Billy Horshel sits in front of a sign during the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.
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A cool moment happened on Tuesday in Dubai during Billy Herschel’s press conference ahead of the DP World Championships.
“It’s their tournament championship. It’s their last event of the year,” Horschel said during his first response. Almost immediately, a reporter prompted him with a pointed question:
You say it’s their championship, but you could easily say it’s our championship, right?
Point well made. Horschel is a member of the DP World Tour and has been for the past few years. He has been open about the value of the DP World Tour and raved about his experiences playing abroad. But his answer gave the ultimate truth: it’s not his PRIMARY tournament.
“Yes, I use words in AND theirs and sometimes I put myself into that world of the DP World Tour member,” Horschel replied. “But listen, I support this tournament. I love this tournament. I think the world of this tournament. But at the same time, I don’t support this tournament over 20 events a year.”
While that may be correct, Horschel supports the DP World Tour more than any other top American-born professional. He has played in the French Open, Irish Open, Scottish Open in repeats. He has played in Germany and often in The BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. All of this made for another fantastic follow-up to the press conference:
Are you surprised that more of your peers aren’t following your lead in this direction?
Thus stands one of the essential points of the modern PGA Tour, its pursuit of foreign investment and its strategic alliance with the DP World Tour. The PGA Tour, based mostly in America, is filled with professionals who don’t want to leave home for more than two or three weeks a year. It’s a problem that Rory McIlroy – perhaps the game’s biggest global star not named Tiger Woods – has been on his own personal crusade in recent years. Belief in the potential of a tournament similar to F1 racing that brings a true group of the world’s best players to international destinations, not just a few top pros.
Horschel tends to agree. He sees tremendous value in being an elite-level professional and taking your game abroad. He doesn’t blame his fellow American golfers for not doing so, especially when there are pro-golf assets in your own backyard, but he sees benefits that some of his fellow Americans may not realize, and he listed the on tuesday.
Best golfer
“Oh, (it’s made me) a much better golfer,” Horschel said. “I mean, I think I’ve improved my game in conditions like playing in the Open Championship and going and playing Dunhill and doing that more often.”
Hard to argue with that given his T2 finish at the Open Championship this summer. The courses that the Europe-based tour presents come in a variety of conditions, climates, grasses, winds. There is much more variety than what you find on the PGA Tour. Horschel has pointed this out ago! And he thinks he’s benefited from stepping out of his golfing comfort zone. But this is not the only way of growth.
Best man
“I’ve become a much better person, I guarantee you that,” Horschel said, “by understanding different cultures. Try to communicate with people who may not speak English as well or I may not speak their language as well, so that you try to communicate in this way.”
Travel the world and try it
In addition to the above, Horschel has enjoyed the benefits of taking his game elsewhere, seeing new places, experiencing different cultures, and having the opportunity to support the game you developed at home. This is the second time his game has brought him to Dubai, for example, a place few American pros have ventured.
“I grew up watching the European Tour,” he said. “I grew up imagining coming here and playing these events, and even though I turned pro early in my career, I still saw a ton of them and envisioned coming and playing … my college coach said if you want to you are a world-class player, global player, you have to travel the world and play well and you have to win events to consider yourself a world-class player.”
Give it back
After all, just as he is doing this week, Horschel sees overseas events as more than just a tournament to compete in or a check to cash. He sees them as a chance to engage with potential fans who might not otherwise have a chance.
“Like I said, I don’t blame (the American players) for that, but I think they would have — I think when you think about the game of golf and coming back and traveling around the world where people can watch and you see how you get the pictures with you, sign autographs, it’s a way to give back to the game of golf.”
One last benefit!
You can get a football club.
Horschel’s time abroad has brought him closer and closer to West Ham United Football Club, a soccer team in the English Premier League. Horschel’s tour bag now features the West Ham logo, which upsets home fans every time he plays in the UK.
Brooks Koepka cut his teeth on the challenge tour and played all over Europe when he was coming up. His club? Manchester United, the result of watching a match with Thorbjorn Olesen a decade ago.
Can Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas benefit from the same kind of love supporting a soccer club? Absolutely. They have invested in Leeds United in recent years. Now they just need to get serious about slapping that logo somewhere where we can all see it.
