Billy Horschel in tears after brutal 84 at Memorial
- Doug Mattushek
- 2 June 2023
Billy Horschel cut an emotional figure after a difficult opening round at the Memorial tournament on Thursday.
For Billy Horschel, the first day of the Memorial Tournament was one to forget.
A year ago, the American cruised to his seventh PGA Tour title with a four-stroke win at the Memorial. That performance pushed him to a career-high 11th in the world rankings and contributed to his selection for the victorious Presidents Cup team last September. Life was good in the Horschel household.
Fast forward to a hot Muirfield Village Golf Club on Thursday and Horschel's difficult 2023 is only getting worse. Off the back of missing six cuts in 12 starts, barring a mathematical miracle, Horschel will have another weekend off in Ohio.
His 12 over par 84 featured six bogeys, three doubles and no birdies, putting him an incredible 17 strokes behind first-round leader David Riley.
Fronting up to the media after his disastrous round, Horschel was a shadow of his former self.
"I'm making a big number on every single hole it seems like," said the 36-year-old, as per
Golf Monthly.
"I'm struggling every hole. I was taking a lot of extra shots than what we normally would do. So, yeah, my confidence is the lowest it's been in my entire career. I think ever in my entire golf career.
"It's tough when you come to a course like this and you need to be precise tee to green and I'm not really precise right now from tee to green. Around the greens, I put myself in awful positions trying to get up and down. And my putting's tried to bail me out as much as it can."
To be fair, Horschel has company at the lower end of Memorial's leaderboard. 2018 Open Championship winner Francesco Molinari is at nine over, while Dylan Fritelli played 14 holes in 15 over par before withdrawing due to illness. Incredibly, Chad Ramey is firmly at the bottom after posting a 16 over 88, largely due to an adventurous 13 on the par four ninth.
But Horschel's odyssey at Memorial is not over yet. Despite the emotion, the Floridian is far from throwing in the towel and will tee up, nobly, on Friday.
"It's funny, as low as it feels, it feels like I'm not that far off at the same time," he continued.
"Which is insane to see when you see me shoot 84. It wouldn't make sense to a lot of people. But I don't think I'm that far off. I just need, I need the swing to be a little bit better, I need to do a few more things a little bit better. I just need to see a few more quality golf shots and that's just what I haven't had.
"There's plenty of those guys out here on Tour that would make an excuse about being injured and everything. But I'll show up and I'll go out there and give it my all like I always do and try and find something, try and play well, and move on. I mean, it's a day and I've had plenty of these days this year. Not this bad, but it's just a day. We'll get by it."
