“It was causing me not to hit the cut” - Billy Horschel hints old irons may have caused his bad run of form before Wyndham Championship
Billy Horschel led the 2023 Wyndham Championship leaderboard after 54 holes on Saturday. The golfer, whose last PGA Tour win came at the Memorial last season, has been struggling on the greens ever since. Now, the World No. 48 has come out to state that the slump may have been caused by his irons.
The golfer carded his career-low 8-under 62 on Friday, surprising many. When asked about the improvement made, the 36-year-old said that his decision to switch from Titleist irons to PXG paid off. The PGA Tour star held back from blaming anyone. However, based on his spreadsheet, Horschel stated that his old irons were ‘causing him not to hit the cut that he would want to hit.”
Speaking about his at the post-round press conference after Day 3 at Wyndham Championship, Billy Horschel said, as quoted by Golfweek:
“Somehow along the process of switching manufacturers (from PXG) and being on my own and everything maybe my numbers just got a little off.”
He added:
“So, it (old irons) was causing me not to hit the cut that I would want to hit. So, from there it gave me a lot of confidence that everything Todd (Anderson, his coach) and I have been doing in our swing was the right thing. And then recently we just realized that the more width and shorter I can keep it, the better the club stays out in front of me.
"Getting back to a little bit of what we always did back in ’13, ’14 and ’15. Just got a little sloppy in the sense that the club runs off a little bit too much. So simple thing is keeping more width and keeping it more out in front of me in the backswing, which allows the club to stay more out in front of me on the downswing so I can hit my cut easier.”
Having recorded just two top-10 finishes this season, Horschel entered the competition at the Sedgefield Country Club as No. 116 in the FedEx Cup standings.
The golfer went on to credit working with Michael Neff on the Gears 3-D system (Golf Evaluation and Research System), a full-body optical motion tracking system for his improvement as well.
Billy Horschel added:
“That made a massive difference.”
Horschel’s improvement has been visible this week. He reeled off six straight rounds under par, against the odds. It is pertinent to note that the PGA Tour finished T-13 at the 3M Open last week after missing the cut at The Open Championship.
Billy Horschel opens up on his emotional interview at The Memorial Tournament last year
The World No.48, who has had a tough outing in the 2022-23 season so far, on Saturday recalled his emotional interview from last year. Opening up on his breakdown after his disappointing exit at the Memorial Tournament earlier in June, Horschel said that he ‘didn't fully understand why it happened.’
Speaking in a video released by PGA Tour, Billy Horschel said:
"That interview, that moment, as I've talked about a while, it was sort of like a release and I don't fully understand why it happened then and there, because I had shared some of that with my team and my family before leading up to that, but right then and there it just happened."
The interview in question saw the 14-year pro breakdown at the Muirfield Village Golf Club after an abysmal opening round of 84. The golfer followed with similar scores in round two, forcing an early exit for the defending Memorial Tournament Champion.
Billy Horschel, during his post-round press conference then, revealed that he was having a difficult time at the golf courses.