AUGUSTA, Ga. — It was a tournament within a tournament for Billy Horschel on Sunday. Beginning the final round 19 shots behind 54-hole leader Scottie Scheffler, the six-time PGA Tour winner still had plenty to play for—at least, in his own mind.
Horschel began the day with an Instagram post pointing out a frustrating—and bizarre—streak that he holds at Augusta National. But he confidently tried to talk himself into breaking it. Instead, the golf gods wound up torturing him even more.
That’s pretty amazing that a player of Horschel’s caliber has never broken 70 in this event. Obviously, Augusta National is no pushover—especially this week—but it’s also a place that yields low scores if you’re playing well.
And Horschel was playing well on Sunday as he attempted to break this odd scoring streak—especially considering he’s made the cut in six of eight Masters starts. He was one under through four holes, and after bogeying Nos. 5 and 6, he responded with back-to-back birdies to get back to red numbers heading to the back nine.
After bogeying 10 and failing to birdie the par-5 13th, it didn’t look good, but Billy kept battling. He birdied 15. And 16. And after a nice par save on 17, he stuck his approach shot to eight feet on the difficult par-4 18th. But alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Horschel’s birdie attempt had too much pace and lipped out. So close! But still, no scores in the 60s recorded. In 28 attempts. Crazy.
“I was really into it,” Horschel said after carding his fifth career 70 at Augusta National. “A lot of guys can come out not having a chance in the final round and sort of just pack it in and don’t care, and that’s not me. I was playing for something today.”
Good for you, Billy. At least you should get another crack at it in 12 months.