Former Florida Gators golfer Billy Horschel captured his first PGA Tour win since 2018 on Sunday, winning the 2021 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play championship. In doing so, Horschel boosted his resume significantly entering major season.
The victory, the sixth of Horschel’s career on the PGA Tour, netted him $1.8 million and shot him up 38 spots in the 2020-21 FedEx Cup standings to seventh behind defending Masters champion Dustin Johnson with just two weeks until the best golfers in the world take on Augusta National Golf Club.
“There was so much emotion, so many turns of tides,” Horschel said of his win Sunday in a conversation with Golf Channel. “I was just grinding it out. … It was a tough day.”
Horschel entered as the No. 32 player in the Dell Match Play but took down No. 53 Kevin Streelman, No. 21 Tommy Fleetwood and No. 31 Victor Perez consecutively before winning 2&1 over No. 30 Scottie Scheffler on Sunday.
The win is Horschel’s first World Golf Championship and second straight top-two finish at a WGC event.
The 2014 FedEx Cup champion will now set his sights on the 2021 Masters beginning April 8. Horschel has never finished better than T17 at Augusta National. He placed T38 in the tournament this past November in a postponed event due to the COVID-19 pandemic.