Horschel Celebrates First PGA Win in New Orleans

 

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Billy Horschel arrived in New Orleans riding a streak of strong performances that made him one of the best players on the PGA Tour never to win a tournament.

Not anymore.

Horschel earned his fourth-straight top-10 finish by rolling in a pressure-packed, 27-foot birdie putt to cap a weather-delayed, 8-under 64 at TPC Louisiana that earned him a victory at the Zurich Classic on Sunday. Horschel's final-day score tied a course record and left him one stroke ahead of D.A. Points.

"This whole week I felt like I'm going to get my victory here," Horschel said. "I felt like, you know, it's got to be sooner or later, and thank God I finally won."

The 26-year-old former Florida Gator began the day two shots behind third-round leader Lucas Glover and surged into the lead with six straight birdies after the first of two weather delays for lightning. He finished the tournament at 20 under, narrowly holding off Points, who won the Shell Houston Open last month by a stroke over Horschel and Henrik Stenson.

"When a player goes out and shoots 8 under and birdies the last hole to win, hats off to Billy," said Points, who had a 65. "He's played great all year. He was one shot shy of me at Houston and I'm a shot shy of him here. It's just the way it goes."

Points put pressure on Horschel by hitting out of a bunker to set up a 5-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th. Then Horschel rolled in his long victory-sealing putt, pumping his arms and letting out a triumphant yell before sinking into a crouch and briefly pulling his cap over his face as the crowd roared.

"I was like, 'If it's my time, this putt needs to go in,'" Horschel said.

The winning round took nearly nine hours to complete. Because thunderstorms were in the forecast, the PGA shuffled the usual tee times to have the leaders tee off around 9 a.m.

The second delay began a little after 4:30 p.m., before Horschel could take his second shot on the 18th hole. That gave him 52 minutes to reflect on what was at stake — $1.19 million and a two-year exemption.

Yet Horschel said delays seem to relax him and only seem to improve his play.

"For some reason it puts me at ease a little bit," he said.

Kyle Stanley shot a 5-under 67 to finish third, while 14-year-old amateur Guan Tianlang of China finished 71st after making his second cut in two PGA events, the first coming at the Masters.

In his previous three tournaments, Horschel had tied for second in Houston, tied for third in San Antonio and tied for ninth in Hilton Head Island, S.C.

"I played well. It just wasn't my time," Horschel said of his recent outings. "It was nice that today was my time."

He's also made a PGA Tour-leading 23 straight cuts, and had already earned $1.3 million this year. Now he has nearly doubled that, thanks to a final round that tied a course record that has been recorded eight times, including by Rickey Barnes in Thursday's first round.

Moments before Horschel took reporters' questions about his victory, he sat at a podium with the winner's silver cup in front of him, appearing on the verge of tears as he spoke by phone to his wife and parents.

Horschel said he had planned to fly home to Jacksonville, Fla., after finishing his round Sunday night, then added "I think that plane has been delayed for a few hours." He's familiar with celebrating in New Orleans, where he also had his bachelor party.