Billy Horschel snaps back at fan while making a triple bogey

Billy Horschel had every reason to be upset, even before the heckler let loose on Friday at the Cognizant Classic.

The eight-time PGA Tour winner, who has struggled enough over the past year to fall to No. 81 in the world, was grinding to try to make a par at the par-3 15th at PGA National. He hooked his tee shot to the left and was in rough next to the grandstand with a tough visual—a bunker in front of him, water past the green. Unfortunately, Horschel caught the shot thin and his ball got rinshed. “Oh,” Horschel could be heard exclaiming.

He then turned on his heels and looked up toward the fans in the hospitality seating.

“Who said that?” he asked—rather calmy, for the situation.

Whatever was chirped after Horschel’s shot wasn’t clearly caught on the Golf Channel broadcast, and neither was the response he first got. But he wasn’t done.

“I mean, I guess you guys wanna make yourselves feel good about yourselves with a comment like that, don’t-cha?” Horschel said as he reached into his bag to retrieve another ball.

The next comment from the fan is somewhat audible and involved something about Horschel complaining about the course.

“Complaints about your course? I said it’s been pretty good, my man, OK?” Horschel responded. “Maybe you should read the entire comment.”

That someone would take a needle to Horschel­—a proud Floridian and Gator—was shocking, but it sounded like his comments on Thursday after the first round were taken both personally and out of context.

Horschel is among those who have lamented the overseeding with rye of PGA National’s natural Bermuda grass, which makes it much greener for television, but far easier, too. While the champions in decades past often prevailed with scores of single digits under par, Jake Knapp opened with a 59 last year and Joe Highsmith eventually won at 19 under by shooting a pair of 64s on the weekend.

But, also on Thursday, Horschel acknowledged the need for the PGA Tour and PGA National to make the event attractive.

“A few years ago, the rough was longer and then they started cutting it down and then they overseeded the golf course," he added. "Listen, I think the tour gets a bad rap, and it's not anything against the owners of PGA National. I understand where they would want to overseed. People want it to look pretty on TV, and if it looks pretty on TV, maybe people will want to come play it.

"But at the end of the day, as I've said for many years on the PGA Tour, I understand we are using a golf course that we don't own a lot of times, and sometimes we're at the discretion of what the owner wants to do. Obviously, we give our opinion of what we think is best for the golf course and how they want to set it up and challenge it; but also, the owners have a say in it. But I think for me, as I said last year, born and raised in Florida, playing a Bermuda golf course, this far down south and playing overseed, it's going to be soft."

Horschel later said it was “just his take” on the situation.

"It's not a shot at anyone,” he said. “It was just sort of commenting to someone who was taking a shot at the PGA Tour, and I sort of gave them a little more insight that it's not always in the PGA Tour's hands. If they want to try and do something, it's not always in their hands to set it up the way they want to."

Back to Horschel’s golf. After his pitch went into the water, he had the choice to replay it from the spot of his second shot or go back to the drop area. He chose the latter, with the Golf Channel commentators questioning whether that was the best play. Horschel’s fourth shot went well over the flag to 55 feet, and he two-putted from there for a triple-bogey 6.

It didn’t get much better for him when he finished with bogeys at 17 and 18. But as of late in the afternoon, it was looking like Horschel would make the cut on the number at even par.