Billy Horschel: The people's champion

By Ben Larsen
Strategic Content Manager

“Billy!”

“Go get ’em this week Billy.”

“I’ve got my money on you this week, Billy.”

Those are the sounds that follow Billy Horschel at a PGA Tour event — and presumably everywhere he goes.

After all, Billy Ho is the people’s champion.

Spend even a few minutes with three-time PGA Tour winner and reigning FedExCup champion Billy Horschel and it’ll appear that he’s running for office. After a deeper look, though, it becomes evident that it’s just Billy being Billy.

“He is very down to earth,” said caddie Micah Fugitt. “What you see is what you get. He treats everyone out here like a friend.”

Fugitt, of course, may be the world’s foremost Billy Horschel expert. After all, it was Fugitt who was with him for his first PGA Tour victory at the 2013 Zurich Classic. It was Fugitt who carried Horschel’s bag during their two victories — not to mention a second-place finish — during last year’s FedExCup playoffs that served as Horschel’s official coming out party.

It was also Fugitt who received a $1 million bonus from Horschel after the golfer won the FedExCup bonus, totaling more than a $13 million haul as the 2014 PGA Tour season came to a close.

“Everything happened so fast,” he said. It was almost like a dream. It took a while for it to sink in. No one had ever done that and who knows if they’ll do it again.

“It was a storybook ending to the year for us.”

Billy being Billy.

Horschel had #TeamArccos in tow Wednesday during his practice round at the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn. and for me, “Billy being Billy,” confirmed what I thought was the case: Billy is undoubtedly among the current group of PGA Tour stars that golf fans can connect with. And with that, he is the perfect guy for #TeamArccos.

How do I know?

Well, here’s one reason: At one point during the round, Billy’s playing partners, participants in the weekly Pro-Am event, asked about Arccos. Before I could begin my own pitch, Horschel jumped in and sold Arccos better than I — admittedly — ever could have.

To see Horschel’s demeanor with fans and pro-am playing partners, it’s clear that what they say about him is true. He treats all fairly and isn’t afraid to help amateurs with a read or a swing tip. Arccos is on board with that.
He’s also got the complete and utter respect of his peers on tour, which I suppose is the reason for this post.

After making his opinions known on the state of the greens — along with other thoughts on the setup — at Chambers Bay last week for the U.S. Open, Horschel has received criticism for simply stating his mind. Those thoughts were the talk of the day Wednesday and each and every PGA Tour player or insider he crossed paths with was in full support of not only what Billy said but the fact that he said it.

Support from and intense gratitude for the fans, backed fully by his peers and plenty of love from #TeamArccos.

Just Billy being Billy.