Billy Horschel is done talking about talking. Until he’s not. The defending Memorial Tournament champion struggles to keep his lip zipped when asked for an answer.
I know because I asked him.
“I did a podcast with Conor Moore, the Irish guy who does (golf) impersonations, and he asked me if I ever go back to my hotel room after a round and wonder, ‘Why the hell did I give that answer?’ ” Horschel said last week. “And I said, ‘Every day.’ ”
“Do you ever wish you had said, ‘No comment?’ or ‘Next question?’ ”
But any regret Horshel has lasts no longer than Horschel’s short fuse (More on that in a minute.)
“At the end of the day I believe if someone asks me a question, I want to be as honest as I can,” he said. “I don’t want to beat around the bush. It’s an educated opinion. I’ve given it some thought, and when you’ve done that you want to give an honest answer.”
As a member of the media, I wish all athletes were wired like this loquacious 36-year-old Floridian. But as a member of the media I have to admit it can be a no-win situation: remain silent and get pegged as aloof or surly. Say too much and get burned for not keeping your trap shut.
In Horschel’s case, explaining why he explains things becomes fatiguing. Finally, he decides to be himself and let the chips fall.
“Do I kick myself? Why not just say, ‘Nah, I’m not going to answer that.’ Or give a run-of-the-mill answer,” he said. “But that’s just not me.”
Billy Horschel of the United States poses with Jack Nicklaus and his wife Barbara Nicklaus after winning the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday at Muirfield Village Golf Club on June 05, 2022, in Dublin, Ohio. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Never was. Horschel questioned others’ opinions as a kid, debated with classmates in middle school and used to be “that guy” on Twitter, strafing the site with self-defense posts and pearls of wisdom that no one requested. He has backed off, in part because he knows there is no winning social media wars, but if opportunity knocks he is always at the ready.
After all, it’s his nature based on nurture.
Billy Horschel admits his temper sometimes gets the best of him during tournaments, but chalks up the emotional outbursts to competitive fire.
“My dad is a very quiet guy,” Horschel said. “That side comes from my mom. Not that she’s controversial, but she’s a little more honest with her responses, and doesn’t worry if it comes across wrong.”
Horschel appreciates the “yin-yang” of quiet and quotability his parents modeled for him.
“My dad is very much sober,” he said. “At the start, when he meets people he wants to feel everything out and assess the situation. I am very much that way, too. Not with sponsors, but if I go out with friends and they bring people I haven’t met before I am more reserved. I want to see and gauge these people.”
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He just wishes others extended him the same courtesy. Labeled a hothead on the golf course – and deservedly so, though he has worked at minimizing his angry outbursts over his 14 years on the PGA Tour – Horschel has a heart as big as his bank account, which is prodigious. His $34.6 million in career earnings have been boosted by seven tour wins, including the 2022 Memorial, which he won by four strokes, and the 2014 FedEx Cup championship.
Horschel is not stingy with those winnings. The Florida graduate bought his parents a home and his brothers cars, flew his college coach first-class to the Open Championship at St. Andrews and gives back to his alma mater both financially and as a volunteer assistant coach.
Ken Bentley, one of the founders of the Advocates Professional Golf Association, which promotes diversity in golf, told Golfweek that Horschel is not a lip-service only kind of guy.
“Following the first round of the first tournament Billy did for us, he was on the putting green playing putting games with the guys for dollars,” Bentley said. “They were on the green until dark. Billy gave each player his phone number and email address and said he was going to do all he could to see that the guys got to the next level.”
Horschel’s giving side unfortunately too often gets lost in the taking side, i.e. taking frustrated swings at his golf bag with his club. He admits his temper sometimes gets the best of him during tournaments, but chalks up the emotional outbursts to competitive fire. And, honestly, he’s done trying to defend himself, reasoning that he could become a saint and still be labeled a sinner.
In other words, he’s tired of talking about it. Yes, I know, hard to believe. But after discussing topics ranging from aging as a golfer, to his friend Urban Meyer’s future in coaching – Billy says Meyer is finished – to driving in England, Horschel said he is finished with trying to change how people view him.
Billy Horschel waits to play his shot from the ninth fairway during the final round of the Memorial Tournament. (Photo: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports)
“I don’t think it’s right that people get labeled,” he said. “I understand the perception I’ve given off, more early in my career, and I have come to terms with it. That’s fine. I’m a somewhat different person off the golf course. It’s just that when you put me in competitive situations, I want to win. I don’t like losing or playing badly.”
If that comes awfully close to sounding like Horschel is not yet tired of talking about his passionate personality, well, guilty as charged. But consider the source.
“Growing up watching golf, I hated the pros who gave run-of-the-mill answers,” he said. “There is something to be said about being true to who you are, something to be said about not worrying about what people say about you.”
Always something to be said. That’s what makes Horschel different from most. Thank goodness.
roller@dispatch.com