TROON, Scotland — Billy Horschel was hanging on, clinging to the dream of being a British Open champion, a major championship.
He was one stroke behind going into Sunday’s final round at Royal Troon, with a shot at the chance to claim the biggest win of his career.
Horschel didn’t play bad golf — he shot a 3-under 68 on Sunday — but the problem was that eventual winner Xander Schauffele played better.
That increased the pressure on the back nine.
Horschel pulled his driver a little left on the 13th tee and muttered to himself, “Damn it, Billy. My swing’s going wrong at the wrong time.”
Horschel should leave Troon with nothing to be ashamed of.
Schauffele was simply better.
In the end, Horschel made a birdie putt on the 18th to finish tied for second with Justin Rose and earn the best finish of his major championship career.
“It’s in my DNA to always keep fighting, keep fighting until the end,” Horschel said after the match. “I’m disappointed. I should be disappointed. I had a chance to win a major. I was in a really good position. I just made too many mistakes today that I didn’t need to make.”
Horschel blinked at the par-3 eighth hole, “Post Stamp.”
He hit his tee shot into a bunker, then hit a great sand shot to 4 feet but missed the putt.
He also dropped to 4 under with a bogey on the 10th hole while Schauffele was on the offensive.
“Xander was on a roll and trying to take the lead in the golf tournament when he had two bogeys on the eighth and 10th holes and obviously lost steam,” Horschel said. “He played great. Look, he’s the second-best player in the world this year. Nobody’s played better, in my opinion. He’s won two majors.
“I’ll look back on this in an hour and be very happy with how I played and I’ll be very happy with how I played this week. I did a lot of great things that I can take into the next few years of majors and hopefully there will come a time when I can walk through the door here and win one of the majors.”
