. Serious question, though. So you go to, like, you said you were underrecruited, your offer was from community college and your hometown. Florida is a pretty big powerhouse of a golf program. Was it just that nine holes that Buddy Alexander came out and saw you that convinced him, Like, this is a kid worth taking a chance on? You know, he had watched me hit balls on the range at the US Union Amateur at Olympic.

I think that was 2003, 2004, some around there. And then I proceeded to shoot 82, 82, and finish third from last. Yeah, it happens. And so, and other than that, I hadn't, there was no other contact with him until, you know, a couple weeks before he gave me a call. And he told me a story that was between me and another kid from Jacksonville who, was a better player than me. And he wasn't sure if he was giving me an offer any one of us a scholarship.

And he said he saw something in me and the way I just went about my practice around and did my business and it took serious and said, you know, maybe I'll take a chance with this kid. And I got lucky that he did. The other kid went to LSU and I don't know. I don't think he played much for that. Because he won a FedEx guy. I don't think he's got $10 million in a check from a PJ tour.

Not many have, really bad, I would say. But I mean, that's one of the reasons why Buddy Alexander is one of the greatest college coaches ever. I mean, you got to spot the talent. Yeah, he did a good job with that. Well, let's fast forward a little bit. Like I said, you were three-time first team All-American, and then you and I got to play together on the Walker Cup team where the red, white and blue over in Northern Ireland. One of the greatest teams ever, if not the greatest team ever. I think it is the greatest team.

I'll say that till the day I die. Yeah, I mean, it's our opinion. How can you disprove it? You can't disprove it. You know, all these old-timers, you know, these old-timers, veterans, say some team in the 60s or something was really good and they named names. And it's like, that's nothing. They didn't have eight out of ten on the PJ at one time.

They didn't. And, you know, it was an unbelievable experience. I think that's one of my greatest memories in the game of golf because we do everything as you know individually. But they're coming together as a team and have a great group. And we had a great group. I mean, this was a, you know, you take Kyle Stanley and Ricky Fowler out of the 10. the other eight or seven of us hung out a ton doing amateur golf.

I mean, when I say we hung out, we played a lot, and then we would go out at night during the amateur scene. We had a lot to drink, and then we would come back out the next day and shoot a hell around the golf. That's what amateur golf is all about. Living the dream. I'm telling you what, amateur golf is not that way anymore.

I don't think they do it the way we're missing out. They are missing out. It was a lot of fun. But that was a hell of a team. I mean, Ricky Fowler is 18. Kyle Stanley was, you know, 19. We had a really young team, but Colt and I, I think we were the cheerleaders of the team. By far.

We were the vocal. Oh, okay. Vocal leaders. He was number one. I was the assistant. Right. The assistant cheer captain. One of the funniest stories, it was a couple of funny stories with Colt involved.

One of the funniest is that it was, I think it was day one of the matches. And Ricky and I had just, we were first out. They were behind us. Rick and I had beat Reese Davies. and Lloyd Saltman. And so we're in there, and in the lunchroom in between the sessions, and Colt comes in,

and he is pissed. I mean, he's, I don't know, he said, God damn it, Dustin F. and Johnson. And I was like,

we're like, what happened? And he said, we had 210 yards to the pin on 18th. To the front. To the front. And he laid up. It was alternate shot.

We were one up against Roy, McElhen, and Jonathan Caldwell. We had two 10 front. I was in the, I hit the T shot. Right. First cut, 2-10, 2-32 hole.

He's like, him and the caddies both go, we should lay up. I'm like, lay up. It's a five-iron. You're going to hit a five-iron. It's a part-five. It's wide open. There's a little bunker there on the front right. And they had to lay up already.

And I'm like, well, what up? Like, get this thing anywhere in front of the green. It's over. And he goes, I want to lay up. Lays it up in the tall fescue. So I hack a sandwich out and goes over the back. I'm like, Jesus Christ, are you kidding me? This is about to happen.

He hits this chip in the hole. Drills the pin and goes to six feet. Rory makes like a 12 footer for par So now I got six feet for part To win the match and I miss it And I just fucking lost it And I was so mad I came in Beat the shit out of the table

I was so mad And dozens of them like bro it's fine Yeah It's high dude This is DJ It ain't fine I mean when people think of DJ now He's been that way from day one

Since we've all known He was like bro not a big deal man Relaxed there's another match We can go out this afternoon And we destroyed We played a great singles match And that was a great time I mean, just unbelievable we were there for, I think, five or six days before the matches even started.

We were in Dublin, went out. We tried to get Kyle Stanley to at least talk to her girl. That was a challenge. No good. Well, we would, I mean, Colt, DJ, myself, Webb, we would just sort of mingle around and start talking some girls. And then Kyle would come over. And this was when Borak came out. And Kyle would come over and literally, first thing he would just start talking like Burratt.

And we're like, what was his moving? That was his move. Didn't work. Hard to believe that doesn't work. I got to rethink my whole shit then. And so it was absolutely hilarious and great time. I mean, and then one of the funniest, I still one of the funniest things, I think is. This is not about me, Billy.

This is about you. If you got something, you can. This is a little juice. So we win, we do the ceremonies. We go back, shower. We got this little dinner with family and all the officials and everything. And Colt literally may have been there at dinner for maybe 15 minutes. He may have been in his chair for 15 minutes.

And next thing you know, he starts coming in, and he is the waiter with a platter of shots or red shots. It was time to get amongst. Fireball? No, that fireball wasn't out yet. No, fireball wasn't out yet. So it was red shots. And then next thing you know, five minutes later,

it comes back and it's blue shots. And then five minutes later, it comes back and it's white shots. Patriotic, that's it. And I mean, God bless America. We destroyed the bar at that unbelievable hotel. We had champagne. Sleeved on. It will never be the same.

I mean, champagne was being sprayed all. all over the ceiling and everything. Tripp Keeney's little boy who may have been about eight or nine years old was there having a good time. He was not drinking. Let's clarify that. There was no drink for the eight-year-old. But no, it was just great because we hadn't won.

The United States team hadn't won since early 90s over there, and we had heard so much about it. And, you know, to go over there and win and have the experience we did. I mean, Chris O'Donnell is in the bar with us. Oh, really? Back in. Batman. Or Robin.

He's Robin Sleeze. Yeah. He ain't cool. to be Batman. And by the way, I heard last night from Peter Thomasulo, Chris O'Donnell listens to this. He comes out to the Rock a decent amount. Yeah. He's out there, a big golfer.

You're robin. That's a robin in your corner. Yeah, that's real nice. But no, it was just a great week. I mean, like I said, it was an unbelievable expense. And you played Roy McAddley. I played three matches. He was 17, right?

I think he was 17. Him and Ricky were similar ages. Yeah, 17, 18. Did you know, like, just watching him then, like, this kid's going to be a superstar? Well, I mean, I think we all knew going over there that Roy was this super story just finished low am at the British Open, you know, a couple months prior. And, you know, we knew he was turning pro after. And he, I mean, he was impressive. But, I mean, was he that I think he would be the guy he is now? No. But there was that potential. But,

I mean, he wasn't a world beater the way he was. But, I mean, it doesn't shock me that, you know, he's done what he's done. I mean, he's had that talent. He had that gift. And it was pretty cool to see what he's done since he's turned pro. Would you go two and one against him? Two and one. That's nice. That's a nice thing to hold over his head now. He was a little pissed at me because I was a little in our matches.

I guess one of the matches when Ricky and I, we were four down after five holes of our front nine. And Buddy Marucci comes over and wants to give us a pep talk, our captain. And Ricky's like, listen, we're both like, buddy, we're fine. We played like shit. Like, we're fine. No worries. Well, we turned all square. And then we beat them...

Jesus. I don't remember that. Then we beat them, I think, two and one, I think it was. A couple holes prior before we won, Ricky hit a bad iron shot. There was a part three that had to win hard off the left. And the way the green was bunkers, hide bunkers to the right. And Ricky had been over there all week in those bunkers. And I hit this great bunker shot.

And the ball's coming down. It's looking like it's going in the hole. And I come down like a damn cheetah, yell at a top. my running after the ball go in go in and it lips out and I you know I guess he was pissed about that you know I guess he was pissed about the day before when we played our singles matches and so the first hole he nukes a drive I mean he hit one so far down there I mean he had like little an eight iron in the green and he hit the 15 feet and I had 10 feet for birdie or whatever and he makes this eagle put and he gives out the biggest yell

because he's like he's letting me know this shit ain't happening anymore this is my house today and I was like damn I'm fucked I mean I know y'all didn't like get along great back then but now that you both play on the PJ tour everything cool yeah I mean you know buddy told us about the writers over in the UK

they can stir things up a little bit and we get back home and I guess there was an article about me being voistrous you know loud obnoxious American and and in the article he said hey he seems like a guy off the golf course because we talked after the matches at the dinner but he's seen he's like off the on the course he's just very obnoxious and which i'm not going to deny i would call it passionate and patriotic i said i was passionate i said i was a sergio gorsi of the american team there you go that's

fair analogy so i thought that was a fair analogy well stay on that team subject yeah i mean obviously that was an incredible week but you haven't played on a president's cup or rider cup team yet in your career how how important is that to you like how badly do you want to make one of those teams i mean it there's there's a couple things I want to do before and for my career is over and and playing on one of those teams and more or less being on the rider cup team and and and I actually want to play overseas on the right of cup team I love that I love that stir it I love I love stirring the pie I love I love giving the needle back to the fans that's why I love the waste management so much you know you get people the fans yell at you no one says anything back to them I do because I'm like

hey you're going to say something dumb I'm going to say something back to you sort of put that needle back into you a little bit. So yeah, it's one thing I want to do. I've been close. I haven't taken care of my business to play well enough to make it on points. And then it's up to the captains to pick. And I think there's only been maybe one or two years that I thought was I was close enough being picked. But I haven't done my part to at least give myself an opportunity. Hopefully, you know, it happens here in the next handful of years for your stuff. You're a guy I would call. Tell me if you agree with this, a bulldog. I would say you're a bulldog of competitor. When you get in the hunt, you get a contention, like you got to take your last

breath if somebody's going to beat you, right? You're one of those guys and there's a handful of those guys. Do you think that goes back to your time with like being under-recruited as a junior and feeling like the underdog when you go to Florida? Or was that always kind of the way you were? I think I've always had that ability that you put me in the high-pressure situations. I excel in those. I've always done very well. I just think back to the days I played baseball. And I mean, I played baseball until I was 14, but just, you know, certain big games against certain teams and AAU teams and coming in, I was a pitcher and being able to really excel in those situations and at bats.

And I've just always been able to do well in those situations. And people ask me why I do well, how I do well. I think I've just, some people are sort of born with that innate gene or innate ability. I think I have that. And some people have to learn how to do that. So, but I think it's just that, you know, I'm, it's a never die attitude. I'm not going to give up. and I'm going to battle until, you know, there's nothing left to battle for.

Yeah, well, I like that you say you excel in the high pressure situations because I actually didn't know this until I started doing some research. You went to Q school four times and got your card three times. And, I mean, that's as high pressure as there is. I mean, for people that don't know, like, in the golfing world, when Q school was, what Q school really was. I mean, it's go big or go home there. And, I mean, to get three out of four, that's incredible.

Yeah. Yeah, it's, I had to go back, couple years, I never really fully lost my card. The only time I had conditional was after the 2011 season. I finished 125 to 150. So I had conditional status going into the 2012 season. And then I had conditional for 2013, but I got my card at the 2012 Q school. So the one thing I've told people, which no one believes me, is that going through all the stages. So first year was 2009. I went through all three stages. 2010, I went back to two stages because I had injured my wrist.

So I just said, hey, I need to play some more. I went to Q school, said, hey, what the hell, no big deal. So those three stages, those two, and then the finals in 2011 and 2012, I never looked at a leaderboard until after the final round. At Q school. Not one time. Going to the final round, you don't know whether you're three clear or two out. That's what you did wrong all those years.

I was checking my phone on like whole three. I was like, oh shit, I'm already two out. I'm fucked. Oh, damn it. I got to make some birdies now. I'm going to start sending out resumes. Monster.com. So I was, and I just thought that I knew that I was talented enough to get through Q school. I knew I was one of the best players in Q school.

So I was trying to take all the things that could get into your head and maybe cause you to think too much. And so I knew if I just went out and handled my business, played well, then I would be successful. And you know what a good score is each day. And you can tell by your tea time, will you stand and everything? So obviously, I had an idea, but I never knew what that number was. I think if I knew what that number was, would I have been successful? I don't know. Did you ever enter like a final round being, and you could be somewhere close?

I mean, it's hard to know whether I'm on the number. That could change. Did you look like 23rd one year? Yeah, it was close one year. 2010. So there was the second year I went to Q school. Like I said, I had full status on a PJ tour for the upcoming year. But I went back just to go back.

I actually asked my caddy who was Don Don Donatelo, who was catting for me for. a brief stint because I didn't realize, I thought it was good. It was really tough that final round, got off to a good start, didn't play well in the middle, and I'm even par, but I knew I had some strokes to play with, but I didn't realize guys were making a run. Guys were actually playing well, I guess became easier, and I wasn't playing nearly as good. But I got done, and I didn't realize that I was on that bubble. I think I was out and I needed someone to make a bogey

and I think Will Strickler did to get me in my a teammate of mine. I was gonna say, wow, what a team. Parking lot job back. But I actually got upset Don because I'm like, Don, you need to f-and tell me this. Like, you know, I told you, I don't look at leaderboards, you need to ask.

He said, well, there's no leaderboards out here. I said, there's fucking TV people walking with us. Like, ask somebody where we stand. Come on, double date. And so, that seems crazy. Because I would have changed the way I would have played the last few holes. There's a part five, number 17, that I played a little too conservative and made par on 18.

I was in the middle of Fairway, and I took a conservative shot into that pin location, and it would have changed, you know, how it would have played the last few holes. Stayed on Q School, though. I mean, you're a guy that doesn't have to worry about that or anything. But does part of you wish that Q School was like it used to be, where you could go straight from, you know, working at a driving range to being on the PGA tour? Yeah, when they got rid of Q School, I wasn't very happy with it for a fact. that it meant guys had to wait a year to get out to PJ tour and yes there's data that says

the guys that come from the corn fairy tour compared to Q school get their card or keep their card more than the Q school and I mean literally it was like maybe one person like the average was one it wasn't like a big disparity I wasn't a big fan of it I think that was that was a cool thing about Q school you could have somebody who was working a nine to five job all year go through Q school and get his card on the PJ tour. I think that's a great story and I missed those stories a little bit now. Arguably the most exciting round of golf to watch. It's the best television. It is. It's the round of Q school when the cards were on the line. Here's a no status guy about to get his card. I mean, you can't, guys can't breathe. I couldn't breathe watching it. Yeah. And so

I think that that was just so great to watch and see you could tell who had that little it factor who could handle the pressure. I mean, the thing that I always couldn't understand is everyone's like, well, if I don't get my card on the PJ tour I'm like well you got the web.com you're cornfield you got job status you know that final I thought the bigger one was second stage because if you didn't get the final

you didn't have anything second stage was the nerve wracking one for me my first year because I'm like man if I don't get through here I'm playing mini tours I don't want to fucking play mini tours you know I mean it was fine we called jicky jacks yeah jickey jack tour yeah that second stage final round

is a beast and so So, yeah, I mean, that's where I think you should have some cameras. Is that second stage around around? I miss those. You would. You would. And so I missed the old Q school. I wish we would bring it back.

It won't ever come back, unfortunately. Even if it's just for five, something. Like, let somebody get out there. That's what I said. When they were doing it, I said, let's have it for five or seven spots. Yeah, it's just something. Just something. So it's possible.

Yeah. But, you know, you start making your way in 2013. You get your first win over at Zurich. I made a hundred cuts in a row, it seemed like. But I want to fast forward a little bit because we, don't have four hours to talk with you here. We got limited time with Billy Ho. I want to go to 2014.

You're having a nice year. You enter the playoffs at 69. Yep. In the FedEx, which is pretty good year. I tell a lot of guys, you finish 69th, about 15 years in a row.

Nice living. Things are good. Yeah, you missed the cut. You fall back to like 82 or whatever, and then you go to Boston. Yeah. And you finish second, and then you go win-win.

First time, you should have won all three. Yeah. You should have. Way to go, Billy. I can't believe you at that. I can't believe you at that. Choked.

Choked. But I want to know, see, you finish second, then you finish first over in Denver at Cherry Hills. You head into East Lake with a chance to win the FedEx Cup. What was that week like? Like, going to bed every night knowing, you know what, in a couple days, I might win $10 million.

It was funny, I got asked Sunday after I won BNW Championship from one of the interviewers, one of the journalists. What do I expect a tour of championship FedEx Cup, do you think you have a chance? And, I mean, cocky me, I just came off a second. I just won. I'm feeling really good about my game.

No one's playing better. Deep down inside, I said, I want to say, I'm going to fucking win. Like, yeah, I'm going to fucking win. But I said, you know, if I was a betting man, I'd put money out. I'm going to have a chance to win on Sunday. I'm going to be in the mix to have a chance to win. And it was just a great week of nothing changed.

I did everything that I had done the weeks prior. It felt great. I think what helped me Saturday night because I was tied for the lead with Roy. I was leading on Thursday with Chris Kirk. I was leading on Friday with Roy McElroy. I was leading on Saturday with Roy McElroy. So we're tied for the lead.

Or maybe I was leading by myself on Friday after a second round. And me and Roy were tied on Saturday. But the Florida Gators football game was on that night. Well, it got postponed due the weather. You know, it was supposed to kick off at like seven or something. It didn't kick off till 9 or 10, which is perfect for me because I don't sleep a lot and I needed to somehow sleep as much as I can or stay up as late as I could. So I stayed up until like 1, 2 a.m. in the morning, watched the entire Florida Gator game,

went to bed, woke up. And it was like the first time I woke up and having a lead or something like that. And I had a sense of calm, like just super calm, wasn't nervous. Just was like, hey, this is going to be a fun day. Like I was like wow this is surreal. There was no emotion. I remember telling my stats guy Mark Horton when we got done warm up and walked their first tea, you know, he's giving me a little pep talk and I said, dude, it's okay. Everything's going to be fine.

Whatever happens today, it's all going to be fine. And I went out and I played really good. Got a little nervous sort of around the turn and then, you know, made a big putt at 16 and sort of knew that locked me up for. Par put, right? Big par putt. Yeah, big part putt. and sort of knew that locked me up for the FedEx Cup into a championship. What changed for you after the first playoff event?

Like you go, you have that when you miss cut. You dropped the 80 second. Then all of a sudden something had to click, whether you knew it or not. Is there something you can put your finger on that's led to this, like, one of the best stretches in playoff golf? Two things. I went home and after and my wife was ready about to have her baby here in a couple weeks, our first one. And I was like, man, I'm just ready for the new season. Like, I felt like I've played well all year and I haven't gotten anything out of it.

I'm just, I'm ready for the new season to start. And she'd just go up, enjoy Boston, you play well, you play well, you don't, not a big deal. So I go up there, I'm talking to Matt Rollins and in the Pink trailer on Tuesday or Wednesday, and he goes, Hunter Mayhan had an awful year this year, and he won last week, and now he could have the best year of his career. You know, he's set up to have the best year of his career, depending on what happened the next couple weeks. I was like, okay, you know, so that got my mind in the right stage.

and then I hadn't putt it well all year. I hit the ball beautifully all year, and I just hadn't putted well. And I'm on playing a practice around, what we tee off on Friday usually, so it's Wednesday, and hitting some puss before we go out, and my teacher, Todd Anderson, is like,

hey, he's watching me, and it's not looking great. He said, hey, do this with your grip. Like, get this right hand a little bit more on top. There's a little too much under the putter grip, and got a little bit more on top. So from there, then my left hand had to go a little bit longer, and it just allowed me to feel like I could feel like the load of the putter was loading

and I could feel the head a little bit better and I hit like 10 putts on the putting green and it was awesome went out you know praxis practice you just never know felt good in the pro am but I made two big putts on the first round in 17 18 for birdie from about 10 12 feet on both holes one was a left to righter one was the right to lefter and I made those puts and I was like I'm good this is it I'm locked in for this week and then I just I was just all I need. I just need a little bit of confidence. You give me a little bit of confidence and I'm going to the finish line with it. Yeah, you're. Everyone listening right now is going home right now. I'm like, oh yeah, my hand. My hand's super on underneath. But because of that run that you had in those

playoffs, first off you made $13.5 million in three weeks. Pretty good hourly rate. Good job. You got to break that down. But they've now kind of changed the way the Ryder Cup is picked because Tom Watson was the captain and picked the Ryder Cup after Boston after you finished second. Correct. Yeah. Now we're waiting until after the Fed's Cup playoffs, all this. But in your honest opinion, should you have been on the Ryder Cup team that year? When he picked the team at Boston, after Boston, no. If you would have picked a team two weeks later, yes. Yeah, I mean, how could you say no?

Under current criteria, I think you make that team 100%. I agree. And, you know, it sucked because I really want to be part of that team. That was a team that Patrick Reed and Jordan Speed were on the first year. There were some guys on that team that weren't playing good. And you just never know. There's not playing good. and you just never know if they're going to play good at the Ryder Cup

or if they're going to continue the form that they've had. Sometimes you wish you could have a sub, you know, bringing that reliever, you know, that could have been me and, you know, and another thing I don't do, I don't, I don't call up captains and try and state my case. I don't, you know, try and say anything I can to get picked. That's just not me. I've never been that guy. Because they got dusted.

Yeah, they did get dusted. That was unfortunate. I mean, it was sad to watch. I'm playing pretty good right now. Yeah. It was funny because I saw Tom in November we were, I think we were playing over in Japan or something. And he was like, man, I really, I really effed up that one. Really?

Yeah. He said, you should have been on that team. But it does make sense. Like he acknowledged it. Oh, yeah. But I mean, I just, I hadn't done anything. I just finished. Yeah, you were in the first of the big stretch.

You know, maybe if he picks a team after BMW, maybe I make the team. That's part of the reason why they probably changed it. Well, yeah, because they're picking the team, what, five, six weeks before the ride. Well, and Jason Duffner. you know, it's cool when you get compliments from your tour players. And I think Duffner was on that team in 15. And he was a great guy. And Duffner is a straight shooter.

And he's like, listen, if they're doing things the right way, they should see that when you start playing good, you go on a stretch of runs of weeks of playing well. This wasn't just like a brief little stint. Like in your career, when you've played well, you've played well for three, four, five, six weeks in a row. And so, you know, if they would have known that, then they would have, you know, picked the team.

Duff pays attention. A lot of people don't know that. Duff pays attention. Duff's very aware. He acts like he's not very with it or smart, but he's more like a smart. By the way, I need you to talk to them because when I first started doing the whole media thing, I went up to him at the PGA, Belrieve, just say hi because we're boys. We used to, you know, go to Calvoy and dinner, all this.

First thing he says, I don't talk to media. I'm like, what the hell. So this carries on it for like two years. Finally, San Diego, Tori Pines just recently. I finally had a breakthrough. We talked and all this. We're texting back and forth. Everything's good.

I go, hey, in Phoenix, you want to come on a podcast? He goes, I don't do a podcast. I'm like, come on, man. Like, Duff would be so good. Duff would be great. I need you to tell. If guys saw who Duff was, like Duff is, if Duff likes you, Duff's great.

If Duff doesn't really care for you, he doesn't care for you. He won't give you, you know, the time of the day. You know, just the way, that's his personality. But, you know, he's a straight shoot. He doesn't, you know, there's no, like, in between. He's not faking you. He's not a fake guy. So he's a great guy.

He's awesome to be around. I played him for two days last week, the first two rounds. And he's just, he's an absolute beauty. He really is. I kind of like that he just says, no. I don't talk to me. Fuck it. That's it.

End the story here. No discussion. So I went up. I was like, dude, I'm still the same guy. Like, here's a guy. I mean, he's the one who woke me up before the Vegas tea time on Saturday. Like, because he was staying in the other room in my suite. Like, we used to hang out together all this.

And he just, he just won't do it. It drives me nuts. I'm like, it would be so good to see. stuff in here because I mean he's hilarious for one he's very very knowledgeable but we were texting last week after one of the rounds he shot two over the first day yeah playing with you and then um I see him in the lobby getting coffee the next morning I go how to go yesterday he goes I'm just like you I can't play anymore I'm like my new favorite player I love him the the waking up of Vegas that reminded me of another war cup story now go ahead and fire it now we're past the

walk we got to move on this is billy show we uh there you go so So we wake up next morning. I think someone had to go wake up Colt. No, Sandy called me. Called my room and I answered. So we answered. So we're riding to the airport in a charter bus. And I mean, half of us are just feeling awful.

But Colts the most of us all. Describe the roads too in Northern Ireland. I mean, it's real. I mean, we're in a charter bus. And I don't know even how the charter bus fits on. And they're bumpy and they're windy. And Colt goes, I'm trying to. up to laugh before I tell it.

Colt goes. Okay, be serious here for a second. Hey, buddy, you think the bus could stop? No, I said, buddy, how far do we? How much longer do we have? Why, you got to puke? He said, an hour, I go, you better tell this man to pull over real quick. So somehow we're able to pull the bus over in the middle of the road, and Colt goes

over and does what he needs to do. The funny part was, Dustin Johnson chases him off the bus, is right behind him with his phone video into the talk. As any good teammate would, by the way. That's my guy. We need to see if that footage still exists. He's probably got it. We might need to see it right way.

There was red, white, and blue splied all over that. I was about to say you're taking shots that are red, white, and blue. You'd have stress. Any dinner is a bad move. Yeah, you did not eat any food. Hey, but I tell you what, I peeped and I slept the whole way from. You did. You were, you were on that fight.

Yeah. Like Billy Bob. Yeah. All right. Let's get back to a little bit of your golf here, though. Because we talk about the, let's, I want to, can I stay on the FedEx Cup here real quick? So you win that tournament.

Incredible. You're the Rory Slayer. You do all that. You get the biggest check in golf. Then you have a kid, you know, two days later. Two days later. How did your life change, like, from a day-to-day perspective? After you get a check for that much money knowing, like, basically, I've done it.

Does anything change for you personally at that point? No, I think, I mean, I said at the time, you know, that happened and it still holds true today. All it did was, you know, it allowed me to be. financially set for for my life um i mean to a certain extent i mean you know you live within a means yeah that 10 million go a long way um it's not 10 million i mean it's a million deferred and then nine million based on taxes a shit low it's a lot of money it is but i mean you know not coming from money i was able to help my parents out do stuff for my brothers you know just you know take care of the people who looked after me for so long and and it didn't change who i was it may i mean i put more pressure

on myself. I mean, I put my, I put a lot of pressure myself, period, but probably put more pressure myself to try and live up to that a little bit, which is a detriment to me, and it's more likely a detriment to majority guys in the game of golf when you try to live up to something like that, thinking you should play like that all the time. But it was just, it was, it was, it was awesome. It was a great time and it was a lot of fun. The one thing that no one believes is that Jim Furrick did it. I know a lot of guys, I never looked at my bank account. Usually it gets put in, usually our money. That's the most fun part. Usually our money gets put in on Tuesday comes through on a Tuesday.

And Jim Furrick told the story before I won. I remember him saying this couple years before I won. You know, he said he doesn't usually look at his bank, but he did that day. Like he was like looking at it. He's like, usually the money's in by this time. And I think he wind up calling somebody at the tour like, hey, where's my money? Yo, where my money? And so, yeah, I just never did that.

Like, it was. I was even clicking. I asked fresh. I was with 200 times the week after he won his. And I was like, did you get that deposit yet? He's like, I don't know. I'm like, you don't know. How do you not know?

Call somebody right now. I mean, people are shocked. Yeah. It was just one of those things. It was like, I know it's in there. I don't need to see it. Any toys, anything? We always like Justin Thomas, when he wins, he treats himself to something.

You got any, did you, after a check like that, do one thing for yourself, something cool you always wanted? No? No. It's hard to believe. No. I'm not a big house. Yeah. And then I just sold that house.

Oh, you did? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we had, my wife and I had talked about buying a house anyways and we were going to start looking after, you know, sometime after the baby came, it all meant was we were allowed to pay cash. We paid cash for the house and we paid cash for all the renovations. And it just, that was a really cool thing to do. And yeah, I'm not a, I'm not a big, like toys.

I love toys. I would love to have a lot of cars. I'd love to have a lot of watches and everything. But when it comes down to it, I'm just not, I'm like, okay, well, I need one watch. I bought one watch my life and I have 10 watches because I've had some. some deals and done some events where I got some watches. And, you know, so I have those watches. And I would like to have more cars, but I'm like, I'm not home enough to drive them.

They sit there. They don't do anything. So it's not that I'm just, I just haven't done that. I mean, I will say, the barn rat. The only thing, yeah, the only thing I spend my money on. And, but it, there is a cost value to it is, is I like to fly private. Well, that's it. That's the ultimate.

And I like to, and I've seen the benefits of, flying private from events and I'm within reason not flying, you know, over to a British Open private. You know, I don't have that cash like DJ and Brooks and some of those guys. But, you know, I like to dry and fly as much as I can to get back now and see my kids or, you know, just have more time on my hands and do whatever I need to do. Respect. Flying private's a nice thing. By the way, if you don't like treat yourself to some toys, you can treat your favorite podcast host to some toys.

We got Justin Thomas to agree if he wins a major in the near future. we each get a Rolex, so that's pretty cool. We basically just, yeah, like extort our guests into giving us free shit. So, I mean, it's part of our charm, dude. Just won up him a little bit. Yeah, exactly. But Billy, we've known each other for a long time, and I've always admired, like, when we were in amateur golf, like, the way you hit your long irons was just absurd to me.

You were the best long iron player I'd ever seen at the time. Great ball striker always. I feel like that should relay or translate into good finishes and major championships. Yeah, yeah. And, I mean, to be honest, your track record's not that great. You have one top 10 in a major, and it was your first one. It was your first one. Yeah.

No, yeah. Hey, we're honest on here. Are you going to be blunt with me as much. Are you surprised you haven't had more success? Yeah. Is it a mindset going in that you put too much pressure or is it? I think it's a mindset that I think I got to play perfection golf. I'm a perfectionist at heart, so I feel like I got to play perfect.

My short game hasn't been good. It's gotten a lot better the last couple years and now it's reliable. But it's not that has held me back. short game and then trying to play perfect golf. Is that different from a normal PJ tour event? Yeah, yeah, there's certain events. There's just, I just think, you know, majors ask so much of you, and I feel like you've got to be perfect to win, and that's not the case.

And a regular PJ tour event, you don't have to be perfect. Yeah, certain shots you need to, you know, really pull off, but a lot of times you can get away with stuff, and majors, you just can't get away with that stuff as much. So, yeah, it's been disappointed. I only have one top 10 in a major. Hopefully that changes here soon. Hopefully I get myself in more contention. Because I feel like I do have that game.

I do have that ability to play well in majors, to, you know, win a major, win multiple majors. I think I've grown as a play and I've learned some things that hopefully will help me. The last couple of years, I haven't hit the ball to my ability to what I'm normally been able to. And the only reason I've been able to play well is because I've been able to have a decent short game now. and I put it halfway decent, so that's got me around the course a little bit more often. So hopefully the ball striking seems to be coming back to me a little bit more. So we're seeing.

I mean, it was funny. Colt was doing the CBS at Belle Reeve, and he was doing the 16th hole out there. And I remember him saying after one of the rounds, he said, I'm pumping you up being this great long iron player, and you literally skank one into the bunker in the front of the green. That's made me look good, Billy. Yeah, and he said, come on, you got to make me look back. better. And so I said, okay, I'll do it. I'll hit a better shot tomorrow and then I skank another one in the

bunker. I didn't hit one good long iron shot on that hole all week. I'm like, God damn it. And all I'm thinking about is Colt in my head over this. That's what you should be making about majors. What's Colt going to think on this long iron? Billy, how am I going to be the Tony Romo of CBS for golf? If you don't do what I say you're great at. I know, I know. I know you could be the Tony Romo. I'm trying to make a million dollars a week. Come on. I know. I know. You got that help me out, Billy. You got to help me out, Billy. Is it one of those things though for majors as like as you get older, were you 34 now? 34, right?

Is it one of those things where like, I'm 34 now, I have fewer and fewer opportunities going forward to win? You put more pressure on yourself when they do come up? No, I think I actually put less pressure. I started putting less pressure on myself than majors than I did early in my career. You know, I know I have less chances, but I know that my game fits well at a lot of the majors. I haven't played well at the Open Championship. I've got some bad draws, but it is what it is.

I get it. Yeah. It happens every time. But I never got to go. You know, Augusta should fit. me pretty well because it's a course you got hit a lot of greens and regulation and I've learned you got to hit in certain spots of the greens and make it easy two putt instead of three putt in all times so I think a gust could fit me very well US Open's always been a course

that's fit me very well that's what that's the one I feel like you're a US Open guy would you hit 18 in greens only got it's green green's at Marion right like I feel like you're tailor-made for US open yeah now that they're going back to the additional US Open courses it's nice I mean it was cool to play the chamber Cambridge Bay, the Aaron Hills, but those aren't what the U.S. Open's. I didn't like Ben. You have to say that could be nice. I hate those.

No, and no, I don't. I said it bluntly to Mike Davis and the USGA officials. I said, listen, Chambers Bay is a cool little course. Yeah, I said I did my comments there, but it had nothing to do with the design of the golf courses. The Greens were God awful. And I was, it was off. It was 100% correct. It didn't look like a U.S. something.

There's too many classic great U.S. Open venues that are available out there to not utilize them every year. I was so mad about Aaron Hills. Everybody's like, oh, this place is going to be so hard. It's 7,800 yards. I'm like, the fairways are 50 yards wide. It got killed in chambers. If it looked like a British show, it looked like an open championship out there. I don't like that.

It's nice that we're back at traditional U.S. Open courses. I mean, I played last year I played well at Oakmont. I was after middle of the third round, I was top five. And then the ball striking left me. And I started hitting bad golf shots and can't get away. Oh, yeah, I was at Wingfoot. My bat. Yeah, whatever.

Oh, I was 2016. Wingfoot. Wingfoot. So I've been there. I've been there. You know, I didn't finish my third round off very well, and then I just had an awful Sunday. So I've had my chances.

I just haven't, you know, completed it the way it needed to be. Your best chance had a major in your eyes. Which one is it? Um, I think it's the Open champion. I mean, the U.S. Open just because you've got to drive the ball well,

and I'm a really good driver of the golf ball. And so I think that's probably my best chance. I think the two majors I want to win the most would be the Open in Augusta. And it was always a U.S. Open, always U.S. Open. But it's changed. I've only missed two majors in my career since I've, you know, since 2013. And one was three. I missed the Masters, the U.S. Open and Open Championship.

Missing Open Championship was one of the toughest ones because I didn't realize how much a I had for the history, the fans, the way they treat you. It's such a great week over there, and I love going over there. And Augusta, you know, I've come to love Augusta more. You know, growing up the way I did, I looked at Augusta as being, you know, stuffy uptight. These people who didn't thought they were better themselves. And the more I've been on the grounds, the more I've seen who the members are of Augusta,

the more I've gotten more comfortable being at the grounds of Augusta and the Masters. Like I said, it's just like, wow, these people are really great people. They love the game of golf. They love this sport. They love this course. They love showing, you know, off to the patrons and doing everything the right way. So that's sort of growing on me a lot. We need back nine Sunday, Billy Horseshoe in the mix at a major because I can't imagine the passion.

Yeah. Bring the cheetah back out. Bring that cheetah. Don't run after your ball to Gustav. Do it against Rory too. You can't. No running. No running.

Yeah. So you can't do that. You think you should get a writer cup bid just on the fact that you. You seem to be the Rory Stopper. You did it in the Walker Cup. You did it at the Eastlake. You seem to be the guy of the kryptonite right there. I've actually, you know, maybe I am his kryptonite.

I'm not sure. I think he's got me the last couple times he played. But, yeah, I mean, I've, in so old my wins, I've taken down some of the top players. I mean, I beat Jason Dave when he was a top guy. You know, when I won a BMW, you had Sergio and Bubba, who were top five players in the world, top 10 players in the world. So, you know, I'm not scared of them. those guys. I'm not scared of what your role ranking is. It doesn't really matter. I mean, yeah,

you have played better than me over a stretch of period, but, you know, we're here today and that's all the hell is on. Look out. Let's put the tea in the ground and figured out. I said, I, as I've grown older, and I think I've mellowed a little bit. I'm still very cocky inside, but I'm not as much cocky on the outside. Oh, it will never go away. Don't ever love it. I think you need to express it more. I mean, sleighs, I know dog shit and everything. And I walk around the young King Dingling. I can tell. I mean, I've seen enough of these. You, you, you, I mean, if someone didn't know, you know, about your golf game, they thought you would be, you know, 10-time major winner.

Yeah, you're right. You have shot 57 multiple times. He played one tour of that. Should have. A bunch of lip-outs or else I would have been there. Bad waves, you know the deal. Well, you've seen the program. Now it's time for the fun stuff.

Yeah. A little emergency nine. Oh, I got one quick one because this matters right now. Okay. We're in this middle of a, of a, we're doing a season-long survivor pool, right? We've got to pick one guy every week. And once you use them once, you can't use them anymore. I'm starting off a little bit slow.

my shit kicked right now. So I need to know where do I pick you this year. Starting off a little slow. He hasn't made a dollar yet. Oh, I'm over two. Oh, I'm sorry. No one's made a cut. I'm over two on subpart on gravy in the sleeves on Sirius XM. He's over three. I'm over three, which is hard to do. Granted, but I had Henley and Charles Howell, who was 17 for 17 at Torrey Pines's miscut. So I need to know where should I be picking you and you can't pick him when you're so. My stats guy would give you three courses. One of the three courses I have to get there. That's East Lake. My record is. been really good up until last year. The other two would probably be WC FedEx St. Jude.

I've done very well. I'm putting this in the bank. And then early in my career, I haven't played well there, but I've played really well there over the last four or five years, and that would be Wyndham. Okay. Windham? FedEx St. Jude. The problem is there's a guy named Webb Simpson that plays there. That's pretty good. Yeah, he's pretty good. I'm trying to think there's probably another course somewhere. You don't tell me what to do. I take who I want. You just do it. it do what i say Tony fina out farmers and I'll go fish a second

I'm down 500 grand it's nobody did I call it back any week I mean he finished his top five or top two every week he really does he really does

and I clawed back last year and won this thing by the way so I'm gonna I'll take that to heart now let's go E-9 yeah all right E-9 okay you know number one movie about the life

of Billy Horschel pick any actor dead or alive to play who is it Christian Bail see that's the cockiness coming out I also have Christian Bail

to now Christian Bail Amateur golf it would have been jackass Steve up yeah yeah there he is Because I had a really tight buzz cut back then.

Yes. And I don't know how this got out in the media, but early in the week, some media found out that everyone on the team called me Stivo. I mean, you look just like. Dude, it's uncanny. Back in your younger days. Yeah. And so they didn't realize who Steevo was. And then when they really realized that it was part of Jackass, they were like, oh, wow.

This makes sense. Yeah. How are you at taking shots to the nuts? How are you taking shots to the nuts? Not as good as he is. First off, do you love yourself at all? Christian Bail. I mean, God, he's pretty good looking man.

Yeah, I mean, Matt Evie says, he goes, Christian Bell and was it the fighter with Mark Wahlberg? Yeah, he's like the druggy. Yeah, he said, you know, when he's leaned out, I'm identical. Like, so what do you say? I'm a druggie now or something? He was just lean. No, he's a weird-ass dude, too, so he can do the role. American psycho crazy.

This works out perfect. Okay, Christian Bell, it is. All right, next question. Grant Florida, stand up. That's where he come from. He went to a high school called Bayside High School. Question is, who's the bigger heartthrob at Bayside High School? You were Zach Morris.

Zach Morris. I saw you went to Bayside. By a long shot. Yeah. That's all that too. That was good. Yeah, by a long shot. You weren't the Zach Morris of the Grant, Florida Bayside High?

I mean, listen, I held my own. I mean, I wouldn't say that I was Zach Morris. You weren't screech. Yeah, I wasn't screech. Let's just say I wasn't screech. I was an okay ladies man. Okay. All right.

He held your own. Yeah, I held my own. All right. All right. Number three. We all know you're a diehard Gator fan. Okay, you do the Gator chop, a turn. You did it in Atlanta when you won the FedEx Cup,

which you win the FedEx Cup, you can do whatever the hell you want. Okay? They haven't won a national title in football since 2008. I know you're very well aware of that. What if I told you, I'm guarantee you a national title next year, but in every PGA tour event you play this year, you have to wear all red. Would you do it?

Sure. No, no, yeah. Wow. That's dedication. Because from what I heard from Keith Mitchell is, the Gators hate, or the Bulldogs hate the Gators, and the Bulldogs hate the Bulldogs more than anybody. Yeah.

Well, you said red. I mean, you got to go all red, but. We're talking red shirt, red pants. If you said red and black, he could say it's for Nebraska. I didn't say black. So, yeah, but all red, that could be multiple things. She didn't see the ball bounce. She didn't say it didn't bounce.

Right, yeah. I said red. Big difference. Yes, I were all red if the Gators win a national title next year. Sorry, Ralph Lauren. You're going to have to make a ton of red pants. Every day. Wow.

Every day with a red belt, red hat. Red and white shoes. I like it. That's a true fan right there. I'll rock it. I bet they can do that. We may get into a little more fashion here in a minute. I'm going to stay on the same topic here.

We had Keith Mitchell on last week, like we said, Florida, Georgia, hate each other. I asked him this question, but I did it with Nick Saban. I'm going to ask you, would you be willing to play the Zurich this year with Kirby Smart if it meant that Florida would beat Alabama in the SEC championship? I'm sorry, Georgia. Yeah, I'm getting my people mixed up. It's probably a missed cut. You got a factor that in.

You can't hang out Kirby Smart for a few days, and then the Gators beat Georgia. I'll see who hates who more. You know what? I would do it because Kisner has talked about how he's a pretty cool guy, and he texts with him on a regular basis, and he gets back, and he's not a bad guy to be around. So, sure, why not? Okay. You min that fence.

Yeah. Okay. I'll see if I can, like, learn, you know, figure out, I can delve into some secrets of his so I can pass on the band. Oh, that's good, a little recon, a little undercover work. Yeah. KGB style. Yeah, all right.

All right. Number five. If you could take a piece of any other tour players golf game right now and put it in your game, who would it be and what would it be? I would say Justin Thomas Iron Game. I think he is the best, if not the best, iron player on tour with any club. You look at what he's done with strokes game approach over the last handful of years. He's been, I think, top five over the last five years.

I think that's a great advantage to have. I mean, everyone talks about distance, but when you think about how many times you're gaining on a weekly basis with your iron play, that means you're having a lot of shorter birdie putts and it's led to his success. I'm surprised by that. I am and I'm not, but one of the things that doesn't get talked about enough

with him is how good he is at changing speeds. Yep, his distance control with his wedge game in the way, you know, I think when he first came out, he didn't have that. You know, you could see it was full bore. But now it's really impressive to watch. I remember talking to Tiger out of Augusta with him this year with especially his short game shots. His short game shots he has is stupid good. But just the way he's able to change speeds, you see him hit a seven iron, you know, 185, 190 yards,

and then maybe he'll hit it 165 one time. That's impressive. A lot of guys don't have that. That allows you to attack more pins and open up more shots on any course. and it becomes a vital asset at majors as well. Yeah, his tempo with the wedges is one of the most beautiful things to watch, I think, on the PGA tour. All right, next question. You got a lot of pub for your octopus pants, 2013 open.

What is the next animal to appear on a pair of Billy Horshal pants? They've actually been ex-nade. Peter. Of course. Peter gave us a call. Peter called Ralph Lauren. They didn't like all these animals on my pants. They're not real animals.

They're not dead. They're not. Yeah. Is that an actual dog? No. There was a time there where we were wearing some type of printed animal pants and majors and we were doing well. Well, then it came that whenever I wore those pants, I played awful. And usually wore them on Sunday.

And they were always at majors. And so Todd Anderson, my coach goes, you know, what do you think about not wearing these animal parents anymore? They're not paying off the way they used to. And I was like, yeah, yeah. And so a year or two went by. And I think he finally convinced me and then he told it, we told the route for him people, hey, let's chop this. This ain't helping.

This ain't helping the final round. Yes, this is really cool. You get a lot of exposure. But you want to also get the exposure. We're playing well in them too. When you went in them, it looks better. What was your first reaction when we saw the octopus pants? We were like, oh, these are sick?

Or are we like, oh, my God, I can't believe I have to wear these. Well, they asked me about it. I was driving home. My wife picked me up from the airport. And they called me about some octopus pants. I said, sure, I'll wear. I'm not a big deal. I thought it was like a different cut or a different style.

I didn't realize there was actual octopus. Yeah, like, oh, there's an octopus. We got eight legs in our shit. Until literally the week before I got my clothes at Memphis, I opened up the box. I'm like, oh my God, this is actual octopus. Are you kidding me? Like Sunday of the U.S. Open. Yeah.

It was Sunday, right? Yeah, so it was actually supposed to be a Friday of the U.S. Open. And then I think on like a Tuesday, they pushed it back to Saturday. And then Wednesday night, they're like, okay, we're going to make one more change. You're going to wear them on Sunday. And so. And we had put out, we put it out on social media and, you know, social media, some people like, some people like, you're a disgrace to a game of golf. Of course.

You shouldn't be wearing those. And then by the time I teed off, by time Sunday came and I teed off, they were completely sold out online and they were completely sold out in the merchandise tent. So that's, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, could have been a bird. Could have missed the cut and the pants would have never made it there. Exactly. All right. We'll stay on the fashion here for a second for the next question. You're very well put together, man.

You pride yourself on your appearance. By the way, and your polo, you're Ralph Lauren. Is this Kashmir? Yes, it is. That ain't Pima Cotton, bro. I'll tell you that. It's very nice. You're up there always on the list of people who best dressed on the PGA tour.

I mean, you even do videos about what belt you should wear with things. It's nice, okay? But I don't really care about that. I want to know, in Billy Horses opinion, who is the worst dress player on the PGA tour? Oh, my gosh. That's a great question. A lot of options. I just think of five about right now.

Live within 10 miles in here. Anyone who wears a white belt with navy pants? Because Navy, you can just wear a Navy belt, and it's great. It looks great. We wear a brown belt with Navy, and it's fine.

Oh, man, I'm trying to think. I don't want to throw anybody. No, you got to. Throw them over and then put it in reverse and run them over again. Back in his day,

when he was out there a lot, Spencer Levine took this title. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is a suspect. Kevin Stadler, I wouldn't call a sharp dresser. Tom Hogie, got to be running. No, Tom Hockey's not too bad. He's okay.

He passes. I mean, he doesn't do anything special. I'm going to be the expert right here, but. This is why we asked. Gosh, I mean, there's people on top, like literally on tip my tongue. I'm trying to picture them, and I can't. D.A. points is bad. The Lego belt.

The Lego belt is bad. I thought that was a joke when I first saw. I was like, yeah, this is a real belt. I'll tell you what. I love the guy, and it's not his fault. I think it's the clothes is Troy Merritt. like I'm like come on bro literally that is one guy I wanted to say I didn't want to say Troy I know I know he's great I'm like what in the hell you know what and I feel bad because a lot of stuff and it really does come down to the sponsor and the in the clothes that the sponsor clothes that they wear some of the stuff that some of these sponsors you know

create or do I mean God they're just awful looking and the way they pair them and put them in clothes I mean it's just it's really bad and I feel bad I'm like I honestly couldn't walk out of my room if I had to wear some of the clothes that these guys are wear yeah you got to look good to feel good feel good to play good i've always been that all the old deal elkington can explain that it's funny the guy uh the one of the locker rooms in tinned in Memphis he's um he's been there for years and he's uh there's a couple years ago he's man billy man you always dress good man i always love the way you look you dress great and i said man you know just the way i am i'm like i'm like so fresh so clean that's my song from outcast so fresh so clean so every time he sees me the first day i walk in he plays outcast so fresh so clean I like that. That should be the walkout song for you.

Zurich or Phoenix when they trotted out. Yeah, we're seeing. I'm playing with Sam Burns this year. Oh, get a little local love. Yeah. Well, LSU Tigers? Yeah. I followed him on Sunday at Torrey Pines.

He was in the last group. First time, I love his style. He plays super fast and he smashes it. He's good. He hasn't put it all together yet. He will. He's been there and, you know, he's played well the last couple months, been in some final groups and has some chances to win.

He'll figure it out, but he's so good. That's a good. He's really good, and I'm excited about it. I'm going to be in New Orleans. I'll use Sam Burns that week as my survivor, even though that grandfather's you in as well. All right, next question. I get two for Billy.

All right, next question. Which Florida Gator do you think has a better arm? Tim Tebow or Marco Wilson? Oh, yeah. Cannons, bud. God, that was awful when Marco did that. I was watching the game, and I saw him make the stop, and I saw him throw something.

I'm like, I don't know what that is. And then I see the flag, I see it as a shoe, I'm like, you've got to be the dumbest person ever. How loud did you get out of TV? Okay, I'm trying to think where I was. That was December and I was at, oh, I was in, I was in Shark Shootout. QBE, yeah. I was at QB, because I think I was our makeup game.

It was, yeah, I was, yeah, I got. I don't think he was next to me, but if they were, they would heard me. And maybe they could have heard me down the hall. I was not, I was pissed. You still haven't answered the question. I'm going to say Tim T. Both got Kahneman. I remember watching it.

I was like, there is no way LSU doesn't march down and kick a field goal to win this game. That's just ultimate. This will go down in history as one of the biggest bonehead plays. Yeah, it was. And it was unfortunate because I don't know,

you know, when we had to play Alabama next week and if we would have won, it got a total different atmosphere. It would a different atmosphere. And we gave Alabama a good run. But yeah, it was just,

it just killed a little bit of that, that atmosphere at the SEC championship. That's a tough one. Who throws a shoe? Who throws a shoe? Honestly. I mean, that was crazy. I've never seen anyone throw his shoe.

I mean, he threw it 30 yards down the field. That's what I'm saying. 30 yards down the field. That was what I put him up against him. It was off of his hand, guys. It can't happen to anybody. I would have said, dude, I was trying to throw it to the sideline, like to the, you know, get it off the field. It wasn't going to work, Billy.

No, it wasn't going to work. All right. Last question. On your website, Billy Horshawrtle.com says you met your now wife, Brittany, during junior golf, and it was love at first sight for you. But it took her a little longer to come around. Yeah. I want to know how long did it take her to come around and what's the craziest thing you did to try to woo her?

Or I stalked the shit out of her at Dara. As you do. Just throw it out there. I stalked the shit out of her. I mean, literally, we were at Dural. We were playing the Drowo Publinks and I got to the first day. I think, you know, we had two praxons, whatever. I see her on the putting run.

Oh, wow, that's cool. I'm going to go putt. And then literally I stalked it. When she left putting green, you know, I would leap to. And then like if I saw her somewhere, like I would literally like just start going that way even if I was going the opposite direction. I mean it was awful. It was so weird. I was I was my game back then was shit and it's never been great. Let's just say that. Um, but um she actually said the first words to me. We were warm up for

the final round and there the range is really small. It's not what it is now and you only got like 20 balls to hit and you got to hit them in like 10 minutes. So you always lined up behind the person waiting to hit. So I hit ball. I'm hitting and then all of a sudden I look back and she's behind me. And I go, hey. and she goes oh I see you're a Florida Gator fan I said yeah I'm also going to school there and she goes I am too I'm like oh wow that's really cool and so little mingling and then we saw each other

at some other um uh AJGA events there's this one funny story I'll say this she'll always tell me this or bring it up there was another girl going to Florida named Mallory Blackweller Julian Cadeau's wife love my and so she was coming into Florida before And so I remember going up to Brittany at an AJGA Rolex event and Hilton Head at Long Cove. And I saw her.

I ran up to her. I'm like, hey, Brittany, Brittany, hey, you think you could introduce me to Mallory and put in a good word in for me? And she was, I didn't realize this till later. She was pissed. She was so excited that I was coming up, running up to her, I think I was going to, you know, something special. No, no, no. I was. So, and then she came to school and we were on and off dating and everything.

And so finally around our middle or junior year, she realized, she realized I was something special. She realized how lucky she could be. Once I finished all-American four years in a row, she knew that was the guy. Yeah, yeah. I mean, maybe she knew I was wearing the FedEx company. She said, I'm coming along for this. As soon as I tapped in at Eastlake, she said, I like this fella. No, so it's been great.

She's never been at any of my wins. She's never been at any of my wins. Sorry, Brittany, you got to stay home. And she knows that too. And she actually posts something a couple weeks ago on Instagram because someone, she did some question or something. And she said, I've never been at Billy's Wins. She's always been at home.

And I, whether it was having a kids or something, and then we're both superstitious. So she doesn't fly in if I'm playing well. But I'm trying to get her to, I'm trying to play well. So she can fly in. I really want, before the end of my career, I really want her to be out of win and all my kids to be at a win. Reverse the curse.

Yeah. Yeah. So what if she's like, say she's at a tournament and you're leading? Does she fly home Saturday or? No, no, no, she stays. Get out of town. If she's out of tournament, if she's out of tournament, she's always stayed at a tournament. Okay.

But, you know, I'm not going to pull the Dustin Johnson and send home your girl. Perfect. Winning's winning. What a way to end. I love it. Billy, this has been a blast, my man. Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks, boy, appreciate your brother.

Thanks, guys. That was awesome. That was Billy Horshiel. I got the, I mean, I was very lucky to play on the Walker Cup team with him and a bunch of other studs. It was an absolute blast. It was hilarious seeing him and Rory go at it. And then how about Rory's the guy. takes down to win his FedEx Cup.

Yeah, I was going to say, if Steve Stricker's listening to this right now, maybe take note there seems to be one kryptonite for Roy McRoy, and it's Billy Orchall. He's got a hell of a track record against him. But I thought it was cool. Like we were talking about him winning the FedEx Cup and how he won, you know, after the first week where he missed the cut, he goes, he has two wins in a second after that. And he was without question, the hottest player on the planet, wins the FedEx Cup, beat Roy and McRoy down the stretch.

But at that time, uh, writer cup selections were already made. And then I think he's, I honestly think he's the reason why it's been, change because like here's a guy you want him on your team no matter what and he didn't get to play that year and now they're like hey let's move it till the end after the fedx cup and pick the best player which only makes all the sense in the world so i don't know but that's a if you're the guy that's the reason for the rule change it's tough to look back and like man i should have been on that squat yeah hey you're winning every time you tee it up no you didn't play good enough early enough we're just going to skip we're going to take this guy that about 17 months ago is pretty

hot yeah so i'm glad they changed that rule billy horsch will deserve to be on that team for Captain Tom Watson back in the day and hopefully he'll make it for Steve Stricker. But, I mean, this guy, he's so much talent. It's a joke. He's just been a fixture on the PGA tour. Streaky, Streeky Putter. He mentioned he made some changes to his putter before that run in the playoffs and just obviously changed his life.

He only won like 13 and a half million in three weeks. Yeah, not a bad little run. But man, he's such a good dude. Nisusus can be texting him to come on. Didn't even hesitate. He'd love to. It'd be a pleasure. Came over and we had a blast.

We got, you know, we went Georgia Bulldog to fly. Florida Gator, which is kind of interesting. We reversed it there. But I love sitting down with Billy. Yeah, absolutely. And he's one of those guys, like we brought it up during the show. Like, he strikes me as one of those guys that we quote unquote bulldogs. Like he, when he gets in that spot, he wants to kill you, he wants to do it, which I think is

what makes the best team players in the world. And he talked about how much that Walker cut him into him and how much he'd love to be on one of these team things going forward. He's hovering right there. It just takes a couple weeks with the way the things are set up this year. If he can go out there and peel something off, there's a chance we might get to see him at Whistling straight. Yep.

We'll be keeping our eye on Billy Horses. That's for sure. But Slees, you made quite a move this week. Let's talk about it. I mean, you were over, you were shut out. You had zero dollars in the bank account. And you went out on a limb. You took, I mean, one of the favorites just to get in there.

The only problem is, but good for you, he played well. The only problem is, now he's done for the rest of the year. He's the guy picked pretty much every week on every show we do. But I had to get out of my slump buster right there. I said last week, I was like, if Xander doesn't play good this week, like, there's something there. So seeing him up there, I mean, legitimately on Sunday, I was like, he's the guy to beat. I know Jordan's right there.

The way he was driving it all week, I thought for sure this was Zanders to win. But get a second place out of him. It's hard to do a whole lot better than that. I'm off the Schneide now so we can put it all to bed. My guy, Hideki Matsuyama, didn't have his normal week around waste management, Phoenix Open, but still made me a check. I still think it's a very, very close race. But producer, Mark, what do we got? Yeah, so as you guys said, Zander tied for second, $649,000.

And that will give Drew the lead as Sadeki Matsuyama's T-42 was good for 23,853, giving Drew the lead of $131,000. Perfect. This thing can turn quick. I mean, if he parsed 18, I still got the lead. I was out there walking on 18 Ferreira. I was like, this putt doesn't matter for a tournament. There's a big pot.

There's a big money put for the show. Well, that means you have the honor this week. We got the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro M, which I will be at all week covering for Golf Channel and CBS. do the honors my mother who you going with this week at the AT&T pebble beach pro am i guess they even called pro am this year since there's no pro since there's no ams atel beach pro all right the pro the AT&T pebble beach pro i'm sticking with my strategy it worked last week i just went with a guy that pretty much never finished out the top five worked out pretty well i'm going

no research again this week i'm going to go with will's alatoris and i got two things written down for him then i just only know it because it's off the top of my head he top ten at tory and he top 20 this past week in phoenix young kid hits the ball really good and uh i'll write a hot when I can get it. This field, there's some big name guys up at the very top, but I just don't want to burn them. DJ's three and a half on my book, three and a half to one to win this week. So I don't want to, I don't want to use one of the biggest big dogs. He can't layer up there at the top, but I'll go Will's Alley. Yeah, Will Zalai Torch just moved in the top 50 in the world, by the way.

It's moving quick, too. All right, I'm going with a guy who has played terrible as of late. Perfect. I love that strategy. So, I mean, Brooks Kepkin missed three straight cuts and one. You never know. So this guy is a machine around Pebble Beach. He's never won here, but he top tens it every single year that are. that he's played it, I believe.

In the last three years, he's gone fourth, fourth and second, Jason Day. Not terrible. Not terrible. At some point, Jason Day is going to turn it around. It's got to. I watched him for a few holes this week in the practice round. He was playing with a great group. He had Rom, Jason Day, Jordan Speath, and Jason Duffner.

I watched them for a few holes. I just kind of walked around and talk for a little bit. It doesn't look bad. I tell you what, if you're going to pinpoint something, I couldn't find it. But I like that strategy. Guy is playing like shit, but plays good there. That's what I did was Charles Howt. It didn't quite work for me.

Maybe it'll work for you. We'll see what happens. We've got a long ways to go, but it's going to be fun out at Pebble Beach. We're going to throw a couple dark horse picks at you. Yes, sir. I'll tell you mine, and I'm going to keep picking this guy until he shows up, because eventually it's going to happen. But another guy who's played really well at Pebble, you know, he's a NorCal kid.

Finished 14th last year, 10th the year before. I just feel like he's trending. We play a lot of golf with him. And every time we play with him, I'm like, holy shit, this guy's going to win a bunch of times this year. Max Homa. There you go. He's going off at 50 to 1. Yeah, and he was actually, you know, he didn't have his best week at Phoenix,

So, but a couple bad shots. There was one hole giving him big time problem on 14. He had some tough drives out there. But yeah, every time we play with, I'm like, nope, I'm picking you this week. So, all right, there you go. I'm going to go with the guy for my long shot. He's 66 to 1 on my book. He's a West Coast specialist.

His last four events, he's been fourth at the Sony, 21st at the Amex, 30th at the Phoenix open, solid, nothing spectacular after Sony. But like I said, does a ton of damage on the West Coast, specifically at Safeway, which is right down the road from Pebble Beach. Brendan Steele, 66 to 1. When he finds a place he likes, he normally plays well. Exactly. Keep him in NorCal and I like his chances. I'll go, Brendan Steele is my long shot at 66 to 1.

All right, well, best of luck to everyone. We got another monster coming your way next week. You are not going to want to miss it. We're USA guys, team USA all the way. But we got the captain of the European Rider Cup team, Padrick Harrington in the building, and it was an absolute blast. You are not going to want to miss it. Everyone have a great week.

We'll talk to you on next week's golf subpar.