Billy Horschel has every reason to be confident after finishing tied for second at the Open Championship this past weekend.
Horschel said as much on Wednesday, one day before the start of the 3M Open in Blaine, Minn.
Confidence, however, wasn’t always found in great supply for Horschel, who let his guard down and shared his raw emotion following a rough 12-over-par 84 in the opening round at the Memorial last year.
On Wednesday, the eight-time PGA Tour winner was asked how confident he is now coming off his career-best performance at a major.
“Well, it’s better than it was a year ago,” Horschel said. “I don’t know. Listen, it’s really high. Is it the highest it’s ever been in my career? No, but I feel really good in my game, I feel I’ve got great ownership of everything I’m doing throughout my bag.
“(Swing coach) Todd Anderson and I have worked really hard on every aspect to get better at. Obviously the ball-striking was the main issue there last year. I just feel very comfortable with my game and understanding if I’m a little off, I know the corrections I need to make, I know the fixes I need to do to get back to where I need to be.
“Listen, after where I was last year after Memorial to now, I’m in a completely different realm and hopefully I can continue to build and add that confidence going forward.”
Horschel, 37, made the long trek from Scotland to Minnesota and was one of the first pros on the 3M Open practice range Tuesday.
“Yeah, I felt pretty good for the last couple days. This morning I woke up and I was a little tired, body was moving a little bit slower, but that’s expected,” Horschel said. “You travel halfway around the world, played the last couple weeks over in Scotland. Any of the guys coming over from there are going to feel the same thing.
“Yeah, it was a really good week last week. I’m excited to have played well, I’m excited to have had a chance to win. I played really well — I played fairly well on Sunday, made a couple mistakes I wish I could have back, but even with that I would have had to play a spectacular round of golf to beat Xander (Schauffele).”
Horschel has rebounded after missing out on the FedEx Cup Playoffs last season. He won the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic in April and is ranked 26th in the FedEx Cup standings.
–Field Level Media
