Slow and steady
Horschel won Memorial by resisting urge to hurry up
Billy Horschel is what my two daughters would call a “fast-twitch dude.” And they would know because their old man is one of them.
Horschel is always tapping the brakes on his tendency to move ahead before his brain has a chance to catch up. He can be impatient. He can be spontaneous. And he knows it.
“I’m sure I’m not going to shock everyone when I say this: I move very quick,” Horschel said after taking a five-shot lead into Sunday’s final round of the Memorial Tournament. “Sometimes, I just want to get the golf shot over with.”
Hyper guys such as Horschel have it bad in a way because golf is a slow game played over many hours, with this inconvenient timeout called night separating one day of action from another. Sigh. Horschel just wants to get the golf tournament over with, preferably with him hoisting the trophy.
On Sunday, the 35-year-old Floridian took matters into his own hands by ending the tournament on his own terms. After watching his five-shot lead dwindle to two through 12 holes, Horschel closed the door with a magnificent 53-foot eagle putt at No. 15 that extended his lead to four. From there, he cruised home for his seventh PGA Tour victory.
No one has ever shaken Jack Nicklaus’ hand faster.
Horschel called himself “an idiot” Saturday for “not doing what I know works every time,” which is taking his time sizing up shots before executing them.
That’s a bit harsh and overly selfcritical. Guys like Horschel can’t help but behave like a thoroughbred in a sport that rewards plow horses. Inside that head, his mind is always racing. Tranquility, thy name is, well, indecipherable.
“This is special. Jack is a legend
of the game,” Horschel said after receiving the traditional handshake from the Memorial host.
Horschel isn't old enough to have watched Nicklaus patiently work his way around a golf course, but he saw how Tiger Woods did the same thing and has longed to match that methodical shot-by-shot approach to winning. Especially with a fairly comfortable lead entering the final round. That is, if any lead is comfortable.
"You have to figure out when you get yourself in the lead, how you stay there and how you finish it off, "Nicklaus said. "Sometimes that's not an easy thing to do. Tiger was pretty good with that. All of his majors he won, he won when leading. I led 12 times and I won 10 of those 12 times. It's not too bad to be in the lead, as much pressure as it puts on you, that's OK. It's also where you want to be.”
Horschel woke up Sunday telling himself to not be a hero.
“You don't have to do anything special,” Horschel said, explaining what he learned from watching Woods and video of Nicklaus work their course management. “Don't give it back. Put the ball on the green and two-putt.”
Or one-putt. Horschel made a 5-foot bogey putt at No. 12, which might seem a small thing, but when the world inside your brain is gulping for air, canning a make-or-break putt can be huge. Next came an even bigger 11-foot putt to save par at No. 13, followed by an 8-footer for par at 14. Then came the eagle at 15, which took chaser Aaron Wise from thinking he had a shot to knowing it was pretty much over. Wise had just birdied the hole to pull within two when Horschel delivered the dagger.
"I look at putting as you make putts when you have to make putts, not putts that you just, you're in the middle of the pack and you hole some nice putts," Nicklaus said, turning to Horschel. "That's not what counts. What counts is you make them when you made them. That, to me, is the mark of a champion. And those are the guys who win tournaments, and you did that and you won."
Putting on greens as fast as Muirfield Village Golf Club's is challenging enough without having to fight shinyobject syndrome, when something as simple as a singing bird or speck of dirt on the ball can be a big distraction.
Horschel tuned it all out, relying on his relationship with caddie Mark “Fooch” Fulcher to slow things and count to 10 over every shot before swinging the club.
A perfect example. On the tee at No. 18, Horschel set up over the ball before backing off to regain composure. His 292-yard tee shot found the middle of the fairway and he finished with a par to wind up even par for the day, 13-under for the tournament.
After hugging his wife and kids, who had never witnessed him win a tournament in person, Horschel made his way to Nicklaus, calling him “Big Man” as he shook the Bear's paw.
He wasn't wrong. Nicklaus is a giant in the game. But on Sunday Horschel was the man of the hour. roller@dispatch.com @rollercd