Horschel wins Nelson in playoff against Day
IRVING, TEXAS— Billy Horschel had missed four straight cuts when he arrived at TPC Four Seasons, a course he was never particularly fond of.
After winning the last AT&T Byron Nelson scheduled at the Irving resort, Horschel now wishes he could have the chance to come back.
While his 18-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole Sunday stopped just short, Horschel won with a par when Jason Day pulled his 4-foot par putt left and past the hole.
“When I hit it I knew it was on a perfect line and I thought I got it to the hole. . . . I just wanted to finish it off there,” Horschel said. “I didn’t expect him to miss it. I was expecting to go back to the tee and play the hole again.”
Instead, the playoff wrapped up the Nelson’s 35th and final tournament in Irving. The event shifts next year to the new links-style Trinity Forest Golf Club south of downtown Dallas.
In his only two previous Nelsons, in 2011 and 2012, Horschel missed the cut at 13 over through 36 holes both times. With a closing 1-under 69 on Sunday, including a 60-foot birdie putt at the 14th hole, Horschel matched Day (68) at 12-under 268 for a playoff.
“It’s sad that it’s leaving because I was never a fan of this course, but came here and now I am,” Horschel said. “I won, and I don’t want to leave.”
Third-round leader James Hahn finished a stroke back after shooting 71. He just missed a miraculous eagle at the 18th hole that would have gotten him in the playoff with his playing partners — threesomes were used after early morning rain delayed the start Sunday.
Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., fired a 65 in the fourth day of play, his best round of the tournament. That final push took him up to 7-under par and tied for ninth.
Day, who got the first of his 10 PGA Tour victories at the 2010 Nelson, had the lead alone only once, when he pitched in from 78 feet from the rough by the greenside bunker at the 477-yard-15th. He was there after two horrible shots, a tee shot way right and the approach that set up an awkward stance.
But at the par-5 573-yard 16th, the easiest hole at TPC Four Seasons, Day’s wayward tee shot hit a spectator. After making sure the woman was OK, he hit an approach that settled pin-high on the green, but a 9foot birdie chance curled by the hole.
“I only had one top 10 up to this point. To be able to play the way I did today, I played some good solid golf,” Day said. “It’s a little disappointing, but it’s not the first tournament I’m going to lose.”