Billy Horschel hasn’t played in a month and wasn’t planning to travel across eight time zones until he won the European tour’s flagship event at Wentworth for the second time and zoomed up the Race to Dubai ranking.
Now he’s in Dubai for the season finale, ranked No. 4 in the Race to Dubai without any chance of catching Rory McIlroy. No matter. Horschel loves playing the European tour, and he felt an obligation to be at the DP World Tour Championship.
Even as a proper European tour member — this is his fifth regular European tournament, including the co-sanctioned Scottish Open — he still caught himself referring to it as “their” Tour Championship.
“Yeah, I do use the words ‘we’ and ‘theirs,’ and sometimes I put myself in that world of the member of the DP World Tour,” he said Tuesday. “But listen, I support this tour. I love this tour. I think the world of this tour. But at the same time, I don’t support this tour 20-plus events out of the year.”
Neither does Jon Rahm, who was playing to reach the minimum starts required for the Ryder Cup. McIlroy, whose support of his home tour has been key this year, was making his eighth European tour start, not including the majors.
This is nothing new to Horschel. The DP World Tour Championship will be his 17th regular European tour event dating to 2021.
Why haven’t more American-based players followed? Horschel says the prize money on the PGA Tour has made it comfortable to stay home. And he doesn’t think less of players who choose not to travel.
“I don’t fault them for it but … when you think about the game of golf, giving back and traveling around the world where people can watch and take pictures with you, sign autographs, that’s one way to sort of give back to the game of golf,” he said.
This will be his fourth start after the FedEx Cup season ended, all in Europe. He won the BMW PGA Championship for the second time (Arnold Palmer is the only other American winner), went home to Florida and then returned a week later and missed the cut in the Dunhill Links Championship and the French Open.
McIlroy cutting back
Rory McIlroy is playing for the 27th time this year, also at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, his busiest schedule since he played 27 times in 2010 as a PGA Tour rookie.
That could be about to change.
“There’s a few tournaments that I played this year that I don’t usually play and that I might not play next year,” McIlroy told The Telegraph last week in Abu Dhabi.
He cited the Cognizant Classic to start the Florida swing and the Texas Open the week before the Masters, and the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head a week after the Masters, a signature event.
McIlroy made a conscious decision to add some of those tournaments to find the secret formula for playing his best at the Masters, the one major keeping him from the career Grand Slam. He played eight times in 2024 leading to Augusta National and finished 15 shots behind.
He also suggested skipping the first of three FedEx Cup playoff events. McIlroy said as much last year after he finished next-to-last at the FedEx St. Jude Classic and dropped two spots in the standings to No. 5.
McIlroy also skipped the Travelers Championship a week after he three-putted two of the last three holes to lose the U.S. Open by one shot.
“At this point in my career … hey, I’m 35 and have been out here for 17, 18 years,” he said. “So I’m just going to go to the places that I enjoy and where I play well. Look, I’ve done the hard slog, I’ve done that sort of 25 to 30 events a year. And I’m not getting any younger.”
One big week
Paul Waring is the latest example of how one week can change fortunes in golf.
Waring had been playing well enough this year to reach the European tour’s postseason at No. 48 in the Race to Dubai. His immediate goal was to reach the season finale in Dubai. And then it all fell together for the 39-year-old from England.
He opened with a 64. He posted a career-best 61 to set the 36-hole record on the European tour. And then he finished birdie-birdie for a one-shot victory in Abu Dhabi. It was his first win in six years, and it brought so many perks.
Waring moved to No. 5 in the Race to Dubai to earn a PGA Tour card for 2025. He will get into the British Open at Royal Portrush. And perhaps Oakmont is in range. The U.S. Open, which has not announced exemption categories, typically holds three spots for players from the Race to Dubai not already eligible.
“It’s going to be a long way to travel, a long commute over to America,” said Waring, who lives in Dubai. “But I’m looking forward to that. It’s a new challenge.”
Long road back to the PGA Tour
Thorbjorn Olesen had PGA Tour membership this year by getting one of the top 10 cards from the Race to Dubai on the European tour.
He won in Ras Al Khaimah and then came over to United States, where it didn’t go so well. The Dane’s best finish was a tie for 14th in the Texas Open, his FedEx Cup ranking never got higher than No. 147 and he finished at No. 157.
Instead of chasing the top 125 in the FedEx Cup Fall, Olesen returned to Europe. In his last three starts, he was runner-up in the French Open, tied for seventh in the Andalucia Masters and tied for third in Abu Dhabi. That moved him to No. 12 in the Race to Dubai, and he is a lock to get one of the 10 PGA Tour cards again.
Divots
Lydia Ko has won the Heather Farr Perseverance Award and Ally Ewing has won the Founders Award, two prestigious honors from the LPGA. … Paul Azinger will be returning to broadcasting. Golfweek reports Azinger, who previously was the lead analyst for NBC at PGA Tour events, will do about a dozen PGA Tour Champions events next year. … Bernhard Langer earned $10,759,526 in 326 starts on the PGA Tour. He has made $37,383,505 in 356 starts on the PGA Tour Champions. … Youth is everywhere in the world of golf. Shiyuan Zhou, a 14-year-old from China, has won her last two starts on the China LPGA. … Curtis Strange and Jay Haas were back at Wake Forest last Friday to be honored on the 50-year anniversary of their back-to-back NCAA titles.
Stat of the week
The European tour’s top 50 features players from 18 countries. The PGA Tour’s top 50 came from 16 countries.
Final word
“I’ve been playing some really solid golf, but need to play better golf. So that’s kind of the moral of the story.” — Max Greyserman, who has three runner-up finishes and a tie for fourth in his last six PGA Tour starts.
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