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PGA TOUR MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 19, 2014Billy HorschelCHRIS REIMER: This is Chris Reimer, director of communications for the PGA TOUR. We're here with BMW Championship winner, TOUR Championship by Coca‑Cola winner, and of course our FedExCup champion, Billy Horschel. We've got a few media members here in the room, as well, so we'll probably start off with questions from them and we'll go to questions from those on the line. First and foremost, Billy, I know it's been an exciting week from a competition standpoint, but tell us about probably the most exciting news of becoming a father. BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, it's still pretty surreal what's happened the last few weeks, and to put the cherry on top, my little girl Skylar being born Tuesday night. We played a charity event for Colt Ford up in Braselton, Georgia, and drove back Monday night instead of staying up there for a concert that they put on because there was some possibility that I was going to be going up to New York to do some talk shows and this and that, and got home around 9:30 and we were watching the re‑air coverage of Sunday's final round with my wife, and about 12:30 she got up from the couch and looked at me and said, "I think my water broke." I said, "Are you kidding?" She said, "No, you've got to come see," and it broke, and we were off to the hospital. It was a long 20 hours in the hospital waiting for Skylar to be born. There was times it looked like we may have to go into a C‑section, but it all worked out. Mom and baby are both very healthy. She's beautiful. She's a princess. Mom is doing great. Brittany is doing great. I couldn't be happier. It's the greatest feeling I've ever had. I can't compare it to anything else, being a dad right now. CHRIS REIMER: We've had plenty of discussions over the past several days or weeks about obviously the benefits that come along with winning the FedExCup, but there was one moment where you looked at the names that were on it, so you've got Tiger, Henrik, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh and now Billy Horschel's name on it. What does that mean? BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, like I said, it's surreal when you see the names on there, with Tiger winning it twice, Vijay, Jim Furyk, three guys that are Hall of Fame members, Jim Furyk is going to be one in my opinion, and you look at guys like Bill Haas and Brandt Snedeker, guys that are‑‑ not up‑and‑coming, that are studs out on TOUR right now and have made a big name for themselves, especially with Henrik the way he's gone through his up and downs and has turned his game around, especially last year. Now to have my name among those guys is pretty special, along with being the youngest at 27 years old. That's pretty unbelievable. I'm not sure how old Bill was when he won it. He may have been 29, I think, so I know I'm the youngest. I'm not sure if I'm the only guy in the 20s to win it. So yeah, it's pretty special to be among guys that have done some pretty amazing things in this game of golf already. Q. From where you were standing after the Barclays, you really couldn't do anything less than second, first, first to have won this. Given that experience and what you did in those three weeks under some pressure, how do you think that helps you when you're going to be in the hunt for a Masters, a U.S. Open, a PLAYERS because you're in all those events for a little bit now. How is that going to help you under the gun? BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, I think it's just going to give me that extra confidence that you need to win a major championship or even a PLAYERS Championship or even a WGC Championship, knowing that I've led wire‑to‑wire at a TOUR Championship, knowing that I've had a three‑shot lead at BMW and I was able to close it out against some of the best players in the world. It gives me confidence that if I stick to my game plan that I come up with my team early in the week that the game plan can work and I can come out on top and be victorious. It gives me that confidence that I've always felt like I've been one of the best players in the world, and I have a lot of confidence and belief in what my talents are and what I'm able to do on the golf course, but for it to show up in the spotlight that is the FedExCup, against some of the best players in the world, and to come out on top, like I said, I think that just gives me that little extra belief that we all need sometimes that we can get the job done when we're playing the biggest tournaments in the world. Q. And a quick follow, under the new format, I know you're going to play some this fall. In the past you would have off‑seasons. Do you have time to enjoy this, or are you so excited about the way you played that given your parental duties and you schedule in the fall, are you anxious to get back out there and to keep it going? BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, it's funny because I think I talked to Todd Anderson Sunday night, and this was obviously before Skylar was born, and he was like, man, you probably just wish you could keep playing. I said, man, I'm playing so good right now I don't want to stop. I'm making quite a bit of money, and I don't want to stop. But it's great because I played six weeks straight. I never felt tired. I felt like I managed my schedule very well. The missed cut helped a little bit to recharge the batteries for a couple days, but it's nice to have‑‑ I'm going to play possibly Vegas. I know I'm playing Malaysia, China, but it's great to have some time at home to spend with Skylar and Brittany and recharge the batteries and sort of get a game plan with Todd Anderson, my staff guy, Mark Horton, and my two trainers, Jeff Fronk and Randy Myers, some stuff that we wanted to work on this fall, get together in the next week or two, put a game plan together so we can work on it this fall. I'm playing, I think, a perfect amount. It's a couple events in the fall schedule, and I can spend enough time at home and I've got enough time where I feel enough competitive that when I do start the season in January I don't feel like I'm rusty because I haven't played enough golf. Q. Are you looking forward to getting out to Hawai'i? BILLY HORSCHEL: I am. Maui is another great place I'm looking forward to. That was a goal. I wanted to get back out there. It's a beautiful place, it's a small field, they take tremendous care of us, and unfortunately Brittany and Skylar are not going to be going because it's a long flight to go just for seven to ten days. It's just going to be me. I'm trying to get my teacher Todd Anderson and his wife to go out there. I sort of said last year that if I got back out there I would want them to come and I'd take care of them. I know my caddie is obviously going to be there. I would love for him and his wife to go so they can get some time together. But I'll have some friends and some family out there, but yeah, I'm looking forward to it. It's a great event, like I said. You know you've done something special when you start the year off in Maui. Q. I wonder how many people from the University of Florida, from your play back in those days, you've heard from? BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, the text messages and emails and phone calls, there are quite a bit of them. It's been a challenge to get back to everybody. Obviously I had, I think, almost 250 to 300 text messages just from winning the FedEx, and then on top of that, you can just go ahead and double that number because everyone wants to say congratulations to Brittany and I for the birth of our baby Skylar, so when I respond back and they respond back about Skylar and asking how everyone is doing, it's been a slow process, but it's been rewarding to see everyone, how happy they are for me. Like I said, I'm still not done yet. I've still got probably about 100 more to go, but like I said, it means a lot when people reach out and want to congratulate you and wish you success on what I've done in the TOUR Championship and the FedExCup but also with the birth of Skylar. CHRIS REIMER: You've won before, you've been in the TOUR Championship before, but when you say you're going to talk to Todd Anderson, you're going to talk to your coach Mark Horton, your stats guy, how much does it change your schedule? You really pick and choose now the weeks you play, the courses you play. How do you look at that strategy going into next year? BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, the great thing was TA was in town for the TOUR Championship and Mark Horton was in town, too, the whole week, and my manager Sherry Whay came down so we had a sit‑down Tuesday to talk about schedule for the end of this year and the first six months. I think we have got a great schedule that we have planned out. This year was a little trial‑and‑error with how many tournaments should I play in a row, how many weeks off should I take between tournaments, and we sort of realized that I'm a momentum player. The more weeks in a row I play, the better I seem to play. So we're going to do something where we do probably four straight tournaments and then two weeks off so that at least the first week I'm home I can just take completely away from the game of golf, recharge, and then come back the second week off and really hit the ground running hard, work on stuff. We talked about schedule. I feel like there's a lot of courses that fit my game. I feel like there's a lot of cities I like. I feel like there's a lot of tournaments that do a great job running their events, so it's tough to play every tournament because there's always something special about every tournament, but at the same time I can't play every week, and I've sort of said in the past that I feel like as a PGA TOUR player we should‑‑ it's our duty almost to try and play every event at least every three to five years, at least make an effort to get there so the fans can see us play so we can thank the sponsors for their great sponsorship of the tournament and the PGA TOUR, and also help out with the charity stuff that they do in the area to give back to the local community. Q. I'm wondering if there is any splurge that you're going to do with this suddenly flowing bank account, a boat, something special that you've got in mind to pamper yourself? BILLY HORSCHEL: You know, I don't know what I am going to do. I'm not a big spender. I don't‑‑ I've just never been that way. I guess the thing is I like taking care of the people around me. I bought both my brothers brand new vehicles last year, and I think it's time for me to buy my parents two new cars, so that's the first thing on the list. The other thing is, I don't know, Brittany and I have sat down and talked about some stuff. We're not going to go above and beyond with this money. I know that I'm pretty much financially set for the rest of my life, and if I'm smart with it and I invest it right, Skylar is pretty much set for the rest of her life. Obviously I have to pay a big, big tax bill, so I've got to be prepared for that first and then I think we'll look at some stuff to‑‑ whether we upgrade where we live now in our house or whether we buy a bigger house to get ready for the growing family that we have. Who knows. I mean, like I said, I'm not going to go out and buy a half a million dollar car or boat or anything. I don't need a boat. I think a boat is wasteful in my mind; I'm not home enough to use a boat. Like I said, I'll take care of the people around me with this money. It makes it easier that when friends and family want to come out and watch me play I can take care of them and make it easier for them to come watch me. Q. I'm also wondering, on the 17th tee on Sunday, obviously with all that water on the left, knowing what your lead was, what were all the things that were racing through your mind at that point? BILLY HORSCHEL: Pretty much I'm on that 17th tee and I knew the only place I really couldn't hit it that would hurt me was the water left. The whole week we had been aiming at the left side of the bunkers and playing a nice little tight draw, and that was the game plan again, and then I got over the ball, and I said, well, how about we move the target about 10 yards further right so I can feel like I can go ahead and draw it because I feel like if I aimed right of the bunkers and went ahead and tried to hit a big draw or at least made sure I released it, I knew I couldn't over‑hook it into the water, and it was absolutely the perfect tee shot at the right time when I needed it. It's the toughest tee shot for me has always been when there's been any trouble down the left. For me to step up and hit a big tee shot on that hole, especially after I hit probably one of the worst ones I hit all week on 16 before and bailed out right. For me to step up and get that tee shot in the fairway, I pretty much knew it was game, set, match because I always hit my irons well, and I knew I wasn't going to mess up. Q. On Sunday playing with Rory, playing with the No.1 golfer in the world who's had this incredible year, can you talk about what that was like? BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, Rory, obviously the media wants to sort of make it sound like that Rory and I, we're not friends. Obviously we had a little issue at the Walker Cup, but listen, he was 18, I was 20, we were immature, we were young adults. We were still learning to grow up, and some comments were said. Listen, I don't take them to heart. I knew it was just the heat of the moment. It's no different than when someone comes off a big loss in the World Series or a big sporting event, you catch them right at the heat of the moment, they may say something they may regret. But Rory and I have been very friendly since that, since I got out on TOUR. We've both been very supportive of each other. We've played practice rounds together. He was very gracious to me out on the golf course, especially at the end when he knew where I stood and everything, when I made that up‑and‑down for birdie on 15, he was very congratulatory towards me, and same thing when I made that putt at 16. He said some nice words to me on the green at 18, and I said to him, "Thanks a lot, my man." This is hopefully just the start of many battles between us for big titles down the road, because like I said, he's one of the best players we have in the game right now, or he is the best player we have in the game right now, and he has done some amazing things in the game of golf, especially how young he is; he's 25 years old. Hopefully we can have a good rivalry between us and it can be friendly. We can both‑‑ whoever wins whatever tournament, we can both be on 18 green, be happy for the other person that they played their heart out and they were able to come out on top. Q. This week is the Web.com championship here, and I was wondering if you could think back to when you got your card, whether there was any comparison between that and the pressure you feel in the FedExCup? BILLY HORSCHEL: Yeah, you know what, I think there's more pressure‑‑ I went to Q‑school three times and I came through it twice. One of the times I really didn't have to go to Q‑school because I had a medical exemption but going back gave me a chance to get more starts if I did get my card in 2011, or at the end of 2010. But you know, the 2010 season‑‑ I mean, the 2009 season coming out of college I didn't feel much pressure because I was playing so well, I knew I was one of the best players there my first year through Q‑school. I probably felt pressure in my third Q‑school. I think I was victorious three out of four times getting my card. I think I said two out of three; it was three out of four. 2011 I wasn't playing well. I lost my card, and I probably felt a little pressure then because I knew what getting your PGA TOUR meant. We get medical insurance covered, we get a whole bunch of stuff. We're pampered out on the PGA TOUR compared to the Web.com where we don't have a lot of the nice amenities and all that kind of stuff that the PGA TOUR has. So that was probably the most pressure, and then when I went back for the last time in 2012 I knew going in I was going to get my card. I was that confident. I knew, once again, I felt like I was the best player in the field, and I felt like if I just played my game, took care of my business, that I was going to come out with a card, and I did a good job of that, and I think I finished 6th or something. Q. Guys out there, you know what they're battling for, and there's a certain kind of pressure that comes with that. First of all, what helps you the most of your experiences on the Web.com TOUR, and what kind of example can a guy like you be to those guys out there? Would you say just confidence in what's ahead of you, or don't be afraid to dream big? BILLY HORSCHEL: You know, I never played a full season out on the Web.com. I always had conditional status on the PGA TOUR ever since I turned pro, so I'm not sure how many Web.com events, maybe 20 or 25 over a four‑year period. But I think what I can learn from the Web.com TOUR is that it gives you the opportunity to play against up‑and‑coming players. It gives you the opportunity to have a full season to show yourself, and a whole year how well you can play. I think you can take confidence in the way you play out on the Web.com TOUR and carry it over to the PGA TOUR, but it's tough because I know I've talked to several Web.com alums and current players that I think one thing they could do to be a little bit more successful right away on the PGA TOUR, because there's been a lot of success over the years, but some guys struggle when they get their card right away, I think if the courses were just a touch tougher on the Web.com TOUR, I think that would be the most beneficial thing for them when they go to the PGA TOUR because you don't see many 18‑, 20‑, 22‑under pars win out on the PGA TOUR. It's a lot of 12‑, 15‑under par, 16‑under par. Just the difficulty in the courses makes it‑‑ I think that's the biggest challenge between Web.com and PGA TOUR players. But with what they have come up with with a four‑tournament series, very similar to the FedExCup Playoffs, and since you've got to play well, obviously there's more on the line I feel like at the Web.com TOUR than the PGA TOUR FedExCup Playoffs because you've got your card secure. But there's more pressure in this, but if you're able to shine in these four little Web.com TOUR tournaments, I think that gives you the confidence that listen, when the light was shining the brightest like it was for me in the FedExCup, I rose to the occasion, and I was able to get my TOUR card. And I think they can take a lot of confidence from that and carry it over to the PGA TOUR season, especially seeing as it starts within a couple weeks. So they're full of confidence, they're ready to play, they're ready to hit the ground running, and I think that's a great thing that the PGA TOUR has done with a little background seasoning; give the Web.com TOUR guys, instead of having to think about it for three, four months after the TOUR Championship, that they can go out there right away with some confidence and hopefully succeed. Q. Prediction for Florida‑Alabama? BILLY HORSCHEL: Prediction for Florida‑Alabama? That's a tough one. My biased self wants to believe that the Florida Gators are going to go into Tuscaloosa and be victorious, but I am a realist. I understand that it's going to be a tough game. Alabama obviously is replacing a starter, a great quarterback in A.J. McCarron, and I've watched a couple of their games, and my teacher Todd Anderson is an Alabama alum, so we've talked about both our teams and what our strengths are and what our weaknesses are. Realistically I want us to have a chance to win in the fourth quarter. If we have a chance to win in the fourth quarter, in my mind I think that's a step in the right direction because Alabama obviously has been one of the best teams the last five, seven years in college football. But I hope that we can go in there and somehow squeak out a win because that would be so huge for our team. It would be a lot of momentum for Will Muschamp. I know there's a lot of people that think he may not be the right guy for the job, but I think he's a great coach. I understand this is his first head coaching job and there's going to be some rough patches in there, but I think him bringing in Kurt Roper has already helped the offense from what I've seen the last two games, and I think we're just going to keep getting better and better. Sometimes getting better doesn't mean you're always going to win. You've got to look at the small things, and if we can be competitive the whole game, have a chance to win in the fourth quarter, I think that's a win for us, and then it's a win‑win situation if we do happen to walk away with a win out of Alabama. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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